Cloud computing is quickly leveling the global playing field for businesses by improving productivity, flexibility and cost efficiencies. It is allowing companies to make the leap from local business to global competitor faster than ever before by enabling them to focus less on IT and more on their core business objectives and their number one goal: generating revenue.
Better Budgeting
Unlike typical on-premise solutions, cloud computing requires little investment on equipment and licensing. This has reduced the gap between big corporations and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Whereas in the past SMEs were not able to afford costly IT systems such as customer relationship management (CRM) or enterprise resource planning systems (ERP) – making it difficult for them to compete with their larger counterparts – they are now able to streamline internal processes and manage operations through the same IT systems that larger, more established corporations are using.
One of the biggest forces behind the shift to cloud computing is the subscription based, per user fees. Because of the lower upfront cost, smaller organizations are able to better manage their funds and, therefore, take their products and services to market in a shorter span of time. For example, with our ERP cloud software, food and beverage companies can be up and running in less than two weeks with no initial cash outlay.
Better Productivity
Worker productivity is greatly improved by the accessibility of cloud based applications. As long as they have an internet connection, employees can work remotely from anywhere in the world. This boosts efficiency, reduces businesses’ software costs, and increases the capability for real time collaboration across an organization.
Security
With any software solution, cloud-based or otherwise, security is always a concern. In fact, it is the number one worry of many corporations who are hesitant to move completely to the cloud. It should be remembered, however, that the best cloud providers implement several layers of security to make sure that the privacy, reliability and availability of such sensitive information isn’t compromised. And at the end of the day, safeguarding your critical information rests on the ability of the employees and customers to protect their personal log-in details.
Effectiveness
Large enterprises benefit from cloud’s shared resources as it helps them to have more flexible operations and improved bottom lines. If large corporations in established industries are making remarkable progress in the cloud, smaller businesses are also fully capable of making progress with the same economical, safe and productivity boosting infrastructure.
A prime example of smaller businesses benefiting from cloud services is with email. As cloud email services are highly scalable, companies that make the transition are able to manage a large number of users and online storage allocation as they require it, paying only for what they use. This is the kind of flexibility that can only be afforded within the cloud.
And that is only with email.
Companies can use the cloud for different facets of their business; from managing CRM databases to ERP solutions, the possibilities are endless.
Is your business thinking about making the jump? What do you expect the biggest benefit to be? What is your biggest concern?
