Transforming traditional work processes is a challenging task. The old and familiar schemes are comfortable for most employees and generate a certain sense of security. However, in the long run, they also risk becoming obsolete and endangering the company’s development. As businesses prepare for the post-COVID recovery, the need for changes cannot be ignored, and cloud migration is the option that businesses should not pass up.
Simply put, cloud computing is based on the Internet. Whereas in the past, people ran their applications or software programs that they had previously downloaded to a physical computer or server in the office, the cloud allows them to access the same type of programs through the Internet. It’s a solution with growing popularity, especially among SMEs.
Why are businesses moving to the cloud? This is primarily because cloud computing improves efficiency, enhances cash flow, and offers several other benefits. Now we’ll list ten reasons why businesses are increasingly adopting the cloud.
- Flexibility
Whenever a business requires more bandwidth than usual, a serverless cloud architecture can provide the requirement due to the massive capacity of the service’s remote servers. This flexibility is crucial that 65% of InformationWeek respondents said that the “immediate ability to respond to business needs” was a primary reason for moving to the cloud.
- Incident recovery
When businesses start using cloud computing services, they no longer require complex recovery plans. Cloud computing service providers take care of most problems and perform them quickly. According to a recent survey, businesses using cloud services could resolve issues in 2.1 hours on average, almost four times faster than businesses not using cloud services (8 hours). The same study also revealed that midsize businesses had the best service recovery issue resolution times, taking half as long as large businesses.
- Automatic software updates
UK-based businesses spent 18 working days a month managing security issues at customer sites a while back. However, nowadays, cloud computing service providers maintain the servers themselves, including security updates- freeing up their client’s resources and providing time for other essential tasks.
- Minimum initial capital
Typically, cloud architecture is based on a pay-as-you-go model, so businesses don’t need to have the upfront capital to invest in them. Moreover, since cloud services are much faster to deploy, businesses incur minimal start-up costs and reliable spending forecasting.
- Greater collaboration
Cloud technology increases collaboration by allowing employees – wherever they are – to stay up to date and work on shared documents and applications simultaneously and track colleagues and updates to stay on top of business reviews in real-time. In addition, a recent survey revealed that businesses that invested in technology collaboration had a 400% return on investment.
- Telecommuting
As far as team members have access to an uninterrupted Internet connection, they can work from anywhere. This flexibility provides a positive impact on the work-life balance of IT employees. According to a recent study, more than 42% of the workforce with a valid contract would be willing to sacrifice a fraction of their salary in exchange for being able to telework, and on average, they estimated it at a cut of 6%.
- Document control
According to a recent study, 73% of It employees collaborate or interact with people in different time slots and regions at least once a month.
Suppose a business does not use cloud computing services. In that case, employees have to send documents back and forth via email, which suggests that an employee can work on a file at a time and that the same document has several different names and formats.
Cloud computing allows businesses to store files in one central place, and everyone works off a central copy. In addition, employees can even use instant messaging while working on a document together. The entire process strengthens collaboration, increasing efficiency and improving a company’s results.
- Security
According to statistics, more than 800,000 laptops are lost every year in airports alone. Such a thing can have profound economic implications. When every data is stored in the cloud, data can be accessed from anywhere, regardless of what happens to computers.
- Competitiveness
Cloud computing technology allows businesses to access world-class technologies, and it also allows smaller businesses to operate more agilely than larger, more established ones. According to a recent study on incident recovery, cloud computing users do not have to go through such complications. At the same time, non-cloud businesses rely on strict, complicated, time-consuming, and cumbersome procedures.
- Ecological
Businesses that use cloud computing technologies only use the server space they require, reducing their carbon footprint. Using the cloud results in at least a 30% reduction in energy consumption and carbon emission compared to using on-premises servers. Along these lines, those who benefit the most are once again small businesses since the reduction in energy consumption and carbon emissions is 90%.
What does all this mean for businesses?
Due to its low cost, flexibility, advanced security features, and easy adoption, managing business processes in the cloud is especially beneficial for small and midsize businesses. It is recommended to make up your mind and start enjoying its advantages, which will allow you to reach new levels of productivity.
