The switch to remote work during the pandemic has really pushed companies towards moving their entire infrastructure to the cloud. While many companies are yet to complete the process of cloud migration, many have started or are at least exploring their options for cloud migration. According to recent reports, the cloud computing market is expected to reach $623.3 billion by 2023. A recent survey found that 58 percent of private-sector information technology executives say that “cloud computing will cause a radical shift in IT and 47% say they’re already using it or actively researching it”.
The reasons behind the popularity of cloud computing across industries are obvious. Cloud provides companies with significant cloud computing benefits like flexibility, cost savings, increased agility and productivity. Recent reports indicate that organizations can save as much as 15 percent of all IT costs just by migrating to the cloud. With cloud computing, even businesses that are just starting out can have access to some of the best and latest technology with minimum management overheads and scale on demand thanks to flexible payment plans. Vancouver cloud computing can be a great resource to start your cloud migration journey with.
7 Ways Cloud Computing Saves Time and Money
Interested in how cloud computing saves time and money? Here are some of the primary reasons why companies are increasingly moving towards cloud adoption:
Cloud-based infrastructure drastically reduces hardware needs
Public cloud, such as Amazon Web Services, reduces the need for companies to maintain hardware in-house. Since all necessary hardware is maintained by the service provider, companies no longer need to invest in hardware. This is great news for companies looking to scale quickly, but prohibited by the high upfront cost of hardware. Additionally, even the cost of repairing or replacing hardware is borne by the vendors. With most expensive hardware deployed off-site, companies can also take advantage of lowered internal energy requirements and rental space.
Lowered requirements for labor and maintenance
Cloud solutions significantly decrease labor and maintenance costs. Since the hardware is maintained by vendors, there is no need to maintain an in-house technical team to take care of equipment. Eliminating such routine maintenance tasks can save you significant resources in terms of both labor and other resources. Most importantly, it leaves your core staff free to focus on more mission critical tasks whether related to business or technical innovation. This particular benefit could result in some companies reducing staff size significantly or being able to run their business without in-house IT staff as well as costly hardware maintenance bills. IT Support Vancouver can help you get started on optimizing labor through cloud solutions.
Cloud enables better collaboration
A significant advantage of cloud deployments is that your business can be conducted from anywhere using any systems available to you as long as they have a functioning Internet connection. This enables businesses to take advantage of collaboration between employees in far-flung corners of the globe. This is a critical benefit for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) as recent data from a 2010 survey by Microsoft suggests that 66 percent of SMBs need their employees to be available to work anywhere at any time.
Advanced collaboration tools enabled by cloud allows employees to directly collaborate on documents while cutting down on the back-and-forth involved in sending different versions of the document, e-mail attachments, sharing calendars and task lists and more. Most of the time employees don’t even need additional downloads or installation of program software. Employees can connect at any time with instant messaging or audio, video, screen sharing and web conferencing capabilities. All of these enhancements make it possible for companies to respond quicker and faster to changing business stimuli and respond to more business opportunities.
Secure data backup
When starting out, most companies do not have the bandwidth to focus on implementing a backup strategy. Cloud systems have your business covered here with comprehensive data back-ups available in case of on-site system failure or a disaster. You can even choose from a list of reliable cloud-based data backup service providers who can back up your data frequently or automatically to secure geo-redundant locations. Services offered by reliable providers like Managed IT Services Vancouver ensures the survival of your business through seamless business continuity, so your servers can get back up and running within minutes of even the worst disasters.
Infographic created by HotWire Networks, a web hosting company
Managing growth with cloud
Since cloud resources are scalable, it makes it easy for businesses to increase or decrease capacity as per business demands and changing market scenarios. This is especially advantageous for smaller companies always trying to stay on top of demand prediction without overspending. With cloud-based resources, they can choose to simply adjust their resources rather than predict their needs to grow sustainably. You can also make use of the latest tools and technologies on demand without having to commit to them in the long term at highly manageable rates. This results in both greater flexibility and scalability for organizations.
Cloud results in significant productivity gains
This is one of the biggest reasons why companies are choosing to opt for cloud computing. The reason cloud computing is so cost-effective for companies is because of the enormous benefits it adds to the organization in terms of productivity gains. Cloud software deployment literally takes minutes and keeps the workflow continuously moving so your resources do not waste time idling. Most SaaS applications are available through a web browser and can be self-learned by users. As mentioned before, most cloud storage and software applications are available anywhere with an internet connection which results in seamless connectivity even with remote work and telecommuting.
Greater reliability with cloud services
Cloud computing services have proven to be more reliable than on premise services. The latter can be dependent on servers or other hardware that are vulnerable to age, breakdowns and more. Cloud service providers also have a highly experienced team available who can help your employees out in case of any problems or queries. This leads to quicker and more effective problem resolutions than in-house troubleshooting.
About Sam Goh:
Sam Goh is the President at ActiveCo Technology Management, an IT Consulting Vancouver company. Sam comes from an operational perspective, his tenure at ActiveCo emphasizes working with customers to closely understand their business plans and to successfully incorporate the technology component to those plans. Under his leadership, ActiveCo has developed expertise which focuses on enriching the extensive customer relationships by integrating strategic and operational focus areas through consulting. When Sam and his wife Candee aren’t running ActiveCo, they enjoy road trips with their 2 children. His blog can be found at https://www.activeco.com/blog/.