What are the Advantages of Cloud Computing for Your Business

If you are a business owner, you are likely to hear the term ‘cloud computing’ being used more frequently than ever. There’s a reasonable explanation for this, of course. Although cloud computing has been present for a long time, there are many advantages to cloud computing that seems to have taken the technology world by storm. Here’s why.

What is Cloud Computing?

If you are unfamiliar with cloud computing, let’s take a moment to explain what it actually is. The term ‘cloud’, in this context, typically refers to the internet itself. Cloud computing is a form of internet computing, whereby services such as storage, applications and servers are delivered to a company’s computers through the internet. As such, businesses are able to ‘rent’ access to computing infrastructure from a cloud service provider, rather than purchasing their own.

Advantages of Cloud Computing

Address ageing infrastructure: The majority of cloud services download updates automatically, saving you the time you’d need to manually download updates when using traditional infrastructure. Often, cloud service providers will handle data backups and maintenance, leaving you with more time to focus on business development.

Cost savings: There are a number of ways that cloud computing can save your business money. Because cloud computing is so simple to use, you may not need a dedicated IT division within your team, saving your company the cost of wages. If you are a growing company, with time it will become more complex and expensive to keep up with your storage needs. Migrating to the cloud is a cheaper alternative to investing in further infrastructure to meet business growth. Lastly, given the ‘pay-as-you-go’ nature of cloud services, there is no capital expenditure necessary. This means that cloud computing can be claimed as an operating expense.

Global accessibility: If your own business or your clients plan to expand geographically, cloud migration is the most efficient and cost effective option to combat the physical distance and difficulty of establishing IT infrastructure in more regions. Cloud computing allows remotely located employees or clients to access the information and applications they need to instantaneously and with ease. Moreso, it will save you the investment, time and maintenance needed to support such infrastructure.

Source: Inquisitive https://www.inquisitive.com/unit/30-global-connections

Flexibility & Scalability: As a user of the cloud, you can increase or decrease almost instantaneously as your business needs them to, at the click of a button. Traditional IT infrastructure is simply not as flexible or forgiving as its cloud computing counterpart. If, within your business, IT demand is likely to fluctuate, cloud migration could offer the flexibility to cater for such fluctuations, and at a much lower cost than traditional infrastructure. Moreso, being on the cloud can boost overall business performance and productivity, as it allows employees to access the cloud to work from home or remotely if the need arises.

More environmentally friendly: As more businesses are migrating to the cloud, there are less individual IT infrastructures operating worldwide. Essentially, this means that less energy is being consumed overall and less omissions are dispersed into the atmosphere. This is incredibly beneficial as businesses and brands worldwide continue to face public pressure to reduce their carbon footprint.

Source: Tech Republic https://www.techrepublic.com/article/going-green-10-ways-to-make-your-office-more-eco-friendly-and-efficient/

Overall, cloud computing services are designed with the end user in mind, offering never before seen flexibility, convenience and simplicity to streamline business processes. If you are considering cloud migration, HIOD IT’s professionals can assist your business with the migration process and help you choose the best cloud service provider based on your individual business needs. Contact HIOD IT today for a quote!