Why your business needs to be using the cloud

For the past two decades, the internet has fundamentally changed the world of business.

The introduction of high-speed service has brought further and more pronounced changes, amongst which the standout is the introduction of cloud computing.

Before this companies had no option but to store any software, information or any other kind of data they may have needed on-site, in PCs and servers. Due to substantial improvements in transfer speeds, these can now be accessed remotely and from anywhere in the world with a reasonable internet connection.

At first glance, the advantages this affords businesses may not be clear, but with 94% of organisations now using at least one cloud in their IT infrastructure, it isn’t hard to see that many already recognise its benefits.

Businesses that continue to keep their data storage and critical infrastructure in house face a number of challenges:

1. High costs

Storage hardware is expensive to initially purchase (business grade hardware can cost up to $2,500 per server) and this only increases with the long term need to improve and expand. Alongside high initial costs, in house physical storage is also expensive to maintain. Its high power usage consumes energy and subsequently drains your finances, as well as requiring specialist employees that are skilled enough to maintain the hardware and manually conduct regular, effective, and secure backups. Not only are these employees expensive, but they are also in dwindling supply.

2. Vulnerabilities

As it is not monitored as diligently as cloud storage, in-house storage is typically more vulnerable to cyber crime. If threat actors can gain access to your company’s internal systems, there is a higher risk of them gaining access to your sensitive and critical data. The safety of your data would also depend on your in-house security policies, which might not be as robust as those of cloud providers and could therefore make you more vulnerable to attack.

Alongside being vulnerable to cyber crime, in-house storage runs the risk of suffering from physical damage. Whether malicious or unintentional, any damage to your on-premise servers runs the risk of causing major disruptions to your day-to-day operations and also damaging the data that’s critical to your business.

3. Difficult to scale

Not only are they expensive and more vulnerable, but on-premise storage can cause an organisation headaches when it comes to scaling IT operations up or down. Physical space is not an infinite resource, and the high up front costs for new hardware can make this an expensive task. Managing multiple storage devices can increase organisational complexity and increases the risk that you’ll run into issues.

This is where cloud computing comes in. A legacy transformation strategy involves moving all of your mission critical data and systems onto a remote storage infrastructure.

Moving your IT infrastructure onto the cloud can provide you with a number of key benefits:

1. Business Efficiency

With the cloud, regular scheduled backups can be fully automated so that you can rest easy, safe in the knowledge that all of the data you create is backed up within seconds, saving your IT team the task of having to manually make, and store, backups of your company’s data. Not only does this improve the efficiency of your business operations, but it also means that you’re protected in the event of a disaster, whether this comes from malicious actors, human error, or technological failure. If disaster were to strike, your business would be able to quickly restore itself to its original state.

Cloud computing also brings the benefits of a reduction in costs. It’s far more cost effective than in house storage, as you only pay for what you use and you don't need to worry about having to invest in expensive hardware.

Finally, your business as a whole will be able to operate more efficiently. Not only will your IT staff be able to focus on their core operational responsibilities as they no longer need to worry about maintaining any physical hardware, but the improved flow of information across the whole business makes it far easier for teams to collaborate.

2. Business Flexibility

Cloud computing can also help your business to become more flexible, as you can quickly and easily scale your usage up and down with ease to manage your computing requirements. You can also access the latest features, services, and upgrades without the need to invest large sums of money in the physical hardware.

3. Disaster Recovery Plan

The final key benefit of cloud computing is that it can help your business to improve its disaster recovery capabilities. Businesses need to be protected from an unexpected loss of data or systems outage, and cloud computing can help minimise the time and money spent on any restoration operations. This helps to ensure that your business can continue to operate smoothly, even in the event of a disaster.

Alongside improved recovery capabilities cloud storage also offers enhanced security, improving your cyber resilience against threats that would cause disruption to your business operations. Cloud providers use a variety of techniques such as encryption to protect secure data from any unauthorised access, as well as providing extra layers of security controls to reduce the risk of a malicious cyber incident. By moving your storage to remote servers, you also mitigate the risk of any physical damage, whether malicious or accidental, causing disruption to your business.

Therefore, we can see the key benefits that making the most of cloud computing can bring to a business. Celerity's Cloud and Datacentre service portfolio can help your business move towards a cloud infrastructure model, optimise your existing cloud framework, or even help you adopt a hybrid cloud model, helping to bring about the advantages discussed in this blog post. If you're interested in learning more, get in touch with Celerity today!