Do Not Go To The Cloud, Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200

My last article talked about the benefits of heading to the cloud.  The cloud is not for everyone.  Prospects frequently ask us why they should avoid the cloud – or delay their cloud purchase.  Here are some thoughts on when Office 365 migrations may not be a fit.

·         Control – you wouldn’t have control of the environment- it would be configurable, but not customizable.

·         Integration with other systems in the environment – may need to add hybrid ability.

 ·         99.9% uptime is not 100%; some clients can achieve better performance in their own environment.  Or at least want to be responsible themselves for trying. 

 ·         Loss of visibility – unsure of when issues will be resolved, limited ability to escalate outside of Microsoft’s predefined structure.

 ·         Office upgrade- Microsoft will require the current version or one previous one for access to the platform which will require a regular investment in licensing.             

 ·         Loss of functionality –  for example – mail enabled folders in SharePoint; Public Folders in Exchange are both not supported.  Business intelligence features of SharePoint are more robust for the on premise version. 

 ·         Dealing with Level I support in a foreign country – it is horrible.