It seems like every day there is an article about moving to the cloud. And, while many organizations have already made the move or are somewhere in the planning or implementation stages, the fact of the matter is there remains a lot of trepidation, particularly in the mid-market, about when, what, where, why, how and at what cost and level of disruption might be involved.

Thanks to a lot of market education and early adopter experience, the benefits of the cloud have become apparent. They include: reduction in hardware costs, lower maintenance expense, better accommodation of the needs of a distributed workforce, scalability and flexibility, and the ability to leverage the technical expertise of cloud solutions providers including their ability to make sure all of your software is the latest and greatest. That being said, skepticism remains.

The list of reasons why many organizations have been hesitant to move to the cloud at this point are actually more myth than reasons for fear. They include:

• Concerns that integrations with existing capabilities will not work
• The perception that internal IT will lose control
• A sense that workflows and business processes will have to undergo dramatic alterations
• The belief that data could be lost in a migration, security will be compromised and that cloud service providers may not be in it for the long haul

As noted, these fears are not justified. The move to the cloud does not mean a loss of control by IT, migration when properly planned and executed can be quick and non-disruptive, and the facts are that security by moving to the cloud can be increased rather than a diminution of current practices. 

In short, transitioning to the cloud is not something to fear but rather something to embrace, or at least give serious consideration. 

If you are still on the sidelines concerning a move to the cloud, you are invited to join what will be a highly informative webinar, “Transition to the Cloud − Spend Less and Do More with Hosted Exchange,” to be held Thursday, June 6, 2013. I will be joined by CompTIA Senior Vice President Nancy Hammervik, Microsoft (News - Alert) Cloud TSP Michael Kophs, and Ryan Stang of customer onboarding and operations, savvisdirect, a CenturyLink organization, to dispel the fears you may have about migrating to the cloud.  

The focus will be in an area that is top of mind, showing how easy it is to migrate your e-mail to Microsoft Hosted Exchange (News - Alert) from savvisdirect.  Plus, there is an extra bonus for your participation. Attendees will be eligible to receive a special one-day promotion onboarding incentive valued at $300!

With the vast majority of mid-market enterprises running the popular Microsoft suite of business solutions, and looking for ways to better manage email, hosted Microsoft Exchange may be the answer to your current challenges and it is a good reason why the cloud is something to leverage rather than fear.