Many IT firms are scaring their customers about the problems of moving all their IT operations into the public cloud (such as Microsoft Azure). Andrew Hookway, Managing Director of Burgess Hill based Extech Cloud believes that many Sussex businesses are being scared in to making decisions that force them to be “locked in” to their IT supplier and data centres.

When businesses scare their customers and force them down a particular path, you often wonder if they have a hidden agenda, whilst trying to appear helpful. We hear many stories where local IT firms are offering poor or inaccurate advice when it comes to the public cloud.

But why the scare tactics? Often, it is because they don’t understand it or they fear they will lose revenue usually made on purchasing and installing servers onsite, or through locking them into a private data centre (aka private cloud).

One scare tactic focuses on the cost of Microsoft Azure, suggesting that businesses pay for cloud capacity that they aren’t using, making it hard to budget, and it is expensive.

This simply is not true. After the initial cloud migration, known as digital transformation, businesses then just pay monthly depending on what’s used and the number of users. So, if the workforce reduces, so do the IT costs. Microsoft Azure gives the freedom to manage and deploy applications on a secure global cloud network and has flexible pay-for-what-you-use pricing options. Budgeting is therefore really easy and accurate according to the business size and needs. And of course, there are never any capital costs for on-premise servers or all the hidden costs and locked-in licences.

Security risks are another scare tactic we see time and time again. The public cloud offers better cybersecurity than an on-prem server would, particularly for regulated businesses that require standards for data compliance and information security. In fact, in the cloud businesses can say goodbye to constant server management and security patches and can just get on with their business.

Control is another focal point for businesses trying to discredit the cloud. They say that the company hands over control to a third party. The reality is that in the public cloud, businesses are free to move to different IT providers as the data is actually hosted with Microsoft. It is for exactly this reason and the freedom it provides, that IT firms don’t want businesses to move away from their “locked-in” Data Centres.

Finally, there is the issue of old legacy software. Previously it was true that some legacy software could not be transferred to the cloud, but that is no longer the case. Extech Cloud has the experience to put almost any application or software into a cloud environment thanks to our pioneering use of Microsoft WVD. This is cutting- edge digital transformation meaning there are now no compelling reasons why companies need to have on- premise servers.

For more information, call a friendly member of the Extech Cloud team to get the facts about the cloud on +44 (0) 1444 443200, email info@extech.co.uk or visit www.extechcloud.com