Cloud technology has taken the world by storm. It can be considered a boon, especially for small businesses as adopting it helps improve their growth rate and enhance efficiency.
According to the reports by Multisoft, 80% of the organizations reported improvement in company operations within a few months of adopting cloud technology.
Therefore, in order to gain success in the business world, you need to invest in the cloud. It will give you the right platform for your small business to succeed.
Here are some points explaining why:
1. Mobility
Small businesses mostly need to work round the clock to stay at the top of their game. Therefore, you require any time and anywhere access to the information. However, working on a local desktop can limit your potential to access the information from your home or client site.
The use of cloud technology allows you to overcome obstacles by providing mobility of data. You can access business files on the go and work on them at the same time.
Furthermore, a competent cloud provider will ensure that you get the maximum possible uptime. You will get the availability of servers with high-performance computing that will allow you and your team to work on multiple tasks parallelly from anywhere. It further ensures success and a better growth rate for your business.
2. Flexibility
Having a small business means you have a limited workforce to handle the day-to-day tasks, so you and your teammates need to stay productive to maintain business growth. Therefore, you need solutions that can provide flexibility to your small business.
Cloud technology helps to collaborate with the team over a common virtual platform. It enables you to work on any project by accessing the same file or document and editing it in real time. It saves the time needed to travel back and forth from the office and host physical meetings to discuss any issue.
Moreover, there are no geographical barriers restricting your business to go global. You get to hire the best possible talent from anywhere around the world and efficiently communicate with the help of cloud technology.
3. Scalability
Hardware and software resources are required to run any firm. However, when it comes to a small business, the demand for these resources fluctuates regularly. So, it becomes difficult to predict the number of resources required and the amount that needs to be invested for the same.
With the help of cloud technology, you can easily upscale or downscale these resources. The unexpected server loads can be easily managed. You can easily add or remove the number of users, RAM, data storage space, and more as per your business requirements.
Additionally, if you ever need to relocate your business, you wouldn’t need to transport heavy servers along with it. It is because your data is hosted on these cloud servers, which enables ease of mobility.
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4. Security
One of the major concerns while maintaining your business privacy is the security of data.
As per the reports by Verizon Data Breach Investigation, small businesses accounted for 58% of the cyberattack victims.
Compared to large businesses, SMBs don’t have the resources and budget to hire an in-house cyber-security team. However, reliable cloud hosting providers make sure your data is protected. They take the necessary security measures, such as:
- Data encryption
- Anti-virus
- Malware protection
- Multiple firewalls
- Multi-level authentication
- Intrusion Detection System/ Intrusion Prevention System (IDS/ IPS)
- DDoS Prevention
In addition to the virtual-level protection mentioned above, cloud hosting safeguard data from various accidents, natural disasters, and thefts like fires, earthquakes, floods, and more. It is ensured that all of the information is backed up at isolated data centers located in different geographical locations.
These data centers have 24/7 CCTV surveillance, fire alarms, temperature control, on-premise security personnel, etc. for high-end protection.
Moreover, most of the cloud vendors offer you business continuity and disaster recovery solutions. The business information is stored at multiple server farms that are located at different locations. Therefore, even if one of the centers is under threat of a disruptive event, data can be retrieved easily from any other server.
5. Cost-Effective
Small businesses have to face a massive upfront cost in order to manage their products and services. The cost of hardware resources, business software, and maintenance teams can cause a fortune.
Investing in cloud technology cuts down any hardware costs as cloud providers offer scalable resources. It reduces the demand for large infrastructure setups and hence, saves you a lot of money. You can benefit from pay-as-you-go pricing plans provided by the cloud vendor, which ensures you only pay for what you use.
Cloud also eliminates the need to hire an additional IT team for managing any in-house servers. It is the duty of the service provider to maintain them and provide the best possible services. Hence, you don’t have to spend any extra money on this task.
6. Environment-Friendly
Small business also needs to adopt certain practices to do a bit for the environment. The use of massive infrastructure emits harmful greenhouse gases that are harmful.
Adopting cloud technology reduces carbon footprints by providing scalable solutions. It further offers optimum results without hampering the productivity of the workflow.
Also, as it enables remote working, you don’t need to commute to and fro for any task, which reduces the pollution level in the atmosphere.
In Conclusion
In today’s world, small businesses need a platform that will help them thrive. Cloud technology offers you all the resources, including mobility, transparency, flexibility, and scalability required to gain a competitive edge in the market. So, it has become more of a necessity than a choice.