Cloud adoption is soaring, with organizations of all sizes and in every industry taking advan-tage of the benefits of cloud services. Accord-ing to newly released data from IDC’s Cloud-View Survey, the top drivers of cloud adoption include improving agility and security, and standardizing the IT infrastructure. Multi-cloud environments have become prevalent, with 56 percent of users running more than one type of cloud service. In addition, 40 percent of users are “cloud-first” organizations that look to the cloud as the preferred option.

On the surface, that would seem to be a sensi-ble approach. The cloud minimizes capital investments and operational overhead, allowing organizations to roll out new services quickly and scale easily to meet changing business requirements. However, the cloud isn’t right for every workload, and can increase costs and security risks if not approach strategically.

Sequel Data Systems offers a comprehensive suite of services to help organizations maxi-mize the value of the cloud while minimizing its pitfalls. Sequel’s experts will evaluate your existing IT infrastructure and business objec-tives, and help you develop and implement a cloud strategy that will support your organiza-tion today and tomorrow.

The Business Perspective

An effective cloud strategy begins with an understanding of why you want to move to the cloud. For many organizations, the cloud offers a means of obtaining up-to-date tech-nology with the cost and disruption of a data center refresh.

While the cloud does reduce the need for investments in IT equipment, those upfront costs are only part of the story. Cloud services are typically billed as a monthly subscription based upon the number of users, the amount of data being stored or some similar consumption-based metric. The meter is always running, and costs increase as your usage grows. It can really add up over time, to the point that in-house IT investments make more sense.

Furthermore, the cloud isn’t the best option for every application. The cloud often makes sense for email and productivity apps — things that aren’t strategic to your business. But for mission-critical applications, features and functionality should take precedence over the deployment model.

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Sequel’s cloud consulting services address the business perspective as well as the tech-nology perspective, helping you make deci-sions today that will save you millions of dollars and countless headaches down the road. We help ensure that the cloud adds value to your business, either through cost savings, increased productivity or enhanced customer engagement.

Technology Foundation

While the cloud shifts some technical and operational overhead to the cloud provider, the in-house IT environment must support and integrate with the cloud services you implement. Sequel’s cloud consulting services focus on these key areas:

• Identity Management. Access control is just as important, if not more so, with cloud services. If you do not prepare your in-house identity services to interface with cloud platforms, you are not going to be able to use the same processes and credentials to manage access to the cloud. The Sequel team will help you get started on the right foot by considering identity man-agement early in the cloud adoption process.

• Network Design. Because most organi-zations are still running most IT ser-vices in-house, the network must sup-port both on-premises infrastructure and the cloud. As a result, it seldom makes sense to rebuild an existing net-work in the cloud. A better approach is to prepare the network to link to cloud providers and take advantage of the provider’s functionality. Sequel can help you bridge that gap.

• Backups. Operating in the cloud doesn’t change the need for data protection, particularly in the era of ransomware. We will evaluate your cur-rent backup architecture and help you determine the best solution for your needs. Options include backing up on-premises data to the cloud, back-ing up cloud data to the on-premises infrastructure, or backing up one cloud service to another.

• Disaster Recovery. Disaster recovery is a primary use cases for the cloud. Cloud services enable you to effectively protect against disaster without the expense of setting up a DR site. A sim-ple use case might involve replicating data from an on-premises data center to a cloud provider, but many situa-tions are more complex. The Sequel team has decades of experience in DR and high availability, and can help you architect the right solution.

• Monitoring. Organizations typically have limited visibility into what’s hap-pening inside the cloud. Most cloud services offer some monitoring tools, but don’t give you a comprehensive view across on-premises and cloud infrastructure. We can help you se-lect and implement a platform that provides centralized monitoring of all critical elements of your cloud environment.

Your One-Stop Resource

Sequel has continually evolved its business over the past 30 years to encompass the solutions and services that are valuable to our clients. We are adept at helping organiza-tions optimize their data center environment through high-performance, highly available architectures and the strategic implemen-tation of public and private cloud services. If you’re looking to move to the cloud, or to consolidate and rationalize your existing cloud services, let Sequel be your guide.

© 2017 Sequel Data Systems

About Sequel Data Systems, Inc.

Sequel Data Systems, Inc., is an IT infrastructure and consulting firm that serves both commercial and public-sector entities. Established in 1986, we have grown to become one of the largest enterprise-focused consulting firms in Texas. We have developed a con-sulting practice that delivers highly scalable enterprise architectures based upon best-of-breed compute, storage networking and virtualization solutions from the industry’s top vendors.

Sequel Data Systems has designed and implemented many innovative solutions for organizations in a wide range of industries, including healthcare, casinos, banks, universities and government entities throughout the U.S., as well as internationally. Our approach is to tailor each solution to meet the customer’s unique needs.

512-918-8841 www.sequeldata.com

Sequel Data Systems Incorporated

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Expert Cloud Strategy Services