Cloud technology has opened up a whole new world of opportunities for business owners. There are many benefits of moving business to the cloud, such as remote access, multi-user collaboration, scalability of resources, and more. These advantages are promoting small businesses to embrace cloud technology.
As per survey reports by Gartner, 60% of organizations are expected to move practices to the cloud by the year 2022.
Cloud-based technology offers an affordable way for small businesses to grow and expand to any geographically possible location. Here are five ways that describe the same:
Improve Business Availability
Small businesses need to focus on various aspects in order to establish their mark in the market. It often becomes hectic for a small team to handle several tasks at a time and keep the business running. Also, the services are restricted to a single area by the local infrastructure, which can hinder the company’s growth.
Cloud technology can offer flexible solutions like real-time access to information. Professionals can attend to the queries of clients at any time and from any remote location. There is no need to establish an extensive infrastructure for offices to make an impact on the customers. Small businesses can go mobile and serve their clients virtually at any time.
Moreover, cloud enables team collaboration on a common virtual platform so that each task can be distributed amongst the workforce and completed seamlessly on time. The business information is no more limited to the local desktop and can access from any remote location using an internet-connected device. It also ensures that the data is updated in order to reduce the chances of any errors while working.
Scale Resources
In the case of a small business, hardware and software requirements keep fluctuating as per the work demands. It becomes challenging to keep track of the resources needed. Another problem small business firms might face is the need to downscale the IT requirements, especially during the off-season.
Implementing cloud technology helps to plan for the growth of a small business. It offers scalable solutions wherein companies can increase or decrease the number of resources, such as RAM, storage space, number of users, and more conveniently depending upon their business needs.
Moreover, cloud services offered by a third-party provider are self-managed and don’t need a separate IT team to manage the resources. It further helps to adapt to the dynamic nature of the small business and focuses on core-competencies for seamless growth.
Enhance Security
Business data is prone to various malware attacks that can corrupt, erase, or disclose critical information to any unauthorized party. Moreover, data is vulnerable to accidental loss due to various external factors like hardware malfunction, device theft, or a natural disaster. Small businesses often cannot afford a separate IT team to maintain and secure business information.
Moving business practices to the cloud ensure that data is safe from any accidents, as all of the information is stored at the off-site servers. Therefore, information can be retrieved even in case of any mishap. Furthermore, a competent cloud hosting provider implements various security measures to safeguard data from security breaches and other cyber-attacks, such as:
- End-to-end data encryption
- Antivirus and anti-malware
- Firewall protection
- Multi-factor authentication
- Intrusion detection and prevention system (IDPS)
- DDoS Attack prevention
These methods help to keep security concerns at bay.
Additionally, in the case of cloud hosting, data is backed up regularly at geographically isolated server farms to reduce the risk of any loss to information. These servers are maintained by the cloud vendors who execute various security safeguards to protect the information. These include 24/7 CCTV surveillance, fire-alarms, biometric scanning, on-site security guards, temperature control, and much more.
Also, a competent cloud hosting provider offers a business continuity option wherein data is stored at multiple locations. It ensures that even if one of the data centers is down, the critical information is not lost and can be accessed from another data center where data is replicated. Hence, it ensures the redundancy of information.
Hire Remote Talent
Business growth depends upon the skills and efficiency of the workforce. Therefore, it is crucial to hire the best possible talent to gain a competitive edge in the market. However, one is often restricted to the local area to find prospective employees.
Cloud technology helps to overcome this limitation by enabling remote operations. Real-time access to information eliminates the disruptions caused due to geographical boundaries. It is because business owners or decision-makers can easily monitor the workflow and performance of each employee from a single dashboard. It further helps to accomplish each task efficiently before the deadline.
Moreover, small businesses often need to outsource most of their services at times. The ability to track work at each step gives businesses the power to ensure the confidentiality of the data and build presence anywhere around the globe.
Reduce IT Cost
Small business needs to invest a large amount of money on IT infrastructure and especially at the initial stages of their establishment. Furthermore, the hardware and software resources require regular maintenance and updates, which can cost a fortune. Therefore, there is a need to look for a cost-efficient solution.
Implementing cloud technology offers budget-friendly solutions that include pay-as-per-usage options to its users. It implies that businesses have to pay for only those resources that are utilized. It also cuts down the cost of hiring a separate team to manage IT resources as these are maintained by the cloud hosting provider itself.
Moreover, as the data is synchronized to the cloud server, it can be accessed through any internet-connected device. It further promotes policies like work-from-home and BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) that reduces IT demands, and transportation cost exponentially. Hence, small businesses can invest their money in developing and innovating ideas to diversify their firms.
To Sum It Up
Moving business practices to the cloud is a no-brainer today. Embracing this technology automates and simplifies tasks for small businesses. Cloud is a one-stop solution that helps to save time, money, and efforts without compromising with the growth of the company.
Author Bio:
Bhavleen Kaur is a content writer at Ace Cloud Hosting- a leading QuickBooks Enterprise cloud hosting provider. She specializes in writing about accounting, cloud technology, tax software, and likes to know about upcoming technology and trends. In her free time, you can find her reading novels or watching movies.