The world’s migration to the cloud continues apace.
Businesses are shifting workloads to this new environment, encouraged by the benefits
they have seen others reap from it. Cloud technology enables teams to
collaborate on projects; allows companies to house huge amounts of data in
virtual storage; and makes data recovery much easier and faster.

With over 62% of small and mid-sized businesses already
using cloud computing, the demand for experts in this field has surged. But
while businesses have the option to employ specialists in this area, it’s
difficult to justify the cost involved.

An alternative step would be to hire a cloud consulting
firm. This means relying on the expertise of a company that’s specialized in
cloud technology. A cloud consulting firm like Layer3
helps organizations assess their needs and determine the sort of cloud solutions
they require. It also designs the solutions and assists with migration to the
cloud.

If your organization has a significant IT dependency, you
should consider hiring a cloud consulting firm. Here are some reasons you want
to do this.

What You Could Gain
from Hiring a Cloud Consulting Firm 

1. Cost Savings

If you get someone to join your team as an in-house cloud
computing expert, you would have to devote a significant amount of funds to pay
their salary monthly. This payment will be fixed and regular, regardless of the
amount of work your on-premise expert does.

A less costly approach would be to hire a cloud consultancy
firm. You won’t have to pay for their service unless they’re rendering it. With
costs aligned to services provided, you can avoid excessive spending and
channel saved resources to internal operations.

2. Guided Migration
to the Cloud

You may be eager to move your processes to the cloud, but
lack the knowledge and skill required to execute this transition. Unless your
IT department knows how to handle this, you will have to outsource
the task to a cloud management firm.

The good thing about this is that the consultants have
helped others migrate to the cloud. They possess the technical know-how
required to get the job done. Their experience enables them to direct the
transition efficiently and complete the process in the shortest possible time.

3. Fewer Downtimes

It’s important to have your cloud-based communication, work
platforms, documents, and other applications functioning optimally. Your team
needs these things to stay productive. If they’re affected by downtimes, your
organization will suffer lower levels of productivity.

You can work with cloud consultants to draw up suitable
strategies for preventing downtimes and managing them if they happen. They
could evaluate your company’s work environment and determine what solutions
would shrink downtimes and raise organizational output.    

4. Security

Like every other aspect of corporate IT, your cloud
environment and resources need to be protected against potential security
threats. A data breach could result in the loss of sensitive customer
information, which could negatively affect the public’s trust in your business.

Cloud consulting firms know how cloud security works. They
understand the threats posed by data breaches and can design strategies to
minimize them. An assessment of your organization’s needs in this area should
reveal what sort of defense mechanisms it requires. A consulting firm can help
you do this.

5. Support for Your IT
Department

If you already have an IT team working on your core
operations, they’re probably already overstretched. In this case, it’s not
advisable to add ‘overseeing the cloud’ to their bulging list of
responsibilities. You may outsource this to a consulting company instead.

This also applies if you don’t have a tech department.
Instead of spending scarce funds on recruiting new hands for your IT concerns,
you could ask a managed IT service provider to take care of issues on your
behalf.

6. Platform
Management

For growing companies, cloud management is ongoing and
dynamic. Growth comes with the demand to scale your cloud resources. And as the
scale of your operations increases, the extent of monitoring required increases
as well. You will need more eyes and hands to manage your infrastructure, and
ensure that everything works as it should.

Cloud computing professionals can assist with designing your
cloud architecture so that it functions optimally. They will factor in your
desire for top tier performance and low costs in the design, and come up with a
solution that fits with the peculiarities of your business.

7. Experience

You may be familiar with cloud-based applications (e.g. email,
Project Management, or ERP hosted on the cloud). But it’s one thing to use
these things, and quite another to understand how they can work efficiently.

When your organization operates or delivers its services
over cloud-based platforms, you’ll want to have a deep knowledge of the
technology at its foundation. This will help you get the most out of it, in
terms of delivering quality service to your customers.

Cloud consultants provide you with this deep knowledge. They
have accumulated it through training and on-the-job experience and can bring
this to bear on your projects. 

How Layer3’s Cloud
Consultancy Services Can Help Your Business Grow

For 14 years, Layer3 has
provided private and public sector organizations in Nigeria with the IT
products they need to thrive. This includes virtual data centers and servers, data
backup and disaster recovery, and cloudshare.

We leverage this experience to deliver world-class
consultancy services to client businesses across Nigeria.

The engineers at Layer3 are experts at designing and
building cloud solutions that are easy to operate. They simplify companies’
transition to the cloud by delivering these services:

•Assessment: Our
engineers examine your operations and growth objectives, and decide what
solution works best for you.

•Design: Layer3’s
Solutions Architects design solutions that meet your current and future needs. 

•Cloud Migration:
We have undertaken several successful migrations to the cloud. Our team draws
from this experience for every new transition project we handle.

We can help you move your organization to the cloud. Start
your journey today by contacting us here.