Maybe you’ve knocked on your IT manager’s door wanting to talk about the cloud. Maybe potential economies of scale have been brought up in a board of directors meeting and that prompted you to call him.
Whatever the situation, your IT resource seems reluctant to explore cloud computing with you.
This is not an uncommon scenario.
Tactical IT personnel are, generally speaking, reluctant about moving to the cloud because that move would eliminate a large part of what they do. If your IT resource focuses the majority of his time on hardware maintenance and software updates, his fear is warranted. When you move your network to the cloud, you are no longer responsible for hardware maintenance.
What to ask
If, however, your IT resource creates, improves and supports the technology that assists your company’s processes, and helps drive your business goals, then he probably isn’t so worried about a move to the cloud. If your IT department spends a large amount of time coordinating qualified vendors and making software work more effectively for you and your employees, the cloud won’t scare them. These are the IT resources who will open the door, the ones who will answer the phone, when you want to talk cloud.
How do you tell the difference? Good question. Sometimes it is hard to tell if an IT resource is hesitant to talk about the cloud because he doesn’t think it is the right solution or if it is because he thinks it will eliminate his job. That’s why it is imperative that you uncover the reason behind the reluctance. Some questions to ask include:
- Why are you reluctant to talk about cloud computing?
- Why do you think cloud computing would not be a viable solution for our organization?
- Are there processes and functions that could be improved by cloud computing?
- Are there processes and functions that would be negatively affected by cloud computing?
Once you discover whether the cloud protest has merit or not, then you can take your next step with confidence. If you uncover that there is a selfish motive behind the resistance, it could be time to bring your cloud questions to an outside IT resource for an objective, honest opinion.
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As originally published in the American City Business Journals.