With the vast array of UC options and deployments out there,how do organisations know what to move to the cloud and what to keep on-premises?Many environments are a mix of vendors and solutions, and moving everything to the cloud becomes a daunting prospect. But is this even the right approach to take?
To find our more about taking the hybrid approach to cloud migration download our UC Optimization Guide here.
Transitioning to the cloud needn't be a hard-line plan. Many enterprises embrace a hybrid approach, moving some systems or users while continuing to run others on-premises. A hybrid solution model employs a mixture of cloud and on-premises infrastructure to satisfy an organization's needs. It might be ideal for some users to move to the cloud right away. Others (like contact centers, for instance) need to stay on-premises. Other companies have long-term contracts with telecom providers for PSTN connectivity. Hybrid solutions take advantage of on-premises infrastructure and successfully marry it with cloud services. A hybrid approach lets you move gradually to the cloud at a pace that best suits your organization, while maximizing your investment in existing on-premises infrastructure.
Hybrid gives you the flexibility of testing various aspects of your environment without having to migrate everything completely to the cloud.It provides a platform on which you can test a completely new service without putting undue pressure on your computing infrastructure.This gradual approach also mitigates the risk of moving entire systems to the cloud all at once.By moving one application at a time,you can effectively troubleshoot any issues that occur without losing your entire environment and impacting users.
A hybrid approach also gives organizations more features to use, as they can leverage the benefits of both on-premises and cloud applications.Many cloud systems are still building out their services, while on-premises systems still offer more feature-rich services, especially for advanced users.As cloud applications bring on more services, you'll only need to migrate those that are still on-premises rather than your entire UC environment.
With more and more organisations considering moving their UC to the cloud, hybrid environments will become more commonplace. By planning both the migration and what the new hybrid environment will look like, and implementing ways to monitor and report on the success of the new solution, organizations can help ensure their migration will run smoothly.
