What is the cloud and why should your business care?

Why you should care - the advantages of cloud computing

Cost saving. This is probably the single most compelling reason why companies choose to move their network (all or in part) to the cloud. Not only do you save money on software licenses, but on hardware (servers and workstations) as well as on IT support and upgrades. With cloud computing operational costs are handled by the cloud provider. Through economies of scale often these costs are lower than if organizations incurred them at their office. Cost savings can often be seen in lower utility bills (less electrical demand for technology and the associated air conditioning expense to keep equipment cool). The other often overlooked expense is the physical square footage for the computing equipment if housed onsite. Without the need to deploy technology onsite, organizations can repurpose the previous server room space for revenue generation.

Access systems anywhere at any time. If you travel a lot, have remote workers, or prefer to use an iPad while traveling and a laptop at your house, cloud computing will give you the ability to work from any of these devices. Remote access has become more than just a “nice-to-have” feature, it has become the new standard in many businesses. As organizations continue to explore hybrid work arrangements providing additional remote workers access to technology is paramount.

Turn-key security and administration. It is one thing to set up a server or workstation and quite a different situation to ensure that it’s properly protected and proactively managed. Many cloud providers offer a turn-key solution to their cloud offerings that often extends to security and network monitoring. Configuring a new physical out-of-the-box server that arrives at your office can consume a great deal of internal time. Instead of fighting with the complexities and ever changing security landscape businesses can, with a click of a button, start up a new workload knowing that it is protected and proactively monitored immediately. Business owners enjoy this piece of mind knowing that their company’s information and systems are protected.

Disaster recovery and backup are automated. The server in your office is extremely vulnerable to a number of threats, including viruses, human error, hardware failure, software corruption and, of course, physical damage due to a fire, flood, or other natural disaster. If your server were in the cloud and your office was reduced to a pile of rubble, you could purchase a new laptop and be back up and running within the same day. This would not be the case if you had a traditional network and were using tape drives, CDs, USB, external hard drives or other physical storage devices to back up your system.

Plus, like a public utility, cloud platforms are far more robust and secure than your average business network because they can utilize economies of scale to invest heavily into security, redundancy, and failover systems, making them far less likely to go down.

Easily adjust to staffing levels. If you have a seasonal workforce or a lot of turn-over, cloud computing can help lower your costs of setting up new accounts and often makes the onboarding and offboarding process much faster. With cloud computing you can leverage resources without having to purchase the underlying equipment. More specifically, you do not own the responsibility of having to install, update and maintain the infrastructure. Think of it as similar to living in a condo where someone else takes care of the building maintenance, repairing the roof and mowing the lawn, but you still have the only key to your section of the building and use of all the facilities. This is particularly attractive for companies that are new or expanding, but do not want the heavy outlay of cash for purchasing and supporting an expensive computer network.