by Katie ShirleyCloud migration
The big industry trends for 2022 started with cloud migration, which has been an ongoing shift for some time now. But at the start of the year, we noted that many organizations were still yet to make the move. Why? We put forward five hurdles, all of which Aura can help with:
- Security is a concern, though the idea that the cloud is less secure is actually something of a myth.
- Migrating to the cloud can be seen as an unnecessary complication for already complex multi-national regulations.
- Many organizations already have investments that they feel tied to.
- Others put it on the backburner given the seemingly more urgent issues of application development, customer relationship management, or just day-to-day maintenance and management.
- There’s also the cost, although the cloud is generally a more cost-effective option over time.
Of course, another underlying reason for an organizations’ cloud reluctance is that they simply don’t know whether it’s right for them. In June, we looked to address that with four key questions:
- Has your system become too complex?
- Have costs crept up over time?
- Is your provider cutting back on research and development?
- And is your organization’s performance below par?
If the answer is ‘yes’ to any of those, it’s likely that your on-premises solution isn’t working for you – and the cloud is the clear route forward.
Building a more adaptable business through composability
Next on the list is composability, which refers to building an organization with interchangeable building blocks to make it more adaptable. In terms of communications, we outlined three key areas for change:
- Thinking – Business leaders need to recognize how conditions can change and whether teams can be reformed to pre-empt potential new conditions.
- Architecture – Organizations should be structured for uncertainty and continuous change with adaptable systems, processes and workers.
- Technology – Rather than being siloed and rigid, infrastructure needs to support the quick integration of new systems or partners, supporting data sharing, collaboration and consistency.
Hybrid meeting rooms
While many organizations are thriving in the world of hybrid working, one hurdle that hasn’t been surmounted is the office meeting. Hybrid meeting rooms are a way to unify staff with the same great experience, whether they’re based in the office, at home or anywhere else.
We highlighted 4 key requirements:
- Display – Hybrid meeting rooms need an adequate display to show remote participants at all times, like their in-person counterparts
- Audio – Omnidirectional microphones are necessary so that those based remotely can hear everyone with the same clarity.
- Space – Hybrid meeting rooms need to be large enough to avoid acoustic issues and accommodate the bigger display.
- Scheduling – Synchronized scheduling systems are a must to avoid double bookings, rearrangements or further confusion for those working in different time zones.
Choosing suppliers and vendors
With technology changing at such a fast pace, one of the big trends in 2022 was organizations becoming frustrated with their existing vendors and looking to change suppliers.
Aura coined the term ‘vendor frustration’, which arises when multiple vendors are presented with a lack of integration. The result is hampered productivity, higher costs and lots of confusion.
Supplier selection is the clear solution to this. All too often, customers opt for big service integrators and service providers, only for parts of the contract to be outsourced. The alternative is small channel partners, who are more agile but often limited geographically.
In April, we urged customers to dare to be different. With a network of delivery partners in 145 countries, Aura offers the best of both worlds – global coverage with simplicity and agility.
Enabling cross-team collaboration
Finally, there was the issue of cross-team collaboration. Despite more and more different groups and departments cropping up within organizations, it’s become clear that working together is the best way forward. To achieve that, we highlighted a number of best practices:
- Selection – identify the best collaborators from each team to get the ball rolling before introducing new members.
- Leadership – be clear on who’s in charge and make sure they’re prepared to delegate.
- Time – make sure everyone knows how much time is required and that they have that time to spare.
- Goals – create shared objectives to keep everyone on the same page.
- Equipment – give employees the tools to communicate freely and monitor what they’re working on.
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