Heard the term “Cloud Computing?” Unsure what it means? Have some idea but also some confusion? You’re not the only one. Today every small business owner has heard in some form or another of cloud computing. With terminology such as IaaS, PaaS and SaaS, cloud vendors don’t make it easy for you to understand it. Fortunately – we do.

Cloud computing doesn’t have to be complex. Think of it as the ability to provide you and your organization with the ability to access and share information, data and other services – securely – over the Internet (“the cloud”). Companies offering these computing services are called cloud providers and typically charge for cloud computing services based on usage, similar to how you’re billed for water or electricity at home. The following are some of the benefits of this type of service, as well as the reasons organizations are turning to cloud computing:

  1. Cost

Cloud computing eliminates the capital expense of buying hardware and software and setting up and operating servers and other infrastructure equipment on premises. These capital expenditures can add up quickly and tie up working capital.

  1. Speed

Most cloud services can be turned on almost immediately (on-demand) so it’s easy to get up and running quickly giving businesses a lot of flexibility and taking the pressure off having to do capacity planning.

  1. Grows With Your Business

The benefits of cloud computing services include the ability to scale as your business grows.  In cloud terms that means delivering the right amount of IT resources—for example, more or less computing power, storage, bandwidth—when it’s needed. Some businesses expand and contract throughout the year- cloud computing helps you handle these changes by expanding or contracting with you.

  1. Productivity

The ability for cloud services to expand and contract based on your specific business needs ensures you get the computing services you need when you need them and for as long as you need them. This ensures your organization gets the most efficient use of your IT equipment and services allowing you to focus on achieving more important business goals.

  1. Performance

The biggest cloud computing services run on a worldwide network of secure datacenters, which are regularly upgraded to the latest generation of fast and efficient computing hardware. This offers greater economies of scale, reliability and security.

  1. Reliability

Cloud computing makes data backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity (ability for your business to recover from a disaster) easier and less expensive, because data can be mirrored at multiple redundant sites on the cloud provider’s network. Cloud computing companies spend millions of dollars building reliable and secure data centers specifically designed to store and protect your applications and data.

Still unsure on how cloud computing works and if it’s applicable to your business? We can help. Feel free to Contact Us to learn more. We routinely advise clients on:

  • What cloud services make the most sense for their organization?
  • How to assimilate the technology into the organization quickly and efficiently
  • How to ensure information, including company applications and data are available to employees in a controllable and secure manner