Cloud computing has brought a revolution in the way businesses around the world operate. From simple data storage medium to providing infrastructure to handle large-scale international business units, cloud computing has come a long way to leverage technology and help individuals and organizations alike. Cloud computing offers ease-of-use, convenience, flexibility, mobility, security, as well as affordability. Moreover, it has given rise to several cloud-based service paradigms such as DaaS, FaaS, IaaS, and more. Here are 5 different ways cloud computing can help your business grow and succeed while saving time and money.
Improved collaboration
Collaboration is very crucial for any business. It improves the way teams work and perform collectively. While companies have already been struggling to innovate and improve the process efficiencies to improve the collaboration, the ongoing pandemic further added challenges to the process. Thanks to advancements in cloud computing, companies are now able to leverage several cloud-based paradigms at any time on almost any device with an active internet connection. Several cloud-based SaaS tools, services, and virtual instances are allowing businesses to choose greater collaboration, particularly for businesses with remote employees. The use of cloud-based tools is allowing teams to collaborate in several industries such as IT, media, retail, and more. These cloud platforms are also allowing companies across the globe to streamline their operations while allowing them to react swiftly to business opportunities by means of effective information sharing.
Lower costs
One of the major advantages cloud computing or its associated services has to offer is that it can help businesses save a lot of money on equipment, maintenance, and usage costs. Before cloud computing, it was a norm for companies to purchase infrastructure along with other enterprise solutions to run the business. However, this often translated to a heavy cost-overhead, that many SMBs struggled to afford. With the advent of Cloud computing, companies are able to rent resources and enterprise solutions on a subscription basis, mitigating the need for heavy upfront costs.
Rather than having in-house systems and software solutions brought and developed, SMBs are now paying cloud vendors to do the heavy lifting of setup, maintenance, security, and other overheads. The upfront costs which were once mandatory to start a business can now be used to scale and grow the business and its operations.
Reliability for business continuity
With a growing online presence and dependency on technology, service downtimes can have a tremendous impact on businesses. The longer the downtime is, the greater is the loss a company incurs in revenue and in reputation. Having to maintain and operate the infrastructure and services requires in-house expertise and technical staff. Even then, certain cyberattacks or server overload issues could result in downtimes. Employing cloud services can help businesses mitigate this by means of reliable continuity. Cloud vendors who provide these services are usually equipped with large-scale infrastructure and technical support capable of handling several minor to major issues to ensure all their clients and users experience almost negligible downtimes. They also undertake the responsibility of security as well as efficiency while helping businesses mitigate the hassles of power cuts to natural disasters.
Staying secure
Cybersecurity is of paramount importance for almost every business now. With the growing number of cybercriminals along with the increasingly sophisticated malware, staying secure in this contemporary IT world is considered very tough and cost-oriented. Dealing with a variety of cyberattacks such as data loss, phishing, ransomware, and other hacks can be lethal for companies especially for those without an entire dedicated IT team. Cloud services on the other hand can not only offer services and tools for the companies to leverage but can also provide the cybersecurity the companies need to stay safe. Several major cloud providers go to a great extent to keep their users’ data secure. They can provide safety from intruders through firewalls and antivirus services and can also help companies with data backup and recovery in case of a disaster. Moreover, cloud providers also give their users the freedom to determine their own security settings, measures, and restrictions to ensure their safety.
Cloud automation
As the name suggests, cloud automation is the practice that allows businesses to achieve automation in their processes and operations by means of tools, services, and software.
Cloud automation tools are not only helping businesses to automatically manage their cloud instances and resources but are also enabling the companies to make the most out of their cloud services. Cloud services can also help organizations to save time and money by offering several apps and services that they can leverage for their business continuity and operations. For example, the rise of automated or AI-based chatbots is helping companies cut down the expenses required to hire and maintain a dedicated support team.
Empowering employees
As companies grow, the need for effective communication and collaboration becomes more crucial. Before the advent of cloud services, businesses struggled to achieve this as they grow in scale and operations. Thankfully, the cloud allows users to access resources and collaborate from anywhere with speed and efficiency. The SaaS platform has now reached a state where accessing data over the cloud is an easy and hassle free process. Almost any device with an active internet connection can enable users to stay connected while empowering them to achieve more. When leveraged properly, cloud services can also enable the employees to achieve a better work-life balance.
Cloud services can also provide businesses with better control over their data, resources, and security. They come with timely and often free updates of the tools and services and can also help companies get to market faster. Cloud paradigm can also help companies scale without leaving massive carbon footprints which would have been caused before the cloud platform was adopted.
