Are you looking to find out why cloud-based IT services are right for your small business? You’ve come to the right place! Read on to discover why you and your small business need the cloud.

What Is Cloud Computing?

The cloud stands for cloud computing – the practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the internet to store, manage, and process data. This is typically contrasted to traditional computing which stores data on local servers or personal computers. This may not seem like a huge deal, but failing to make the switch from traditional computing to cloud computing can be a costly and time-consuming mistake. To save you from losing valuable resources, we’ve compiled a list of the top 6 reasons cloud hosting and migration can benefit your small business.

1. Less Work, More Savings

Who doesn’t like to save money?

Because cloud storage uses remote servers hosted online to store, manage, and process data, you save on the time and expenses of having to buy, install, and maintain traditional on-site hardware and infrastructure. Migrating to the cloud can also prove to be far more cost-effective over time. With traditional data storage methods, you pay for server space up front. This means the cost remains the same no matter how much space you end up using. Cloud computing payment options are much more flexible, allowing you to only pay for what you use.

2. Ease of Access

When you store your business’ data remotely, you can access it remotely. This means that even if you or your employees are out of the office you can still use your much-needed data. Whether it’s a weekend hustle, an out-of-town (or out-of-country) trip, or a work-from-home situation, information is readily available. On top of that, your employees won’t need special administrative privileges to access all of that data, unless you want them to!

3. Disaster Recovery

It’s no secret that things go wrong. Sometimes, they go very wrong.
Cloud storage can help safeguard your data when things don’t go your way. As cloud storage is not dependent on a single piece of hardware, a single point of failure does not spell doom for your most important information after a loss event. This means frequent backups utilizing disks, flash drives, or other storage devices are no longer necessary. Additionally, data can be stored and retrieved across multiple locations within minutes. This results decreased downtime, allowing your business to resume operations.

4. Future Scalability

We all want our business to grow, so it’s important to have IT infrastructure that is scalable. On the flip side, you may sometimes find that you want to scale back. These are both very costly tasks when using on-site data centers. Due to adaptable payment models and off-site hosting, this is no challenge at all for the cloud. When it comes to scalability, cloud hosting is vital for all entrepreneurially minded small business owners.

5. Go Green

Cloud computing is far less wasteful than traditional business and IT infrastructure. Traditional IT equipment creates a large amount of non-biodegradable waste at the end of the equipment’s life cycle while at the same time inefficiently using power that may never be used by an organization. Cloud computing avoids both of these issues. And while providers certainly require a large quantity of electricity to maintain server operation, the quantity used is still far less than what traditional IT infrastructure would utilize to perform the same big data tasks.

6. The Cloud Is The Future

According to Forbes, around two-thirds of all business infrastructure could be cloud-based by the end of 2020, and IBM found that 85% of businesses polled stated they were already using multiple cloud computing services. With worldwide spending on cloud computing reaching 107 Billion US dollars at the end of last year (Canalys), if you aren’t utilizing the cloud, you are already at risk of falling behind the technological curve.

How To Get Started With Cloud Computing

Need help migrating to the cloud? ePATHUSA’s cloud migration and hosting experts can help you get started. Contact us here to learn more about how we can help you and your business leverage the benefits of the cloud!