Cloud Services: Why does my business need it anyway?

Cloud computing services allow you to use software and computer resources online as a utility. This allows you to pay for those resources when you need them, provided via the web, usually on pay as you go style models.

This means moving away from the, "software as a product", is replacing that paradigm  by online services.

To truly be considered “cloud computing” the actual work of any applications is performed in the cloud, rather than on the user’s machine. Users are using an interface where they can access the data that is being processed online.

This allows for more complex tasks that would traditionally have been seen as beyond the scope for traditional budget computers to be performed online, Computech clients gaining the results they need at more affordable prices.

So, where historically you may have installed Microsoft’s office suite when you purchase a new computer, many users are opting for cloud based alternatives, such as Zoho and Google Docs. In fairness to Microsoft, they have been making moves to the cloud offering a host of collaboration options with Office 365.

Convince me why my business should be hosted in the "Cloud"

The number 1 consideration for most SMB's is cost. Should it be though?

It is mission critical of course to stay within budget. Buried with the initial capital outlay is a layer of underlying justifications that may ultimately reduce TCO by as much as 65% over your present figures. Take the physical equipment you have presently for instance. When functionality is taken off site, through needing less powerful machines, you can reduce your physical technology costs by a huge margin.

Disaster recovery is equally important. If you have all your local servers at the physical location of your office, running your email and information storage, what would you do if there was a fire or other natural disaster? Do you have off site backups?

Accessibility of the data is also vital. Business is rarely conducted just in the office these days, and being able to access everything you need remotely wherever you are working is important. And with mobile technology becoming a prominent player with an ever increasing number of businesses, ask yourself how you will handle this technologically complex issue with your present network infrastructure.

If you are using the cloud, you can avoid the technology purchase required to hold all that data. Equally, emails and information storage can be reached seamlessly from multiple locations, allowing things to be more accessible as well as cost less!

Scalability is also an important factor for choosing the cloud – resources are supplied and paid for on-demand, rather than having excess redundant capacity. Many larger companies have shown substantially reduced total cost of ownership and increased productivity by migrating all or part of business processes to VM cloud technology.

Of course, security is a concern when considering this migration. This is something that is constantly being addressed by providers of cloud hosting services, and while not completely infallible, the vast majority of the services are secure. There have been some headline grabbing gaffes from providers like Google and SalesForce over the years, but these have been small isolated issues.

By not getting your business ready to use the cloud, you run the risk of being left behind by more agile competitors, who will be improving efficiency, ensuring the security of their data, and reducing their costs.

If you are waiting for results from your competitor's move to the cloud, then you might as well keep things status quo. By the time you are able to fully realize the cost saving features and robust application technologies of the cloud, your neighbor could be light years ahead of you.