Moving to the Cloud Can Be a Struggle

For those of us who write, speak, and evangelize technology, it is easy to get caught up in all of the new tools and capabilities and forget that there are still many companies striving to make the most of older technology. We talk so much about the power of the cloud, and the need for organizations to make the shift away from on-prem solutions, but there may be valid reasons for organizations to remain in place.

In the next #CollabTalk TweetJam taking place on Tuesday, October 25th at 9am PDT (UTC -7), the community will once again join forces and have a focused discussion on the topic of “Why Do Some Companies Struggle With Moving To The Cloud?” to discuss the realities of remaining on-prem, but also explore and discuss some of the risks. We’ll also talk about some of the difficulties in moving years (sometimes decades) of systems and customizations to the cloud, and many of the advantages. In this 1-hour Twitter-based panel discussion, we’ll bring together MVPs and Regional Directors, community experts, partners, consultants, and practitioners to share their perspectives on this important topic.

Anyone can join this community discussion using Twitter and the #CollabTalk hashtag or your favorite Twitter platform. You don’t even need to be an “expert” to participate in the online conversation. Anyone can ask questions, comment on the questions posed, or just “lurk” in the background. These online discussions are open to anyone — you do not have to be on the panel to participate.

As always, this month’s tweetjam is being sponsored by tyGraph and AvePoint. Thanks for your support!

If you have never participated in one of these tweetjams, it’s pretty simple: anyone can jump in and share their thoughts, or just lurk in the wings and absorb the wisdom of the crowd. Either way, it’ll be a TON of content to consume in a single hour. You can follow the live session using the Twitter UI of your choice (Twitter.com, Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, whatever). How it works is that I’ll post a series of questions every few minutes, and people will respond to Q1, Q2, Q3 and so forth with A1, A2, A3, always including the #CollabTalk hashtag with their answers. Feel free to reply as often (or as little) as you’d like, ask your own follow-up questions, share relevant links, re-tweet others, and engage with the audience.

The questions we will discuss during the session include:

1.  What are the most common challenges for companies that have not yet moved to the cloud?
2. Must companies move to the cloud, or are there valid reasons for remaining on premises?
3. What are the major (and sometimes hidden) costs of cloud migration?
4. Is a hybrid approach the right path for most organizations moving to the cloud, or does it just add complexity?
5. When it comes to cloud adoption, what are the major challenges, and why?
6. How should companies approach customizations and personalization when planning a move to the cloud?
7. Are there risks of starting a cloud migration without a fully developed plan in place? What are your best practices?

Of course, there will be many side questions, side conversations, and wise-cracking shenanigans. This is open to the public, so please join in the discussion! The dialog is always thought-provoking and fun.

Participating on this panel (so far):

• Kurt Kragh Sørensen (@KurtKragh),  intranet consultant and owner of IntraTeam.com
• Nicki Borell (@NickiBorell), Microsoft MVP & RD, evangelist & consultant for SharePoint, Office 365 and Azure
• Sascha Fredrich (@saschaF80), IT consultant of Microsoft solutions at bei Bechtle AG
• Eric Riz (@rizinsights), SharePoint MVP and ceo of Empty Cubicle
• David Patrick (@DavidEPatrick),  Office Apps & Services MVP, user group organizer, subject matter expert with DSA, Inc.
• Kevin McDonnell (@kevmcdonk), M365 Apps & Services MVP and head of practice – modern workplace at CPS
• Wes Preston (@idubbs), SharePoint MVP, evangelist,  and owner at TrecStone
• Eli Robillard (@erobillard), SharePoint MVP, musician, fly-fisher, collaboration technology guy
• Dwayne Natwick (@DwayneNcloud), Azure MVP, global principal cloud security tech lead / cto at Atos
• Mike Maadarani (@mikemaadarani), M365 Apps & Services MVP, cloud solution architect at MCM Consulting
• Suzanne George (@spgenie), Microsoft Regional Director, MCTS, and partner – modern workplace & experience leader at PwC
• Eric Overfield (@ericoverfield), Microsoft RD & SharePoint MVP, founder of PixelMill
• Andrew Jolly (@andrewjolly), information management practice lead at Engage Squared
• Stacy Deere-Strole (@sldeere), SharePoint MVP and owner of Focal Point Solutions
• Adam Ball (@AdamCBall), co-founder of COUCUG, Teams and Skype for Business MVP
• John White (@diverdown1964), dual SharePoint and Data Platform MVP, cto at tyGraph, an AvePoint company
• Matt Varney (@thevarnish), intranet manager at KCTCS
• Emily Mancini (@EEmancini), Microsoft MVP, PnP team member, architect at Sympraxis Consulting
• Tobiasz Koprowski (@KoprowskiT), Data Platform MVP, founder and consultant at Shadowland Consulting
• Hal Hostetler (@TVWizard), Microsoft MVP and senior field engineer and social media coordinator for Roland, Schorr & Tower
• Ed Senez (@edsenez), president at tyGraph, an AvePoint company
• Robert Toro (@SharePointToro), SharePoint practice director at Slalom
• Ben Stegink (@benstegink), SharePoint, Office 365 and Azure consultant, owner of Intelligink, LLC
• Dan Usher (@binarybrewery), Office Apps & Services MVP and principal at Booz Allen Hamilton
• Kirsty McGrath (@kirstymcgrath13), Office Apps & Services MVP and managing director at OnPoint Solutions
• Mike Nelson (@mikenelsonIO), Datacenter Management MVP and solution architect at Pure Storage
• Marc Anderson (@sympmarc), SharePoint MVP, co-founder and president of Sympraxis Consulting
• Mike Fitzmaurice (@mikefitz), vp of north america and chief evangelist for WEBCON
• David Corbin (@DynConcepts), rMVP and principal consultant at Atmosera
• Shari Oswald (@shortcutshari), co-founder and productivity evangelist at PowerUP! Learning
• Fabian Williams (@fabianwilliams), former @OfficeDev @VisualStudio & @XamarinHQ MVP, senior program manager on the Microsoft Graph team
• Tamara Bredemus (@tamarabred), evolve 365 learning & adoption specialist at Planet Technologies
• and your host, Christian Buckley (@buckleyplanet), Microsoft MVP & RD, #CollabTalk founder, brand alliance director at AvePoint

If you would like to be included on one of these panels, please drop me a line via email, LinkedIn, or Twitter. And thank you again to tyGraph and the entire AvePoint team for your support of these CollabTalk tweetjams! And finally, if you are interested in being a sponsor of a future tweetjam, please contact me.

We’ll be back on November 22nd with another CollabTalk TweetJam on the topic of “Oversight and Governance of the Power Platform”  so be sure to follow me (@buckleyplanet) for news and updates.