Most small business owners tend to shy away from the use of too much technology. Their immediate thought being that the scale of their business does not quantify the costs towards the investment in contemporary IT. The Cloud and its many solutions are also similarly looked at in the same light. However, technology is for everyone to use and in most cases will have a positive effect on even a smaller business. It is also imperative to have a business backed with Cloud technology if scaling and progressing is in the forefront of your ambitions. Growth and progress comes with its own challenges however with the correct technology on your side you always have a chance. Here are some major advantages of cloud computing services for smaller businesses.
Increases flexibility
Cloud-based services are ideal for businesses with growing or fluctuating bandwidth demands. If your needs increase, it’s easy to scale up your cloud capacity, drawing on the service’s remote servers. Likewise, if you need to scale down, the flexibility is baked into the service.
Back-up and disaster recovery is taken care of
Businesses of all sizes should be investing in robust disaster recovery, but for smaller businesses that lack the required capital, Cloud is now helping to buck that trend.
Automatic Software updates
Cloud computing servers are off-premise, out of sight and out of your space. Suppliers take care of them for you and roll out regular software updates so you don’t have to worry about wasting time maintaining the system yourself.
No large capital expenditure required
The greatest of all the advantages possibly, Cloud computing does not require capital stagnating investments. Cloud computing in fact cuts out the high cost of hardware. You simply pay-as-you-go and enjoy a subscription-based model that’s kind to your cash flow.
Facilitates a wider reach
When your teams can access, edit and share documents anytime, from anywhere, they’re able to do more together, and do it better. Cloud-based workflow and file sharing apps help teams make updates in real time and gives them full visibility of their collaborations. And our research tells us, collaboration increases productivity within a business some say by more than 40%.
Employees can work remotely
With cloud computing, if you’ve got an internet connection you can be at work. And with most serious cloud services offering mobile apps, you’re not restricted by which device you’ve got on hand. Businesses can offer more flexible working perks to employees so they can enjoy the work-life balance that suits them without affecting productivity.
Improves document and version control
The more employees and partners collaborate on documents, the greater the need for watertight document control. Before the cloud, workers had to send files back and forth as email attachments to be worked on by one user at a time. As even the smallest companies become more spread out geographically, the scope for complication rises. In cloud computing, all files are stored centrally and everyone has one central source. Greater visibility means improved collaboration, which ultimately means better work and a healthier bottom line.
Better IT security
Cloud computing gives you greater security because your data is stored in the cloud and you can access it no matter what happens to your machine. You can even remotely wipe data from lost laptops so it doesn’t get into the wrong hands.
Achieve a competitive advantage
Wish there was a simple step you could take to become more competitive? What about enterprise-class technology, for everyone? Moving to the cloud gives you access, and allows smaller businesses to act faster than big, established competitors.
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