- There are many different ways to license, purchase, and deploy cloud products, making it challenging to know how to maximize the benefits for your organization.
- Despite obvious advantages, there are many reasons why the cloud may not be a good choice for your organization at this point.
- Microsoft – as well as your business leaders – are pushing the cloud. Don’t rush into a cloud transition without planning carefully.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- Document your position on the cloud – whether that means transitioning or not, make sure you can justify your position to the organization.
- Once you’ve committed to the cloud, it’s difficult to go back to on-premise licensing. Be certain the cloud is a good fit before executing.
- Most organizations are still at a stage where they can keep their on-premise licensing. This will likely change over the next couple of years – the cloud is imminent, if not inevitable. If the cloud doesn’t make sense now, start thinking about how you might make it work in the future.
Impact and Result
- Make sure you understand what your organization needs and why, before you commit to moving to the cloud.
- Complete cost calculations carefully as the cloud might end up costing significantly more. It could also end up costing around the same amount, making it an efficient option.
- If there are significant barriers to cloud adoption, discuss and document them. You’ll need this documentation in three years when it’s time to renew your agreement.
Looking at Risk in a New Light: The Six Pillars of Vendor Risk Management
Manage Exponential Value Relationships
Jump Start Your Vendor Management Initiative
Capture and Market the ROI of Your VMO
Cut Cost Through Effective IT Category Planning
Design and Build an Effective Contract Lifecycle Management Process
Maximize Value From Your Value-Added Reseller (VAR)
Drive Successful Sourcing Outcomes With a Robust RFP Process
Reduce Risk With Rock-Solid Service-Level Agreements
Slash Spending by Optimizing Your Software Maintenance and Support
Identify and Manage Financial Risk Impacts on Your Organization
Identify and Manage Strategic Risk Impacts on Your Organization
Identify and Manage Reputational Risk Impacts on Your Organization
Identify and Manage Security Risk Impacts on Your Organization
Evaluate Your Vendor Account Team to Optimize Vendor Relations
Elevate Your Vendor Management Initiative
Prepare for Negotiations More Effectively
Implement Your Negotiation Strategy More Effectively
Evaluate and Learn From Your Negotiation Sessions More Effectively
Proactively Identify and Mitigate Vendor Risk
Master the Public Cloud IaaS Acquisition Models
Essentials of Vendor Management for Small Business
Identify and Manage Regulatory and Compliance Risk Impacts on Your Organization
Identify and Manage Operational Risk Impacts on Your Organization
Don’t Allow Software Licensing to Derail Your M&A
Identify and Reduce Agile Contract Risk
Improve Your Statements of Work to Hold Your Vendors Accountable
Understand Common IT Contract Provisions to Negotiate More Effectively
Master Contract Review and Negotiation for Software Agreements
Master the MSA for Your Managed Services Providers
Negotiate SaaS Agreements That Are Built to Last
Establish a Vendor Management Roadmap to Succeed With Autonomous Technologies
Price Benchmarking & Negotiation
Stop Wasting Time Evaluating Commoditized Products and Services
Ensure Business Alignment in Managed Service Agreements
Comparing Software Practices in Maturing IT
Run IT By the Numbers
Transform IT, Transform Everything
The Race to Develop Talent
Building Info-Tech’s Chatbot
Assessing the AI Ecosystem
Sync or Sink: Aligning IT and HR for the Future of Work
Building the Road to Governing Digital Intelligence
Bring AI Out of the Shadows
The AI Vendor Landscape in IT
IT Spend and Staffing Benchmarking
An Operational Framework for Rolling Out AI