Running a business is all about understanding how - and when - to make the hard decisions. After all, the future of a company often hinges on whether or not it's ready to change and evolve with the times. If you do it too early, you could risk over reaching and be forced to cut back as time goes on. On the other hand, doing it too late can be worse as it’s possible your business might never recover from the blunder and fall too far behind.

As data management becomes more and more of an issue, businesses are beginning to make the switch to cloud business intelligence. There are even those who are taking advantage of data archiving solutions, making it that much easier for them to handle cloud storage in general through Office 365 email archiving. Before that, however, it's essential for a company that's considering the leap to understand when a transition would be beneficial. Here are just a few situations where the change to cloud storage is the best decision you can make for your company.

If your hardware and software costs are proving to be too high

While there is always something to pay when it comes to running a business, it’s important to understand when costs prove to be completely unreasonable. There are plenty of good reasons why having your own server and database is a good thing, but the hardware and software costs through maintenance and repair could vary wildly. That said, the transition to Azure services could also prove to be expensive - at least at the beginning. If you’re having difficulty maintaining both hardware and software and are unsure about how you’ll be able to keep it up, it might be the right time to consider switching to cloud-based storage.

Would your company benefit from being mobile?

The ability to access your data from anywhere is a clear advantage no matter how you slice it. However, there are businesses out there that get by fine without the benefits of mobile business and Azure archive storage. Consider the current state of your company, and decide for yourself whether or not it would be more beneficial to be able to access your database from anywhere. If it opens up new avenues and possibilities for your company, the move to cloud storage will allow your employees to access your data from just about anywhere.

Is your IT department swamped with work?

Having your own internal department is a good thing - but it can also prove to be a double-edged sword. Efficiency and overall productivity could suffer if your company grows, but your IT department remains the same. If your employees are having trouble keeping up, email archiving solutions and hybrid cloud storage will significantly ease the burden.

To conclude, making the big decisions is as much a matter of timing as it is everything else. If you find yourself in any of these situations, consider making the transition to Azure data storage. While it will take some doing to accomplish, what you end up with is a company prepared to move forward.