According to Webopedia “Cloud Computing” is defined as a type of computing that relies on sharing computing resources, rather than having local servers or personal devices to handle applications. Cloud computing is comparable to grid computing, a type of computing where unused processing cycles of all computers in a network are harnessed to solve problems too intensive for any stand-alone machine.
For small and medium size businesses (SMB), the benefits of cloud computing are currently driving their adoption. In the SMB sector there is often a lack of time and financial resources to procure, deploy and maintain an infrastructure like software, server and storage systems. In cloud computing, small businesses can access these resources using an Internet connection and Web browser. They can expand or shrink services as their business needs change. The common pay-as-you-go subscription model is designed to let SMBs easily add or remove services, and they typically will only pay for what they actually use.
Here are the five of the top advantages of leveraging IT Services in the cloud:
- LOW CAPITAL EXEPENDITURE – Perhaps the most significant cloud computing advantage is in terms of IT cost savings. The ability to source IT Services on demand, allows businesses to move to an investment model based on operational expenditure. They are no longer required to commit to large scale capital projects, spending thousands on servers and software licenses, which may only have a limited lifespan. When businesses source IT services in the cloud, it is the vendor that takes the responsibility for the majority of the infrastructure. The lack of on-premises infrastructure also removes the associated operational expenses in terms of energy consumption and administrative costs. You pay for what you use and disengage whenever you decide. There is no invested IT capital to worry about.
- SCALABILITY – Your Cloud computing provider is responsible for your server, software and network management in-house. IT experts can be allocated for other work. Because of the highly scalable nature of cloud computing, many organizations are now relying on managed data centers where there are cloud experts trained in maintaining and scaling shared, private and hybrid clouds. This will allow you to support your business growth without expensive changes to your current IT systems.
- FLEXIBILITY – Employees can work from almost any location. They can access important files, data, documents and IT tools from a range of smart devices from almost any internet connected zones. Since users will only be charged for the amount of time they use the service or resources, this helps reduce the expense required. Innovation will be able to spring from constant experimentation. The ability to implement new ideas will succeed. On demand cloud resources provide the way to try out new ideas without extreme investments in supporting systems.
- RELIABILITY – With a managed service platform, cloud computing is much more reliable and consistent than in-house IT infrastructures. Most vendors offer SLA’s (Service Level Agreements) which guarantees 24/7/365 and 99.9999% availability. Your business will benefit from a large pool of redundant IT resources, as well as quick failover mechanisms. If a server fails, hosted applications and services can easily be transited to any of the available servers. In the early days of the cloud, worries over the security of data hosted off-site, were seen as a notable inhibitor to service procurement. However, as cloud computing has matured and business people have gained more of an understanding how it works, many of these fears have been alleviated.
- BUSINESS CONTINUITY – One of the most important benefits of a remote working capability, is the fact that in the event of a disaster, the continuity of operations will never be in doubt. Should there be natural disaster, theft, technology outage, or other condition preventing people from getting to the office, they will have the option of working from a different location. They can log in as normal, access their work desktop, and continue as they would have done on any normal working day. All files and data are hosted in the cloud, and are accessible from almost any internet connected systems.
Would you like to understand more about the benefits of Cloud Computing for your business? Call us any time at (630) 365-0025.
