Cloud computing, which has been around for the past twenty years, is essentially computing based on the internet. In other words, instead of downloading and installing a software on your computer (as it used to be in the past), now you can gain access to the full-fledged version of the same software over the internet. This is cloud computing.
As you can tell by the definition, cloud computing is convenient with endless possibilities and immense convenience. The benefits of cloud computing are numerous and more and more businesses are moving towards it. However, there still remain a lot of organizations that have not moved towards it.
This article will explain the ten most important benefits of cloud computing for your business if you are thinking about moving towards it. There are numerous companies out there, like Conaxiom, which provide cloud services like web app development on a cloud platform of your choice as well as data migration from your old legacy systems into the cloud platform of your choice.
1. Cost Effectiveness:
Cloud computing is based on the fact that the cloud servers that your computers will be accessing will have their own data centers and hardware systems which will be managed by your cloud service provider and the cloud platform that you would have chosen. As a result, you will not have to spend anything on installing new hardware or data centers and paying a full dedicated IT team to run and manage it.
Moreover, cloud services are based on a pay-as-you-go system in which you will be provided with cloud services tailored to your business. You will not have to pay for features that you will never use or space that you will never use. This saves up money and at a low cost gives higher returns since cloud computing will save you on money that would otherwise have been spent on downtime (which rarely happens on cloud systems) or an IT team responsible for managing your systems.
2. Security of Data:
You would obviously be concerned about the security of your business data in a cloud infrastructure. When your data is not kept onsite, it will obviously seem less secure. We are here to tell you that on the contrary, cloud based data is much more secure. The cloud platform (which your cloud service provider will use) has a few main jobs, the foremost of which is monitoring security of the data it is hosting. They take most, if not all, of the following security measures:
- Granular Permissions
- Access Management via federated roles
- Encryption
- Authentication
- Access Control
These measures reduce the surface for an attack my malicious parties and restrict access of data only to those employees with clearance and who require it. Moreover, a lot of businesses also install additional security measures on their computers which doubly secures their data.
Another factor to consider is that most of data theft incidents occur internally and while businesses do not like to delve into this unpleasant possibility, keeping data offsite like with a cloud host, it makes it more secure from employees who might be tilting towards perpetrating data theft.
RapidScale says that 94% of businesses saw their security improve when switching to cloud computing and 91% said that cloud computing allows for easier government compliance with regards to security.
3. Mobility:
Cloud allows for remote access from mobile phones and other devices as long as they are connected to the internet. So workers working remotely or on leave can still have access to their client data and communicate with their coworkers from any device they own and no one is left out of the loop. Moreover, updates of the system are done remotely by the cloud host so that is another thing that your company’s IT staff will not have to worry about or stay onsite for and will be able to work remotely as well.
4. Collaboration:
If your company has more than one employees, collaboration is key. Cloud computing immensely simplifies collaboration where team members will be able to see what their coworkers are working on and will prevent any confusion or conflicts. Furthermore, some cloud based apps have collaborative social spaces specifically designed for employees to communicate with each other which further increases collaboration.
5. Disaster Retrieval:
Deployment across several locations allows for cloud users to utilize uninterrupted end level use even if one or more of the locations experience downtime for any reason. Statistics indicate that 20% of cloud users reported disaster recovery in four hours or less while only 9% of non-cloud users reported the same timeline in the case of natural disasters, power outages or even downtime.
6. Avoiding Data Loss:
If all your data is kept onsite and your office computer or even your personal computer malfunctions (which they do for various reasons) or is stolen, then all your data is gone, never to be recovered. In contrast, cloud storage allows for data recovery and actually prevents loss of data since any device at your disposal with an internet connection will be able to access data. If that device is stolen or malfunctions, your data is still secure on the cloud and is not tied to any of your office computers or your own devices.
7. Competitiveness:
Considering the numerous advantages that cloud based systems bring, especially cost savings, shifting to a cloud based system will give your business an edge over other businesses. A lot of companies still prefer to keep their data locally and you will come out ahead over these businesses since your profit margins will increase and your data will not be vulnerable to malicious attacks, natural disasters, power outages or malfunctions.
Moreover, if you implement a cloud solution now, you will be ahead of the learning curve compared to your competitors who might choose to implement it later on, giving you another significant head start.
Conclusion:
Cloud adoption is on the rise with every passing year. Businesses are realizing all the above listed benefits and are satisfied with the initial cost considering their ROI. They are able to account for and prevent a lot of the problems that are endemic in companies that keep everything onsite and will gain a competitive edge over them. Cloud based solutions have almost no downtime (if ever) and are more secure, cheap, collaborative, mobile, environmental friendly and energy efficient since they do not require the installation of additional hardware and setting up data centers that yield astronomical energy bills.
