Digital transformation has been one of the biggest changes that happened in the business world over the decade. In fact, according to Forbes, 70% of the global companies are the path of digital transformation while over 21% of the companies think they are already there.
The increasing number of internet users around the world also contribute to the rapid evolution of digital growth and the reason why businesses are always on the lookout of new technologies that can improve their customers’ experience.
But which technology is helping businesses?
Cloud computing technology. Yes, you heard it right.
Cloud computing provides businesses with a strong foundation when it comes to making their digital transformation a success all the while making sure their customers are getting the best experience.
What is cloud computing?
Cloud computing is a computing paradigm that consists of a set of software and hardware to manage all the IT-related tasks, store your data using the internet. Cloud-based infrastructure delivers flexible and on-demand access to the business to help them work to their full potential from any remote location with the internet.
Ever since the introduction of cloud computing into the business world, the cloud is showing impressive growth year by year. And it is no wonder that over 90% of the companies across the globe are adopting cloud computing and is estimated that 94% of the workloads will be processed in cloud data centers by 2021.
Depending on the services and location, cloud computing is classified into many types:
On-basis of the location, cloud computing can be classified as
– Public Cloud: In the public cloud, many customers share computing services. Here the individual customers’ data and services are kept secure.
– Private Cloud: In contrast to the public cloud, private cloud is more secure as it is only used and accessed by individual customers.
– Hybrid Cloud: Hybrid cloud is the combination of both public and private clouds and customers’ can use either one depending on their requirement.
– Community Cloud: Simply put, the community cloud is a platform that is used by organizations that have the same needs and wants to be fulfilled. It is a hybrid form of the private cloud.
On-basis of the services, cloud computing can be classified into:
– IaaS: It is a cloud computing service that allows customers to rent their infrastructure requirements like storage, security, backup, etc.
– SaaS: In this type of service, customers can rent their software needs from a third party or in private. Software as a service will help you host and manage all the software applications.
– PaaS: Customers can manage, test, and analyze their software and hardware needs with the tools provided by third-party providers.
Depending on the many available cloud types and services, there is no question in the minds as to why businesses are showing great interest in adopting cloud services. Also, below are the few the benefits of cloud computing:
Top benefits of Cloud Computing
1. Reduced IT Costs:
No matter the type of business, data is usually generated and to store, manage, and analyze this data you’d require different IT equipment like hardware, software, and someplace to store them. All of this will be a huge investment.
This is where cloud computing can help you ease your burden i.e., once you make your transition to the cloud you don’t have to invest your resources in the IT infrastructure. Also, you don’t have to employ personnel to manage your day-to-day operations as they are done by the experts’ employed cloud providers.
Though the initial setup or implementation costs of the cloud is high, you should concentrate on the future advantages like the reduced time and money it takes to design a new product through easy access you can get. Also, the software or any other service you use of the cloud is purely based on ‘pay-as-you-go’ i.e., you only pay for the services you use and nothing more.
With no extra IT costs and cost-effective pay models, you can focus more on the core functionality of your business and thereby get more ROI.
2. Increased Security:
This is the most primary concern of any business. The protection of data and other equipment will always be the top priority. And with the increase in cyber threats and crimes, businesses are right to worry about the safety of not just their data but can cause a loss in revenue, reputation, and trust of customers.
Cloud computing can save you all the trouble. The cloud providers can offer you some world-class security features that can store and manage your data securely. As cloud providers are multi-billion companies, they can create the best security mechanisms that can prevent cybercrimes. Also, they can provide customized security measures based on the client and their requirements making security their top priority.
According to RapidScale, 94% of businesses saw a drastic change in security issues after switching to the cloud. And businesses need not worry about data loss due to hardware issues as cloud providers can give you good backup solutions too.
3. Scale High:
Growth is inevitable. But the process of growth is what defines your business success and profitability. Growing simultaneously without any increased investments is called real-growth or scalability.
Scalability in simple terms can be defined as the ability of a business to positively impact the customers while managing the growing demands of the business. Cloud computing provides you with the option of ‘scaling-on-demand’ i.e., you can expand your services in the cloud as your business grows and pay as you go, eliminating the need for investing more in the future.
The cloud infrastructure scales your growing business workloads with utmost efficiency and control, giving you ample opportunity to concentrate on your core business needs while increasing the overall performance.
4. Fast Disaster Recovery:
There will be no business that did not face a disaster and downtime at one time or another. Successfully managing them without having to stop the operational process can set you apart from your competitors in the market.
Cloud computing helps your business to work its best even in most adverse situations and help you manage all your precious data. The cloud providers are equipped with some of the best emergency backup servers that get into action the moment a disaster strikes.
Proper management of disasters will not only save your data but your reputation in the market and your customers too.
5. Get Insights:
There is no doubt in saying that the world is connected and I will go a little further and say data is what connects them all. Without proper management of data, you won’t be able to get insights and make decisions that will help you make the best products/services.
People spend most of their time online and it is only natural that tons and tons of data are generated from it. But analyzing this data can be quite tedious, time-consuming, and your employees might not be able to separate the noise from real data.
This is where cloud computing will help you. It will manage your data, analyze it, give you the right data to help you make futuristic decisions for the betterment of your business.
6. Increased Accessibility:
With the tumultuous situations raising, businesses can’t sit relaxed without having the right solution to manage and run their business. For efficient management of the business, remote working is proving to a boon.
But how can employees get access to all the information?
Again with the help of cloud computing. You can effectively manage your business from any part of the world and at any time by leveraging cloud services. Through the cloud, you and your employees can gain secured access all the time. This reduces any disturbances in the operational process and increases productivity, thereby increasing revenue.
7. Single View Window:
Along with full accessibility, you can effectively view all your business operations through a single dashboard instead of referring to a myriad of different sources to know the operational process. You can also view all your data on your mobile device further reducing complexities and increasing flexibility.
8. Low Time-to-Market:
Cloud computing helps you maintain a smooth workflow and increase the production or manufacturing process which means the time-to-market is lessened considerably. Also, cloud computing gives you automatic updates to maintain business continuity, saving time, and increasing revenue. This helps you gain a positive reputation in the market as well as customer loyalty.
9. Stay Ahead of the Competition:
While it is very clear that many businesses are keen to adopt cloud computing to manage their everyday operations, many others are still trying to manage them locally through their servers and software.
But this gives them a disadvantage and you an advantage i.e., with increased operational efficiency you can reduce the time to market, the cloud helps you to analyze your data to make insightful decisions, get full data security, etc. This can help you race ahead of your contemporaries in all aspects.
10. Go Green:
Last but not the least benefit of adopting the cloud. Climate change is the biggest of problems that the world is facing right now and it rests in our hands to make this all better again. This can be done by following some simple steps and making little changes.
Cloud computing will help you significantly reduce the carbon footprint your business is having on the environment. The first thing the cloud helps you reduce is the wastage of paper (causing deforestation) and then more and more purchases of physical devices (increasing e-waste). With cloud computing, you can go green and contribute to change.
Summarising the article, I’d like to say that the growth of cloud computing is not going to stop anytime soon and it will make some significant changes in your business in terms of productivity, revenue, data security, and customer satisfaction. Rest assured, the future of computing is wholly dependent on the cloud.
I hope I covered the top most benefits of cloud computing.
If not – drop your comment below.
