Five Ways Cloud Computing Is Worth It

The number of businesses converting to cloud technology is going up every day. It is estimated that by 2015, US based small businesses will use and average of seven cloud-based services. Some of you might still be a little unclear about what cloud technology is – well, here is a little info to “clear up” (get it?) your thinking.

Basically, any service or program sent over an Internet connection can be considered a cloud service, but typically cloud computing implies that there are a number of servers networked together in such a way to provide excellent performance. An outside vendor runs the servers and software, so the buyer doesn’t have to worry about the technical issues in-house.

According to a recent study, 54% of Americans claim that they don’t use cloud computing, while the reality is that 97% are already using these services for online shopping, banking, social networking and file sharing! Here are a few reasons why cloud technology can be especially useful if you are a small business owner.

Work from Anywhere, Anytime

With cloud computing, you can access your business information from anywhere. All you need is an Internet connection. Since your business data will no longer be stored on a single laptop, desktop or external hard drive, you can even access files while on the go, through your mobile. The downside, of course, is that while you don’t have access to the Internet, you can’t use the cloud software or access your cloud-hosted files.

Cut Down on Expenditures

A friend recently told me that since all the equipment and software that he requires for his business can be bought outright, cloud computing doesn’t appeal much to him. “Well,” I said, “Cows can be bought outright; does this mean you’ll buy a cow to meet your daily requirement of milk?” A major advantage of cloud computing is that you can eliminate the need for expensive on-site hardware and programs. Instead, you can rent them from a service provider of your choice for a flat monthly or annual fee. What’s more, in tandem with your business needs, you can easily scale up or down without making major capital expenditures. Of course, you’ll need to figure out the trade-offs. For example, $19.99 a month may seem like a great deal for a graphics software suite which otherwise costs, say, $799 to purchase outright – particularly if you’re someone who always wants or needs to upgrade to the latest versions. However, if you’re like me, you try to run older versions of software as long as possible, typically five years or more. At this rate, that software would have cost about $1,200. I’d rather have happily paid $799 up-front.

Keep Your Data Safe

If you’re storing data on a personal laptop, you stand the risk of losing all of it if the laptop is damaged, stolen, or if you leave it on a train. Moreover, the risk of viruses always looms large. To protect your data, or your customers’ data, you have to constantly remain vigilant about potential virus threats. With cloud computing, you can outsource the maintenance of the software as well as keep data safe by backing it up off-site.

Collaborate Easily

Using cloud computing, you can easily share documents with co-workers, members or clients to ensure that everyone is working from the same version of a document. In fact, multiple members of your team can also simultaneously work on the same document from different devices.

Customization and Efficiency

Most cloud service providers allow you to control how the system is set up and design the system as per your company’s needs. Thus as your company grows, updates can easily be made to incorporate the increase in business volumes. Additionally, cloud technology increases your efficiency as you no longer have to worry about power requirements, space considerations, software updates or security and can instead concentrate wholly on your main business.

However, a few words of caution. It is important to conduct due diligence and bank on a reputed service provider, as there are plenty of smaller software providers based in countries which would offer dubious legal recourse if things went wrong. Also make sure that you have a reliable Service Level Agreement (SLA) in place before you commit to such a service, so you’ll know level of uptime and customer service you can expect.