Although the importance of cloud computing is overlooked by most, it remains vital to how small and medium-sized businesses function in the 21st Century. Check out these 10 Advantages to Cloud Computing for Small to Medium Business.
Advantages to Cloud Computing for Small to Medium Business
What is the cloud and why is cloud computing so important? Essentially the idea is, it’s a network of remote servers that allows you to access shared applications, storage and other computing resources by way of an internet-based facility. This replaces the need for having to install additional hardware. It’s a special kind of technology that’s all around you – operating in your everyday life.
Everything is moving to the cloud. It’s because there are many common cloud computing use cases that make life easier for users and businesses. It improves cash flow, increases efficiency and offers many other advantages, including these 10 down below.
1. Flexibility
When you own a business, having the necessary flexibility is key. This is where cloud computing for small to medium businesses comes in. When you’re on the go you can rely on the cloud to provide access to modify and save files from any device in any location.
So if you want to access virtual resources like protected storage, web applications, or redundant firewalls for example, you can do so by utilizing any device connected via the internet. This kind of activity can give any relatively small business an upper hand on the competition.
2. Portability – Remote IT Infrastructure
To touch on flexibility further, we must include how the cloud offers near limitless computer resources to its users regardless of their location.
The ability to allocate an entire server-farm’s equivalent of compute power for any project or task via a few simple clicks is undeniably appealing. Every major player in business uses this kind of platform to provide its users and internal employees access to their secured data.
3. Data Security
Storing files and important data via the cloud can be safer than traditional means like on your phone or computer. There are often many, many layers that go into cloud computing security so that the best cloud service providers can offer infrastructure that is fully redundant and highly available.
4. Software Updates
Automatic software updates are another perk you get from moving over to a cloud computing system. One thing that can harm productivity of a business is running out of date software, as many owners neglect this important step altogether. With the cloud, it is the job of the cloud service provider to responsibly manage aspects of maintenance and software updates without you having to worry.
5. Environmentally Friendly
Cloud computing can be scaled to fit whatever your business needs are. Before you had to buy physical machines yourself, pay to power the entire server room, and pay employees to do maintenance. Now, you only have to pay for resources you need, which helps the environment with less carbon footprint. I mean, anyone can get behind this, right?
6. Affordable Pay-as-You-Use Pricing
This might be one of the most compelling reasons to utilize cloud computing for small to medium business. Most cloud computing services are extremely affordable. Instead of buying outright, when using public cloud services you only have to pay for what cloud resources your small or medium size business requires. Most notably, pricing is structured to offer flexible pricing options based on scale and load at any given time. Cloud computing eliminates the need to buy expensive hardware and software that you probably will otherwise use sparingly.
7. Secured Data & Protected Storage
Cloud computing puts businesses in control of their data and documentation more efficiently. In the old days – when the cloud wasn’t around – workers had to send files back and forth as email attachments. Consequently, this was time-consuming because that attachment could only be worked on by one worker at a time. Additionally, running intensive projects that had high levels of I/O (input/output) requirements meant the needs for bulky, expensive equipment.
Now, utilizing cloud computing for small to medium business allows you to handle large, data driven projects and applications. As a result, those same businesses can now process a trillion user-driven events on any day.
8. Better Collaboration
The cloud allows better collaboration with team members. Now teams can access, edit and share documents anywhere. A cloud-based system along with file sharing apps boosts productivity, so the work is done quicker and more efficiently.
There are many SaaS Providers that offer features like real-time updates and full visibility of who’s doing what. That being the case, the cloud should be a no brainer for businesses. Dropbox, Evernote, Microsoft Office, and Google Apps are some of the leaders in SaaS driven collaborative services.
9. Emergency Data Backup & Recovery
One of the great advantages of being in the cloud is the ability to generate automatic backups/snapshots. Thus, this can be extremely useful when it comes to disaster recovery. This is deeply tied into what’s offered through cloud security. In an event you lose your files, you can have a backup and recovery solution running in the background, ready to be reverted back to in case of data loss or security breach. This allows you to securely restore all of your secured data and make sure your protected storage stays protected. When it comes to cloud computing for small to medium business this is one of the most important factors to consider.
10. Cost Efficiency
Going the cloud computing route is insanely cost efficient. You save money by off-loading all your network strain on to a company better equipped to handle it. Why go through the hassle of spending tens of thousands on hardware, maintenance, power, customer service reps, etc. when you can pay a fraction of the cost monthly?
Read more about how SkySilk helps small to mid-sized businesses on our About Us page.