The impact of 2020 has changed our workplace practices and behaviours for the long term. Before 2020 many saw the benefits of cloud to be focused around cost savings and innovation.
2020 fast tracked the digital transformation within organisations, many being forced to switch to the cloud overnight to facilitate remote working and then new benefits of the cloud were recognised.
At Smart IT, we worked with hundreds of our customers to set up thousands of users to the cloud to allow them to work quickly and securely from home. Here are some of the top benefits our customers have experienced.
Agile Working
Cloud technology allows staff to work at any time, from anywhere, and even through any device if there is an internet connection in place. Cloud computing delivers the benefit of virtual workstations by providing your remote employees with fast, secure, and stable access to business applications and data direct from home. You can deliver the same technology access you’d provide if they were in the office to a geographically separated workforce, so your staff stays as productive from home as they were in the office and has a positive effect on work-life balance.
Flexibility and Freedom
A significant advantage of cloud computing is the flexibility and ease of updating the software. Cloud computing allows for frequent, undisruptive software updates. The cloud offers businesses more flexibility overall versus hosting on a local server, if you need extra bandwidth, a cloud-based service can meet that demand instantly, rather than undergoing a complex (and expensive) update to your IT infrastructure. This improved freedom and flexibility can make a significant difference to the overall efficiency of your organisation.
Security
One major concern that many organisations have when it comes to adopting a cloud computing solution is the issue of security. However, a cloud host’s full-time job is to carefully monitor security, which is significantly more efficient than a conventional in-house system, where an organisation must divide its efforts between a multitude of IT concerns, with security being only one of them. The cloud uses data encryption to ensure anyone not authorised to access your data is not given the chance to.
While most businesses don’t like to openly consider the possibility of internal data theft, the truth is that a worryingly high percentage of data thefts occur internally by employees. When this is the case, it can be much safer to keep sensitive information off-site.
Disaster Recovery
There may be no way for you to prevent or even anticipate the disasters that could potentially harm your business, but cloud can help speed up your recovery. Cloud-based services provide quick data recovery for all kinds of emergency scenarios, from natural disasters to power outages to damaged equipment. Cloud also offers unprecedented levels of uptime, often in the region of 99.9%. Downtime can affect your business both in terms of reputation and finances.
Cost Saving
Once you are on the cloud, easy access to your company’s data will save time and money in project start-ups. With no hardware or server infrastructure there is less capital expenditure. Users simply pay for what you need, immediate savings are made on space, utilities, and maintenance.
The very nature of cloud computing is designed for cost-saving. Flexible pricing models, control over compute resource consumption, and the removal of associated management costs are just ways in which cloud computing delivers real cost-saving against on-premises deployments.
Reducing Carbon Footprint
By switching to a cloud platform, you will significantly reduce your carbon footprint. Combining green energy, higher server utilisation, and other practices, cloud solutions allow you to perform the same tasks with a substantially lower carbon footprint than on-premises solutions.
For information how Smart IT can help with your Cloud Computing Newcastle, Cloud Computing Gateshead, Cloud Computing Sunderland, Cloud Computing Durham and Cloud Computing Darlington get in touch today.
