Raise your hand if you want to find an easy way to help save your business time, money, and major stress.
Yeah, we’re right there with you.
The good news is, the answer to these problems can be as simple as integrating some good ‘ol fashioned, high-quality cloud computing solutions into your daily business operations diet.
Before we dive into the juicy part about how your business can dramatically benefit from cloud computing, we first want to briefly explain what it is.
WHAT IS CLOUD COMPUTING?
Simply put, cloud computing is on-demand access, via the Internet, to computing resources—applications, servers (physical servers and virtual servers), data storage, development tools, networking capabilities, and more. Think of it as GrubHub for all of your computing needs.
Cloud computing takes all the heavy lifting involved in crunching and processing data away from the device you carry around or sit and work at. It also moves all of that work to huge computer clusters far away in cyberspace. The Internet becomes “the cloud,” and voilà—your data, work, and applications are available from any device with which you can connect to the Internet, anywhere in the world.
Pretty cool, right?
So how exactly can all of this help your business save time, money, and that stress we all know and, well, love to hate?
Check out these 6 benefits of cloud computing:
1. SCALABLE HARDWARE YOU CAN GROW INTO
Far too often, organizations buy bundles of products and services that include more than they need or can even use. These so-called “money-saving” bundles end up driving up their IT costs exponentially. By implementing scalable (virtual) hardware, you only pay for what you actually use, so there’s no wasted money on unnecessary products or services.
Scalable hardware allows organizations to steadily add new components over time as they grow. By adding new advanced technologies, their networks can stay current as these upgrades often result in better performance and a longer life span.
2. NO INITIAL CAPITAL OUTLAY IS REQUIRED
With cloud computing, you don’t have to shell out big bucks up front to set it up. You’ll pay for services monthly based on what you onboard. You can plan out a budget, so you’ll know how much you’ll spend over time based on the products and services you actually use.
Also, you won’t have to worry about your technology becoming obsolete or upgrading every few months as the onus for that will be on your provider.
You can learn how to successfully navigate the cloud without blowing your budget in one of our previous blogs.
3. MOBILITY
Since cloud-based programs can be accessed and used remotely, they allow business owners and their employees to complete tasks from anywhere they have an internet connection, without the need for additional space or resources.
Small businesses typically run on as little manpower as possible in order to save money for profits. Allowing the entire team to work from anywhere on any device only increases productivity and efficiency. And we’re all about that.
4. PRODUCTIVITY
Mobility is one way that cloud computing increases productivity, but it’s not alone. Another benefit comes from greater collaboration among teams. With so many employees working from remote locations, teamwork can be one area that takes a hit.
But by conducting business in the cloud, teams can not only collaborate through mutual communication, but they can access and update the same documents without the need to save copies and send email attachments to one another. Cloud services even allow employees to share calendars and task lists, ensuring that everyone is always on the same page.
Furthermore, cloud computing is known to be faster than traditional data solutions, so employees can spend more time working and less time waiting for programs to load.
5. SECURITY
If you operate your own business at any level, you know what a disaster it would be to lose your data. But even on-site data storage options are typically only as secure as the hardware in which they reside. One equipment failure could cost thousands in recovery costs and time. It gives us nightmares just thinking about it.
But by backing up data into the cloud, you can be assured that you’ll be able to retrieve the most recent versions of all documents with only an internet connection. Not even natural disasters can become a long-term obstacle to efficient operations.
In fact, as long as your cloud computing provider is operational, you can usually restore your systems within minutes. Cloud computing also provides enhanced security against data theft – protecting not only your business but also your customers from pesky hackers and data thieves.
6. INSIGHT
As we move even further into the digital age, it's becoming clearer that the old adage “knowledge is power” has taken on a more modern and accurate form: “Data is money.”
There are a million nuggets of invaluable, actionable information within your customer data and business transactions just waiting to be identified and acted upon. Of course, sifting through that data to find these kernels can be a monster of a process unless you have access to the right cloud-computing solution.
Many cloud-based storage solutions offer integrated cloud analytics for a bird's-eye view of your data. With your information stored in the cloud, you can easily implement tracking mechanisms and build customized reports to analyze information organization-wide. From those insights, you can increase efficiencies and build action plans to meet organizational goals. Now that’s what we’re talking about!
As you can see from the list above, there are a whole host of different reasons why cloud computing can benefit you and your business. Now is the time to take advantage of this area of tech to see what a difference it could make to your company as a whole.
