If you are a business owner or decision-maker, you are more than likely aware of the term ‘cloud computing’. The adoption of cloud services has become commonplace for large and small organisations alike. Not only is this sort of remote server access becoming increasingly necessary for data storage, but there are a myriad of further benefits that come from working with a cloud service provider.
What is cloud computing?
Cloud computing is a term that encompasses a wide range of services made possible by the existence of a remote server. Many organisations outsource their cloud computing needs to a cloud service provider such as iomart; who take responsibility for the implementation of things like cloud storage, software, and the fundamental infrastructure needed to access and use the cloud.
There are a few different benefits of cloud computing, ranging from enhanced security to a reduced carbon footprint.
Advantages of cloud computing
Cost efficiency
Cloud computing can be great for decreasing your up-front costs. By outsourcing your cloud infrastructure to a third party, your organisation forgoes the responsibility of buying expensive equipment like racks and cooling machines, resulting in huge cost savings. What’s more, your employees will have more time to spend on interesting projects without the need for ongoing server and storage maintenance.
Reduced carbon output
As well as reducing maintenance and power costs, outsourcing your cloud infrastructure means fewer onsite servers and cooling units, which in turn, means a greatly reduced carbon footprint for your organisation.
Cloud computing also means that working remotely is a much more seamless process for your organisation. Not only does it ensure better infrastructure, like connectivity and communications, it means that employees are able to embrace hybrid working. This in turn, means less travelling and commuting time, which also reduces your organisation’s carbon footprint.
Automatic software and hardware upgrades
Your cloud storage provider will be responsible for taking care of any updates that need to be carried out on your servers, hardware or software. These kinds of updates are a necessary evil and can take a long time. So, again, using a cloud service provider frees up resources for your organisation and allows you to task your employees with more pressing matters.
Increased security measures
First of all, threats and incidents like cyber attacks, hardware failure, power outages and overloaded servers on your cloud based applications can be dealt with much more easily with the help of a cloud provider. This is because they are continuously monitoring the infrastructure that houses your stored data. It’s essentially like having a 24/7 virtual security guard.
Also, data stored by cloud providers is usually encrypted. The type of security controls implemented are down to the preference of your organisation, for example, your organisation might want to place restrictions on who can access certain files, or it might want to make all files available to everyone in the organisation. That being said, if your organisation is considering moving its data to the cloud, security measures must be taken before you move to the cloud and not treated as an afterthought once you’ve migrated.
Dynamic and flexible scalability
Another bonus of using a cloud service provider is the opportunity for scalability, giving you a competitive edge over other organisations in your industry. Your organisation can scale resources up or down as and when it needs. With pay-as-you-go cloud, you only pay for what you need, but costs can skyrocket as your business grows. By going with a provider, you can opt for a fixed term contract designed around your business’ current and predicted future requirements. With this option, you may be paying a little more up front, but it’s much better for cash flow and forecasting in the long run.
24/365 mobile access to business files
Providing you have a good internet connection and a capable device, cloud computing means you can access cloud data from your business servers from anywhere in the world. This is especially useful for collaborating in real-time on projects, particularly when working remotely. It also allows you to travel for business whilst always staying connected with what’s happening back on home soil.
Data recovery
Data loss can be a nightmare for organisations. With cloud disaster recovery or cloud backup, you can restore lost data (stored in the cloud) quickly, to avoid the inconvenient costs of lost productivity and even GDPR breaches.
There are certainly a large number of advantages that come with adopting cloud computing into your organisation. Your cloud service provider can advise on many aspects of your computing infrastructure which will go a long way to ensuring your business is saving time and money as well as working efficiently and securely.
If you’re interested in deploying cloud computing throughout your organisation, we’d be happy to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each package for your organisation. Get in touch with us below.