As a business owner, chances are that you have definitely heard of ‘the cloud’ but are harbouring some suspicions about precisely how valuable or relevant it would be to your business.
This is especially likely if you have spent much time listening to the many technology professionals whose expertise and interests are in traditional on-premise computing. Graphics by Shutterstock
‘The cloud’ is relevant now and here to stay
Those professionals may have left you with the impression that cloud computing is more a passing fad than the profound shift in computing power generation and consumption that the evidence actually suggests it to be. This is one of the first things that business owners need to know about the cloud – that it is as significant, deep and permanent as the change from using steam to electric in the manufacture of goods, this time 100 years ago.
Too many factors are making cloud computing too entrenched a part of the modern corporate IT services landscape for the naysayers to deny its continued relevance. The use of cloud computing is becoming almost unavoidable for many business owners who wish to access important software services as and when they need them, only paying for actual use, and accessible even from locations that are not their company’s physical premises.
Cloud computing answers to a wide range of needs
In theory, a lot of the popular purposes of cloud computing – ranging from encouraging quicker and more convenient collaboration to the development and hosting of applications – could be done via more traditional ‘on-premise’ computing. However, the sheer expense, inconvenience and time-consuming nature of such work makes this difficult, especially when older and increasingly outmoded technology needs to be upgraded for the modern age.
The truth is that there are few applications that cannot be catered for by cloud computing, in ways that make much more sense than on-premise computing for the typical early 21st century business. ‘The cloud’ can be used for email, for example, with access possible from any device with an Internet connection, while it is also valuable as a space for backing up files, accessing previous versions of files and sharing business data.
Cloud computing helps your firm to save money and boost productivity in so many different ways. In short, ‘the cloud’ is the technology of the future – however much that may be denied by some of those still attached to on-premise computing – and can therefore have big benefits for your business.