Cloud computing has taken the business world by storm, fulfilling so many needs and simplifying as many processes. If you’ve been on the fence about incorporating the cloud into your IT infrastructure, you should know a few of these benefits to help you make your choice.
Cost Efficiency
Let’s face it, when you’re running a business, cost is a factor in every decision you have to make. Leveraging the cloud for any variety of purposes can help you to trim some expenses and make others stretch a little further. First and foremost, using third-party cloud platforms means that you don’t need to account for infrastructure costs. Your cloud host takes care of maintaining the hardware and software needed to keep the platform up and running. Any potential issues are taken care of by your vendor which frees up IT budget and employees’ time.
A cloud setup also provides the ability to scale your resources to match your needs, ensuring that you aren’t paying for more than you need. As your organization grows, you can also grow your cloud. This simplifies your budget and may help free up some capital to invest in other business needs. Get the computing power you need when you need it.
Multiple Purposes
While the cloud is most famously associated with storage, it has the capability to serve your business in other ways as well. For instance, the cloud can host your software solutions for you as a part of a Software as a Service agreement. In these cases, any time there are improvements made and a new version is available, your solutions will be upgraded immediately.
Alternatively, the cloud can be used to facilitate a backup and disaster recovery strategy. By housing a backup of your data in an offsite cloud environment, it will be safe should some calamity damage your in-house infrastructure. In these cases, you can even virtualize your systems and run them directly from the cloud to preserve productivity while the office is repaired.
Finally, we return to storage, as it relates to the collaborative benefits to be had with the cloud. By storing business files and data in the cloud, you and your employees can share access and work together to achieve your shared company goals—whether you are in the office or working remotely.
Many in the modern workforce want to work remotely. In fact, 80% of employees want to work from home at least some of the time. Remote work isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. With the right remote work tools, cloud computing can significantly improve productivity and efficiency.
Security
Your data is undeniably precious to your business, and as a result, it must be protected from threats, both external and internal. Using the cloud permits you to keep your most sensitive data accessible to authorized users yet provides cutting edge protection from those who aren’t.
Keep in mind that your staff will still need to take cybersecurity precautions to ensure the safety of your business data. While you’re likely thinking about your business’s security, your employees might not keep it top of mind. Externally, ransomware is an ever-looming threat. One phony email could expose your company.
Luckily, most cloud solutions offer excellent security protocols that will give you a great cybersecurity foundation for you to build on. If you’re interested in making your organization more secure, fill out our survey. After completing this 2-minute survey, one our in-house experts will reach out with the results.
If you want to utilize the cloud to reap these benefits and more, reach out to Exact IT Consulting. Exact IT helps organizations scale in a standardized and centralized way as well as adhere to ever-changing compliance standards by using the cloud as a more efficient way to manage your hosting needs.
Our experienced IT professionals can assist with physical to cloud server migrations, cloud backup solutions, and Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure setup and management.
