[Two-Minute Read] This Magic Trick Will Save You from Cloud Sprawl

You've probably seen plenty of variations of the card trick where a magician has an audience member choose a card from a full deck, then 'miraculously' reveals the chosen card. So did the magician read the participant's mind to determine which card was chosen? Of course not. The magician knew which card the audience member was going to pick all along. Trick deck, sleight of hand, misdirection - there are many ways to accomplish this; but that's not the point of this article. The point is that the magician wowed the audience not through endgame heroics, but through preparation and early action instead.

And how does that relate to cloud sprawl? Cloud sprawl is an expression describing a state many organizations will soon face, or more realistically, are already facing. Employees need to get their jobs done, and with a vast array of websites, apps, and 3rd party tools using cloud storage backends to choose from, they're taking it upon themselves to find the solutions they need. They then upload or create content, meaning corporate information is now stored in this array of cloud locations, most of which are unknown to the IT department, unsanctioned, and unsupported. In general, not good.

How can we prevent this cloud sprawl? Be like the magician - be proactive and know which solutions your employees will pick in the first place. By adopting a platform like Office 365, you can present your users with a suite of solutions that should meet almost any need. Create visibility around this availability, offer training, support, and guidance, and these are the tools your users will select and adopt. Office 365's admin tools give plenty of ways to keep track of what's being used and make sure the right content is winding up in the right places, securely.

Do this aggressively - get Office 365 in front of your users as soon as possible, even if you're still working out security and governance plans. Each day you delay, your company's content is spreading into systems you'll never have governance over, so it's better to have it spread into a place where you will have the right governance, even if you don't just yet.

Wait much longer and you'll never be able to 'guess' the card and wow the audience; in fact, they might even ask for their money back!