Foundational shift: How to get your arms around the Azure change
The business computer services industry evolves at a hectic pace, but there are moments in time when significant shifts impact our clients at a foundational level.
Some recent shifts in IT include moving from a few computers in the office to a network of connected computers; adding internet access; moving from tape to image-based backups; Wi-Fi; powerful cellphones; and hosting a server somewhere other than your office.
The ability to move from a central server for all company data and programs to on-demand files in cloud programs has been available for a while, but the culmination of Microsoft's R & D and the pandemic accelerated the changes and needs. Add to this an expectation that everything is always available, and you can feel the ground shifting.
Ready or not, your staff is using personal devices to stay connected during and after work. If you don't provide the road map and implement structure, they will look for ad hoc tools to meet their needs and you will lose control of your data.
If you have everything on your server right now, hosted or physical, and you need to solve the "remote access" dilemma, here are three steps you'll take in the coming months.
1. If you're not already on Microsoft 365, take the plunge. It incorporates email, Teams for on-demand communication and meetings, and SharePoint and OneDrive for document access from anywhere. We continue to see clients pay for email from one provider, then purchase other services for meetings and shared files. Don't forget to add cloud-to-cloud backups and roll out Multi-Factor Authentication.
2. Do some planning. Review the types of files on your server and the folder structure. For the folders, think in terms of groups, who has access, and categories. There are some "gotchas" so be sure to include an expert in this planning. For sensitive documents, folders can be organized to limit who has access to which folders.
OneDrive is like "My Documents." When your staff saves documents to their local My Documents, those files are not part of the server backup. Moving My Documents to OneDrive continues to keep them within the user's control, but also allows them to be included in the cloud-to-cloud backup service.
3. Now we look at what's left on the server. In many cases, it's accounting software or industry-specific software. This software requires a server operating system (OS) so these are not a candidate for the M365 offering. This software and the data is moved to Azure hosting. In the Azure environment, you can use one log in and password to access your Microsoft account and the Azure server - seamless.
Many businesses have server Operating Systems that need to be upgraded, or predate optimization for M365 services. The great news is that the Azure hosting platform is optimized for the M365 product line. To top it off, it's extremely hard to get replacement servers and the capital investment of hardware and software can be cost-prohibitive.
Is this a lot of changes? Yes. Will it take some time to get used to? Yes.
This is a technology shift and it's not going away. We were headed this direction anyway; add the work changes and supply chain interruptions due to the pandemic, and all of this was accelerated. Time to dig in.
• Catherine Wendt is president of Syscon, Inc. in Hinsdale.