Key Advantages of Cloud Computing
By Space Coast Daily // February 17, 2021
While cloud computing has been around for a long time now, there are many businesses and individuals who are only just waking up to its benefits.
If you are still hesitant about adopting this system yourself, the following blog post aims to present some of the main advantages in a clear and concise manner.
Cost Savings
For many business owners, running a more cost-effective enterprise is their number one priority. Many people focus solely on the monthly costs without taking into account the rest of the return on investment.
Once you invest in cloud-based services, this makes files and data much easier to access, which can save a great deal of time. Time is money – as the old saying goes!
As cloud systems charge you for the specific amount of storage that you require, there is no danger that you are going to pay for more than you need. If more storage is required as your business grows and develops, you can always upgrade to a bigger storage system.
Security Concerns
Online security is quite rightly a big concern these days. Not only are people looking to defend their own data, but the same is true for the personal information of their customers as well. With regards to cloud computing security, the job of the host is to manage and protect all the data.
Many data breaches that happen at businesses are down to their own staff members and not the fault of breached to cloud-based software. In fact as more people switch to cloud computing, a large percentage of businesses report an improvement in their overall security rather than a worsening.
By using this system information is encrypted which makes it less accessible to hackers – even if they get in, they cannot read the data.
Flexibility
Nowadays, businesses are operating in an increasingly remote capacity. The events of 2020 have only sought to accelerate this trend significantly. Companies need to be freer than ever before, and there is no doubt that cloud computing can play a major role in this.
If you keep all your data and network solutions in-house, this means that you have to invest in the software and team to keep everything properly protected. However, switching to the cloud takes this particular responsibility out of your hands.
As a result, you will often find yourself in a position to meet the business demands of the modern world. Not only this, but staff members are able to access their files from wherever they are in the world, which means that everybody no longer has to be tethered to the same office space.
Improved Mobility
Building on the point made above, offices can now exist wherever an employee chooses to lay their laptop or turn on their smartphone. Therefore, business hours no longer have to be restricted – and the same is also true of location.
You are much more likely to be working with freelance or remote employees these days. This can be an arrangement that is beneficial from both points of view. More and more members of staff are looking for that level of flexibility to be built into their schedule – and there is no doubt that cloud computing can help out in this area significantly.
Enhanced Collaboration
While people may be working from different locations and keeping unusual hours, this does not mean that the collaboration side of the business should be lost entirely. In fact, it remains as vital as it ever was. Cloud computing can help to aid collaboration in a business world that is increasingly fractured.
Not only can information be shared, but it can also be edited. You may also have the type of cloud-based software package that allows for social spaces. While collaboration may be able to exist without it, there is no doubt that it tends to be a lot more time-consuming. Again, this takes us back to the old ‘time is money’ adage.
Disaster Recovery
No matter what type of business you choose to run, it is almost inevitable that disasters of one description or another are going to occur along the way. The art of running a successful business is not about preventing these from happening entirely.
Instead, it is all about how well you can respond to them, as well as how quickly you can get back up on your feet once again. Cloud-based services have quick data recovery built-in, protecting against a wide range of emergency situations that could occur such as a power outage or natural disaster. Recovery time is often significantly quicker in cloud services than those that are still non-cloud users.
Sustainability
Quite rightly, more and more businesses are putting emphasis on their own carbon footprint and environmental impact. Cloud-based services cause less damage to the environment, and they also encourage people to work online rather than requiring them to print everything off all the time.