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How to Avoid Expanding IT Costs

Our final discussion in this series is on the importance of operational continuity and scenarios organizations must avoid addresses expanding IT costs. There are countless possible examples to discuss, but we’ll focus on the typical costs and efforts associated with ongoing maintenance and management of on-premises applications.

In addition to the pressure to innovate and integrate new solutions to the enterprise ecosystem, many on-premises implementations are both blessed and cursed with modifications to address unique requirements. These mods, along with regular upgrades and updates, need to be scheduled and managed. IDG reports that the top two priorities for CIOs in 2020 are investments in additional security and analytics. This list not only represents a fraction of day-to-day expectations of current IT staff but also expanding costs to the organization. When comparing the operating expense of a cloud solution to the capital expense of an on-premise solution, there’s a much more persuasive argument for the total cost of ownership (TCO) associated with cloud solutions. Organizations that may have wanted to defer on this option in the past may wish to take another look at evaluating your cloud migration options to see if now is the right time to make the move.

According to Constellation Research, one of the ways cloud-based software provides big wins to customers is through the ability to receive rapid innovation at scale. While there’s a knowable direct saving associated with the shift from on-premises to cloud, there are also many additional benefits available on a continual basis as enhancements are automatically delivered.

This series discussed business-damaging scenarios that can be avoided by replacing outdated IT systems with a cloud solution to ensure business continuity. Three of our topics (critical system failure, M&A complexity, and legacy bottlenecks), address fundamental structural challenges inherent in legacy solutions. These challenges can put at risk the organization’s data, its ROI, and its ability to innovate.

Original article written by Infor.

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How to Avoid Security Breaches and Malicious Attacks

This week we discuss the importance of operational continuity, and scenarios organizations must guard against. The fifth scenario involves cybersecurity and is a primary concern for most organizations, but especially for those with legacy IT applications.

In a recent CIO survey, cybersecurity was identified as the top tech project for 2020, and 68% of respondents planned to increase spending on cybersecurity in the next 12 months. With the Ponemon Institute reporting $3.92 million as the global average cost of a data breach in their 2019 study, it’s no wonder this issue has been catapulted to the top of the list.
The real anxiety comes from knowing that you can never rest. There will always be bad actors with malicious intent evolving their strategies and attempting more creative breaches. While companies will continue to follow best practices, it requires vigilance, resources, talent, and continual education to stay ahead.

However, if you partner with a cloud company, they will take responsibility for most of that burden. Trusted cloud companies follow the latest security standards and privacy practices. The number and variety of experts they employ to protect their customers are much greater than any single company would typically be willing or able to invest.  Companies with legacy IT applications are already shouldering the daily maintenance and management of the solution with the continual pressure to innovate and expand their enterprise ecosystem. When you add the extra burden of continually monitoring for malicious new security threats, it likely feels like an unwinnable war.

One of the reasons Winchester Electronics moved to the cloud was because “Amazon Web Services (AWS®), has better resources to maintain high-security standards than we could ever have.”
Moving to the cloud can produce a fundamental shift in the allocation of your resources and budget, refocusing on strategic initiatives and leaving the bulk of your enterprise application management, maintenance, and, more importantly security, to a trusted partner.

Original article written by Infor.

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How to Avoid Legacy Bottlenecks

While legacy on-premise platforms are known to provide reliable, consistent results for many organizations, one area of limitation is their ability to support some of the most innovative and differentiating technology advancements available. Whether we’re discussing robotic process automation (RPA) or machine learning (ML), most artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives would not be feasible for on-premises applications.

It is the very nature of a cloud environment that made AI opportunities accessible to many organizations. Constellation Research, in its CIO predictions, noted “the push for automation, especially with AI technologies, will expand both within the CIO’s own purview, and become a widespread priority with the most internal stakeholders to-date.”

There is tremendous interest in improving productivity by finding new ways to do more with less. AI, data lakes, and other innovative technologies are automating mundane tasks and uncovering new ways to analyze and aggregate data. By using data sets across the enterprise ecosystem, you can have greater transparency than previously imagined.

But first, you must have a platform that supports these options. In fiercely competitive environments, deploying truly innovative solutions can be profoundly game-changing.

Miller Industries is an organization that overcame those legacy bottlenecks by moving to the cloud, quickly realizing substantial gains. They harmonized data across the organization and provided new dashboards for greater transparency, and reduced manual data analysis by 80%. Miller’s next phase includes using AI and ML to mine this data and leverage machine learning to anticipate future demand in its chassis program. Findings can be shown in automated dashboards, providing the company with a real-time picture of its current and anticipated demand.

Original article written by Infor.

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