It seems like “cloud” is such a hot topic at the moment. Every app, every software is “in the cloud” – does that mean you should be too? The thing is, cloud isn’t just a buzzword – it’s quickly becoming the future of many technologies. While not every business application or solution suits the cloud, there are still plenty of reasons why your business should at least think about adopting cloud technology – and here’s 10 of them. 
Focus your business – While this isn’t a techie reason, it still makes a lot of sense. When you’re running your own business, you should concentrate on what you do best – and that’s managing the business.  
You shouldn’t let things like worrying about onsite hardware issues, wasting time with unnecessary downtime of systems, and remembering to check the backups detract time from generating profit and improving your business. Cloud technology can help remove a lot of those burdens. 
 
Scalability – It’s so important that every business considers the scalability of their IT when expanding their business. Why spend thousands on servers that may either become under-utilised (and therefore waste money) or the opposite, where equipment is under spec for the number of staff, requiring an upgrade sooner than planned. Cloud software gives you the ability to scale on a member-to-member basis, making it really easy to plan costs for expansion or even reducing staff during the less busy times. 
 
Redundancy – This one crucial. It would cost your business thousands of pounds to build the same resilience and redundancy into your network as the big players to ensure your data is available 99.9% of the time. Why invest all that money and hard work into re-inventing the wheel when you can remove it completely from your business? Consider what it cost your business per hour if your current systems failed. 
 
Security – It’s a common misconception that the cloud is insecure.  Of course, there are things you must do to ensure your cloud experience for staff is secure, but just because something isn’t physically in your office doesn’t mean it’s not safe 
 
Private or public cloud – Cloud doesn’t necessarily have to be Office 365, Google Drive or Dropbox. Private servers run on cloud technology so if your business needs a server and currently has one onsite, simply moving it to the cloud is a sensible option and something that can be done with minimal disruption. 
 
Disaster recovery – Be wary of placing all your eggs in one basket with all your data and backups left onsite and all sitting on one box. The fact is, even if you take your backup offsite, have you actually tested your disaster recovery process? Do you know how long your business can survive having lost email, accounts, sales and other business critical data? Placing this core data in the cloud across various systems means that in the event of a fire or major system failure you can still access emails and critical data – you can simply turn up at a local coffee shop with Wi-Fi and continue to run your business! 
 
Collaboration – Lots of businesses are missing a trick here. Collaboration of data on the cloud can help your business become much more efficient. Multiple people can work together around the world on the same proposal document at the same time and in real time. This is hugely powerful in enhancing cost savings and productivity. 
 
Cost savings – While this may not be one of the biggest driving forces behind moving to the cloud it is certainly a good reason. By benefiting from the savings made by larger providers who can make savings on high spec hardware through economies of scale, you can get far more for your money than going it alone. 
 
Integration – Seeing tighter integrations with systems is more common with the use of cloud applications. Cloud based accounting, project management systems and CRM all have ways of talking to each other and passing data amongst themselves which means you can work much more efficiently with your business data. 
 
Flexibility – More and more businesses now require staff to access company data from a variety of locations from a number of devices anywhere, at any time. The days of accessing data just from within the office walls are over. Cloud apps let your business become fast and be dynamic, giving it the ability to respond to employee and client needs quicker than ever. 
 
Are you interested in migrating to the cloud? Get in touch with us now to find out how we can help.