How Can Cloud Computing Make Your Business More Productive?

Everyone in business management wants to leverage the best possible tools to complete tasks simply and affordably. Cloud is such a strong tool for business that failing to fully adopt it has cost the US government billions of dollars. Cloud isn’t just about cost, though. There are many different ways in which the cloud enhances productivity.

• Cloud: avoid at Your Own Risk
• A Multi-Billion-Dollar Improvement
• Why is Cloud Good for Productivity & Growth?
• Even Faster Cloud

Cloud: Avoid at Your Own Risk

Anyone in business, especially those who own or manage a company, always wants to use the best, most robust tools at a friendly price. One example is cloud-computing environments.

Cloud computing is becoming more prominent all the time, in some cases to the point of being the standard. As an example, industry analysts expect an incredible 90% of mobile traffic to be handled through cloud applications in 2019, up from 81% in 2014, notes Forbes. That may sound like a small amount of growth, but not when you consider that cloud traffic is projected to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 60% between 2014 and 2019.

Cloud is rapidly being embraced throughout the global economy, according to a piece in Inc.: “[C]ompanies that don’t take advantage of cloud computing will be a minority in less than 6 years.”

A Multi-Billion-Dollar Improvement

The United States federal government could literally save billions of dollars by moving all of its IT systems to cloud server hosting, according to a report published in July 2014. It’s not that the public sector hadn’t been testing cloud up to that point; actually, almost three-quarters of agencies at the time were using one or more cloud tools. However, the poll of 159 federal IT chiefs revealed that very little money was being allocated to cloud systems. According to the researchers, the grand-total cost of not switching to cloud and sticking with current legacy systems was $19 billion.

To look at it in a more positive light, a full-scale move to the cloud would represent a $19-billion improvement in federal expenditure.

Why is Cloud Good for Productivity & Growth?

You can see how the choice not to move to the cloud can be expensive. Cloud isn’t just about lowering cost, though. Here’s how it improves your productivity:

No more IT issues

By using cloud for some or all of your infrastructure, you are passing the responsibilities, tasks, and stress of managing a datacenter on to an outside party.

A cloud provider maintains the system and provides security patching behind the scenes, so that you aren’t even aware the updates are occurring.

Security

Speaking of security, there is a misunderstanding that an on-premises solution is less likely to result in a hack. Actually, the vast majority of companies improve their security by moving to the cloud. Strong cloud providers have numerous infrastructure experts and security pros on staff.

Teamwork

A poll by Frost & Sullivan found that collaboration tools were resulting in business productivity gains that sometimes exceeded 400%. The cloud makes it simple and streamlined for employees to work together. Plus, you can access all your files anywhere you have a web connection.

One direct way you save time is by no longer having to attach and send documents back and forth.

Agility

Is your business agile and adaptable? It’s critical to remain fluid and dynamic if you want to recognize a changing landscape and get a better position.

“Cloud computing allows you to adapt to market conditions with a certain flexibility that is not available when you use on site, physical solutions,” says JT Ripton on Business.com. “If user demand increases, cloud services can rise to meet the demand, and then be easily decreased as demand drops.”

Disaster-ready

If a disaster occurs at your location, you could lose everything. Data backup has always been around to provide much-needed remote redundancy, but cloud makes it much easier to implement your backup process.

Cloud providers can clone your data and have the backup immediately available as needed.

Differentiation

Cloud gives companies an opportunity to differentiate themselves and outpace competitors. In fact, according to a report from the Harvard Business Review, nearly three in four outfits (74%) said that they felt cloud gave them an advantage – with most of those respondents saying the primary element was being able to move faster.

Big-data-friendly

Cloud also is built for running big-data projects, explains Ripton. “Traditional data storage methods… have not always provided a simple way for companies to carry out advanced analysis of their databases,” he says. In contrast, “[t]he cloud provides the necessary tools to sort through lots of unstructured data quickly and easily.”

Even Faster Cloud

Cloud is becoming an increasingly important piece of business technology. Avoiding it is expensive, especially when you consider the many ways in which it can improve your productivity.

So how do you set up cloud as quickly as possible? At Atlantic.Net, our one-click apps bypass the setup and installation of major applications by provisioning servers with applications already installed – in less than 30 seconds. Click here for one-click cloud hosting. We also offer solutions for HIPAA compliant cloud hosting services.