The Covid-19 outbreak and resulting lockdowns have prompted many businesses to look to the future, and the Cloud-based services that forward-thinking operations have already adopted. While transitioning your daily activities to the Cloud may be unnerving, and the lack of storing your own data being an understandable concern, the Cloud offers a host of benefits that will improve your operation’s efficiency and profitability. Keep on reading to discover the top 5 benefits of moving to the Cloud!
1. Flexibility
Probably the timeliest benefit for Cloud computing right now, is the flexibility it provides for your staff. By Hosting your data in the Cloud, it’s far easier for you to implement a strong remote working policy. And considering many members of your team have enjoyed some aspects of working from home, a more flexible way of working can only benefit your business and your employee’s productivity. Better Collaboration is another factor and Cloud services are far better positioned, given their larger Infrastructure and feature-sets, to enable your teams to work on shared documents, and communicate effectively, no matter their physical distance.
2. Affordability
Affordability up-front and on-going costs are a significant factor in any businesses’ purchasing decisions and the right Cloud platform will help you cut costs dramatically. Not only will you remove the massive costs of purchasing your own hardware, but the ongoing costs will be far lower too. Your electricity bills will be smaller, given you’re not running power-hungry servers, or cooling them! Maintenance costs from replacing damaged hardware to engineer callouts and upgrades will be completely removed from your outgoings too. Moving to the Cloud also enables you to leverage a more OpEx-based method of financing your operation, with many services charging per user, rather than purchasing expensive equipment that you never use to its full potential.
3. Reliability
By offloading your data and applications to the Cloud, you can also increase the speed and reliability of your systems. Large data centres run by the likes of Microsoft, Amazon Web Services and Google have high expectations for 24/7 operation, which means they invest huge amounts of money ensuring that there are multiple redundancies that guarantee your data is always accessible. They also have massive bandwidths for data coming in and out of their data centres, meaning your employees will be able to upload and download their data, without the limitations of your on-site Connectivity bottlenecking the data transfers. Though, it’s important to note that your remote worker’s home connections will be a significant factor in data speeds too.
4. Security
As we mentioned regarding reliability, professional data Hosting companies must also secure their customers’ data effectively to maintain their brand credibility and keep customers happy. This means they leverage more complex Encryption technologies, and monitor their users 24/7 (and under a magnifying glass) to ensure that your data is only viewable by your employees and no one else. While we recommend that any business with an online presence invests in their Cybersecurity, the combination of your business’ own security solution and the security built-in to your Cloud platform, adds another level of protection, which can only be a good thing!
5. Scalability
Depending on your business, its age and industry, you may need to quickly scale your services up and down as you enjoy rapid growth, or need to manage seasonal surges in demand, for example. Cloud services typically operate on a ‘per-user’ pricing model, which enables you to quickly – usually within a couple of minutes – increase or decrease your services on demand. This keeps your business lean, only paying for the number of licences you need, and helps your finance team budget for future expansions or growth plans. As you’re not limited by your existing on-site hardware, it also means you can adopt new services, like a CRM platform or e-commerce site, far quicker than Hosting your own. This means you can enhance your customer experience in a matter of days, not months and adapt to market change almost instantly, and better compete with your rivals. All told, the economy’s transition to the Cloud is accelerating because businesses are realising these benefits and wondering why they didn’t make the switch earlier. The Cloud is the future and Mooncomputers can help you adopt Cloud services with confidence. If you have any questions or would like to see how Mooncomputers can help your business become more flexible, affordable, reliable, secure and Scalable, get in touch.
