Before we answer the all important question of whether moving to the cloud is worth it, imagine yourself in the following scenario.
You’re driving to work on a Monday morning, listening to a business podcast and you heard the presenter announce :
“Business X is moving to the cloud. “
What would you assume that they mean? And how would you explain it?
For the most of us, when we hear phrases like ‘cloud migration’ or ‘moving to the cloud’, we realise it is pretty difficult to explain what it actually entails. The real meaning behind the term ‘moving to the cloud’ is to move certain aspects of a business’s operations to the cloud. For example, like it’s data storage or applications. This is because it’s considerably more reliable and cost-effective than storing and running systems locally.
Want to know a little more? Then look no further. As in this post, we’ll give you a breakdown of what ‘the cloud’ is exactly. In addition to this, we’ll also explain why moving your business to the cloud is a great idea.
What is ‘the cloud’?
In basic terms, all ‘the cloud’ really means is ‘the internet’. It’s just a vast network of computers that are connected and communicate with each other. This constant communication is what enables web sites, web apps and web storage systems to function.
So, if you hear your favourite business podcast hosts talking about a business ‘moving to the cloud’, all they are referring to is that their business is opting to move an aspect of their business operations to the internet.
So, if ‘Business X’ decided to move their data to the cloud, all that would mean is that they have chosen to store their data on the internet instead of storing it locally.
What can you move to the cloud?
Another big misconception most business owners have is that the only thing they can move to the cloud is their data. However, this is furthest from the truth. The cloud is extremely scalable and multidimensional. So much so, that your entire business can move to the cloud. This means all of your workspaces, applications, processes, data and more can be hosted in cloud environments. Thereby, enabling you to run your entire business in the cloud.
Why move to the cloud?
When business owners first find out that they can run their entire business in the cloud, they’re usually astonished. On one side, they’re amazed by the level of technological innovation that has made this possible. However, on the other hand they can be a bit cynical about it.
If you are a business owner, all this innovation, tool and spec talk may sound great to you. Nonetheless, at the root of it all, you probably just have one question in mind: “Is it worth it?”
Firstly, it is. And this article will be breaking down 8 reasons why moving to the cloud is worth it for your business.
8 Reasons to move to the cloud
1. Assists remote and hybrid working
I’m sure we can all agree that COVID-19 has changed the way we work, connect, and communicate significantly. The pandemic forced most businesses to halt their operations completely, and sadly even drove some businesses into insolvency because of this.
It also drove a lot of businesses into panic mode. As most were not sure how they were going to adhere to the government-enforced home working rules.
However, on the other hand, there were a minority of businesses that didn’t panic much.
These businesses didn’t panic because they had already performed the move to the cloud before this. As a result, they already had access to cloud tools and platforms, like Anywhere365 and Microsoft Teams. These cloud-based tools enabled business employees to communicate with customers from anywhere. Hybrid, remote and flexible working is now a commonplace.
Although the pandemic seems to be behind us, it’s not too late for your business to get ahead by moving to the cloud. Cloud migration will empower your team to remain connected from wherever they’re located.
2. Reduces your overhead costs
An additional benefit of moving your business applications, workspaces and data to the cloud is that it will significantly reduce your overhead costs in the long run. On-premises infrastructure typically is more expensive to run, manage, maintain and upgrade. Moving to the cloud eliminates these costs.
Storing your business’s data online will eliminate the high costs associated with maintaining and replacing your physical on-premises data centre. Instead, you can simply pay for a cloud storage service. Services such as SharePoint or Google Cloud give you access to all the storage space you need.
As previously mentioned above, moving to the cloud can also enable you to build a fully remote workplace. Letting your staff work from home can be incredibly beneficial from a financial perspective. This is because it will enable you to eliminate the many costs that come with having a physical office space. Meanwhile, it empowers you to be able to invest the extra money into the areas of the business that matter the most.
3. Improves staff collaboration
Moving to the cloud and adopting cloud collaboration tools like Office 365 can allow your business to finally say goodbye to most of the tedious, time-consuming tasks that drain your staff’s creativity daily. Such as, having to combine multiple versions of the same document to their team members. It also ensures there is transparency throughout all tasks, and prevents lost work. These cloud-based file sharing applications will allow your team to unlock the ability to work together more efficiently.
Additionally, these tools will allow your team members to make updates in real time, observe what other team members are working on and collaborate more effectively. Teams can connect and communicate across locations with ease when you move to the cloud.
4. Data protection and recovery
Before cloud storage became a thing, data loss was a huge problem that plagued a lot of businesses.
So much so, that a 2019 study carried out by IBM revealed that it takes 206 days on average for companies to find a data breach and 73 more days to fix it.
Fortunately for you, when you move to the cloud you, won’t have to worry about data loss affecting your business anymore.
Even if your work device gets lost or damaged, you needn’t worry. As these powerful disaster recovery solutions will enable you to quickly recover your lost data so long as you have an internet connection.
5. It is more sustainable for the environment
A study carried out by Microsoft and WSP Environment and Energy demonstrated that moving enterprise applications to the cloud is an environmentally sustainable choice.
According to the study, it can reduce the carbon footprint by 30% for large businesses. As well as reduce the carbon footprint by 90% for small businesses.
In addition to this, cloud servers often scale at the same pace that your business’s needs do. So, by moving to the cloud, your business will only use the energy it needs.
6. Improved security
When you’re trying to grow your business maintaining a good level of security and threat protection is key. When you backup your business’s data in the cloud, it is instantly encrypted, and inherently secure.
All this means is that your data will only be visible to the people whom you authorise. Additionally, you won’t have to micromanage this, as cloud hosting providers like Microsoft and Google will constantly monitor and update these security features on your behalf.
7. Your software will update automatically
One of the most useful benefits that you will experience as a by-product of moving to the cloud is having automatic system and application updates.
You’ll be able to finally say goodbye to spending days waiting for your system updates to finish installing. This will enable your staff to be more focused and productive during the workday. As cloud-based applications come fully equipped with the capability to automatically update themselves, manual update tasks are no longer required.
8. Enables increased mobility
A study carried out by Statista revealed that there are approximately 6.6 billion smartphones in the world. Furthermore, that number is set to increase to 7.3 billion by 2025. That’s an increase of 700 million people. This data clearly shows that people all over the world are becoming more accustomed to using mobile devices.
In addition to this astounding statistic, Statista also found that the global penetration rate for laptops has increased by 29% from 2009 to 2021. Meanwhile the purchase rate for tablets has grown by 7% from 2014 to 2021.
These findings reveal that people are rapidly developing a preference towards using devices that give them increased mobility such as laptops, tablets, and smartphones.
Cloud computing will give your teams the ability to access and share your business’s corporate data using all their mobile devices. Such as their smartphones, laptops, and tablets.
This is an incredibly thoughtful measure that your business should take.
A more mobile and agile business can ensure that a high level of communication and collaboration capability is maintained internally across the business, and externally with clients and prospects.
Ready to take the leap by moving to the cloud?
By now you’re probably aware of all the incredible benefits your business is missing out on by not being on the cloud. Nevertheless, the big question is:
Is your business ready to make the all-important move to the cloud?
If so, let’s do it together.
848 is a leading cloud solutions provider and IT partner to many businesses around the UK. We can provide you with a fully integrated and bespoke cloud-based IT solutions to help your business improve its efficiency and grow.
Just contact us and tell us what you want to achieve. We can help you build you a modern cloud-based infrastructure and help you make the most of your IT investments.