It might amaze you to hear this, but cloud computing has been around for almost 20 years. And even though it’s proven its efficiency and numerous advantages – many companies and business people continue to operate without it. But, according to some recent studies, almost 20% of businesses intend to implement cloud computing into their day-to-day business.
CC is especially present in the tech business, mostly because of the familiarity and understanding the benefits of the cloud. For those who are not familiar with the concept or the benefits it provides, we’re going to explain what cloud computing is. Additionally, we have compiled a list of several key factors and reasons why cloud computing is essential to the success of your business. So, without further ado, let’s get started.
First of all, we’ve mentioned that it has been around for some time now, however, it still isn’t applied everywhere. If it’s so useful, why is that? Well, to put it simply, there was no need for it until recently. Nowadays, because of the digitalization of the world and the enormous amounts of data being used or shared daily, it’s becoming really hard and expensive to have it stored on personal, in-house computers or servers.
So, that’s where the cloud comes in. It allows for safe data storage and computing power, without the need for physical drives or servers, just an internet connection. Cloud computing offers on-demand availability of resources to anyone with access to the internet and the cloud itself.
Now that we’ve understood what the cloud is, let’s see what are the benefits of cloud computing and how it can help your business.
1. It saves money
Many people worry about the cost of transferring to cloud computing. Sure, the initial cost is not insignificant, but that’s not the way you should approach things. If you are deciding on whether to switch to the cloud or not, considering only the initial cost would be a bad strategy. After you’ve joined the cloud, much easier access to data will save both money and time. Another thing that is often overlooked, or more precisely misunderstood, is the fact that you are not going to waste money on the additional stuff the cloud has to offer aside from storage.
Most cloud-computing services are based on the pay-as-you-go system, which means that you will only pay for what you need. That goes for every aspect of the cloud, including the storage space. You’ll be able to choose how much space you need and pay accordingly. When you take all of it into consideration, you’ll end up with more money in your pocket after all expenses have been paid than if you’d continue the traditional way.
2. Security
The thing that worries a large number of people is the security of your data since it’s online. Since everything is kept online, in a virtual space, how can it be protected? If you can access it easily in just a couple of clicks, what’s stopping a hacker from doing the same? To be honest, a fair amount of stuff. There are certain abstract walls and locks and safes put in place to ensure the cloud from being breached from outside unauthorised personnel, or a hacker in this case.
Many services provide you with a direct connection to the cloud, away from the public internet, like for example consoleconnect.com. You might think it is much safer to keep all of the stuff on the drives you have on sight, but the reality is, in most cases where there’s a data leak of sorts, it’s an inside job. So, to sum it all up, if the security’s your concern, then you should definitely switch to cloud computing.
3. Mobility
Since cloud computing is remotely accessible, your team, employees and you will be able to access any corporate date via mobile phones or tablets. That is very important considering that everyone in the modern world owns and uses a smartphone. That way you don’t have to worry about some information not reaching certain someone. Everyone and everywhere can stay in the loop, communicate with each other and clients without actually having to be on site. It’s a great way to make sure some of the staff that is on the road has access to everything and allows you to have employees that work from home and so on.
4. Easier teamwork
Majority of the projects companies take on require more than one employee on it, it almost always a team of several professionals. Having them collaborate in the most efficient way possible is what you should strive for and cloud computing can offer you that and more. Every member of the team can share and receive information from another team member, making sure everyone is up to date on the progress. It makes it easier to prevent mistakes, hit goals on time and just make the work more efficient, plain and simple. It’s entirely possible to achieve this level of teamwork without the cloud, but it’s much, much harder. Making it easy and simple is what you should aim for.
5. Easier overview
In the same way, it helps communication and teamwork, it provides insight and eliminates the need for constant reports. Since all the documents and work data are stored in a single place and format, it’s much easier to avoid inconsistencies, human error and so on. It provides you with a sort of a bird’s point of view into the whole project or business making it easier to keep error-free.
6. Data loss prevention
No matter how secure or expensive the equipment where you store your data is, it’s always susceptible to damage. Parts can be damaged, broken and so on, which could result in you permanently losing all of your data. It can happen at any time for various reasons – hardware damage, software infections, user error and many more. With the cloud, all of your information is safe from those kinds of things and even if your hardware breaks, your data will still be intact.
Hopefully, this article has successfully highlighted the best features of cloud computing and made you consider switching to it.
