At the beginning of 2022, a DigitalOcean survey revealed that 65% of businesses increased their utilization of cloud infrastructure in 2020, but 86% reported further increasing usage in 2021. Small and medium-sized businesses are taking advantage of the cloud more than ever. Still, that growth is hindered by a lack of appropriate skills and funds, as well as an overall fear of data security breaches. However, the benefits of cloud computing far outweigh the possible risks, as company experiences have played out repeatedly. With companies reducing their physical office footprint since the end of COVID lockdowns, cloud computing offers the ability to scale growth.

cloud computing

7 Advantages Of Cloud Computing

  1. Accessibility: File and application access was traditionally performed in-office, but cloud computing changed the game. Employees now have the ability to access documents, images, and spreadsheets from anywhere and at any time. This change in work culture and employee expectations is only made possible by the cloud, which is essential for remote work capability and prompt task completion regardless of location or separation.
  2. Scalability: The cloud is essential for rapidly growing businesses. Whether they need to scale headcount, manufacturing production, customers, or services, the cloud can fulfill business requirements easily. Basically, it provides the ability for the business to scale appropriately, whether resources are growing or dwindling. Many market and environmental fluctuations can affect the company, but cloud computing enables SMBs to adjust capacity based on their current and potential needs – without needing a crystal ball.
  3. Reduce On-Site Infrastructure Investment: IT has traditionally been seen as a “cost center,” as new servers, routers, data centers, and switches consume large amounts of the annual budget. SMB cloud computing facilitates the reduction of significant up-front costs better to meet the present and future needs of the business.
  4. Backup and Disaster Recovery: Every company, no matter its size, needs to be prepared for disaster. A solid business continuity strategy is vital in the digital age. Cloud computing provides an effective off-site backup strategy available to businesses of every size, as co-location for data backups gives you expanded infrastructure.
  5. Agility and Flexibility: With cloud computing, small business is not required to plan years’ worth of investment for infrastructure with only guesswork to back up their expenditure. If the company is doing well, the cloud provides space for that growth. However, if the business slows down, costs will be reduced to match needs. The resulting flexibility provides a competitive edge, setting SMBs who use the cloud apart from their competitors.
  6.  Automatic Updates: Maintaining servers is labor-intensive, but the cloud offers hassle-free management of the technology supporting the business. Cloud providers manage routine software and security updates, leaving the onsite IT department the time to focus on strategic tasks to grow the business.
  7. Security: Security is top of the list of concerns regarding small businesses, for a good reason. But those concerns often translate to a reluctance to consider cloud migrations. It is estimated that half of SMBs delay cloud migrations because their employees lack the necessary cybersecurity skills. However, most cloud providers have better security controls than the majority of companies. Public cloud providers provide cloud services to all kinds of companies, including some with high-security requirements. The cloud allows small companies to take advantage of the secure cloud infrastructure required by large organizations without having to purchase the infrastructure themselves.

With a deep bench of experience, the experts at Alliance IT understand the cloud. Call our Sarasota-area IT team today if you are interested in seeing how the cloud fits your business goals.