It would appear that Cloud technology is here to stay. But the question being asked in boardrooms across the country is: how can switching to Cloud technology save our business money? If you understand how Cloud computing works and why the major IT corporations are flocking to it in unprecedented numbers then you will begin to appreciate how it will save you money.
For any business, cash flow is vital and if you can find a way to cut costs without reducing the standard of your service then you have a winning solution to the problem of spiralling IT costs.
This reduction in IT costs, when using Cloud technology, lets a small business compete with the larger corporations. In the last few years we have seen a number of business startups take advantage of cloud computing to be able to compete with the larger, more established and better-funded online businesses.
There are many myths about cloud computing that are simply not true. A brief online search will reveal many blog updates and forum posts which bust many of these myths.
The important thing to consider is big business employ staff whose sole responsibility is to find ways of saving money. With so many large corporations, such as Facebook, Amazon and Google, using cloud technology—they must know something we don’t.
What these businesses know is that by using a Cloud system their company does not need as much physical hardware to store data. As such, by using virtual storage rather than physical hardware to store data the costs will reduce considerably.
Startup companies can benefit from using Cloud technology as they don’t need to buy large storage units, nor do they need a facility to store the hardware in. The cost-saving implications of storing your data externally (without the need for large facilities) is enormous and, in part, explains the recent wave of digital media based startups.
Both Instagram and Snapchat, the later recently the subject of a $3 billion takeover bid by Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg, use Cloud technology to allow a relatively low cost digital start up to compete. Companies such as Zooce can help to migrate your data to Cloud easily.
Historically, IT companies would have to invest heavily in software and then every few years have expensive updates (often with third party staff on site manually updating your software). However, with cloud technology, companies can now expect regular software updates all completed online and during the night with minimal disruption to the business.
However, Cloud has its doubters, and concerns have been raised regarding the security of data when stored exclusively online. That said, breaches in security for traditional hardwired machines have been a matter of public record since computers were first plugged in to the internet. Also, let’s not forget the Y2K fears in 2000 which predated Cloud technology and people feared for our data security then.
Data storage and security has come a long way since the millennium. The question you will have to ask yourself is: are our systems any more secure than a major online storage provider? Keep in mind, your storage provider will have a dedicated department with a number of staff devoted to security, whereas you might have one part time teenager who is good with computers.
So, whatever your business infrastructure, whatever your companies size you can save money by switching to cloud technology. If you are serious about competing online in a modern business environment then you must consider using cloud. In fact, ask yourself the question: can you afford not to be using Cloud?
Published: December 9, 2013
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