Companies that have long migrated to the cloud many times have confirmed the effectiveness of this solution from a practical point of view. This gives you more flexibility to perform tasks, work with data is organized more quickly and efficiently, and the data itself is stored under reliable protection. However, this is not all of the benefits that may become available to businesses after migration to the cloud. In this article, we talk about the most important financial benefits that you will get by making this decision.
If you’re just getting started with cloud migration, you’ll want to check out Stuart Scott’s Benefits of Cloud Technology for Business: Getting Started With Migration. In this learning path, Stuart explains the benefits of cloud technology for business and helps you understand whether a strategic decision to move to the cloud is the right choice.
1. Enhance disaster recovery capabilities by 38%
Two hours is the deadline for disaster recovery for a company using cloud storage. For comparison, companies that use local storage can solve this problem for up to eight hours, which can mean huge losses for the business.
Modern disaster recovery tools support object-based cloud storage, so you don’t have to copy the backup to physical media first, and only then restore it. For a business, this means a much lower risk of loss of profit due to downtime. Moreover, the cloud provider takes responsibility for returning the system to working condition, so this is no longer your headache.
2. Improve flexibility up to 37%
Access to files is one of the most important aspects of a productive day. With internal servers, employees usually cannot access files stored on the server if they are not physically connected to it. Regardless of whether you need to open a budget spreadsheet from your hotel room or a Photoshop file from the office, cloud storage allows you to access data wherever you are.
Thus, your employees get more flexibility in solving everyday tasks, and can also be more effective in situations where deadlines are critical. For example, cloud data storage allows you to launch a product on the market at a much faster pace since employees do not spend time exchanging files, they can make edits in real-time, and a situation where a particular file was lost is impossible.
3. Reduce the IT department’s support burden up to 36%
If the specifics of your business is such that you do not need to maintain and pay a whole team of technical specialists, then you can trust the provider to administer the IT infrastructure in the cloud. This is more profitable than hiring a separate specialist for these tasks.
And even if your company itself is engaged in the development of software, then your specialists can work with more serious tasks than cleaning dust coolers and recovering accidentally deleted data. They can fully focus on the quality of the product being developed and the effectiveness of each sprint.
4. Zero maintenance cost
When you choose a cloud provider that aims to work effectively with a large business, you get full responsibility for providing quality services and a serious approach to the work performed. This consists of the range of services provided, the level of service, reliability, and modernity of equipment, the high experience of a team of engineers, competent planning and implementation of projects of any complexity, an individual approach.
After the infrastructure is transferred to the cloud, the cloud provider takes responsibility for the uninterrupted and correct operation of services and equipment, responsibility for security, and many other aspects. He also conducts continuous monitoring of equipment and networks, provides round-the-clock technical support, performs backups and solves many more tasks that allow the client to focus on the core business.
5. Zero capital cost
There is no longer any need to buy expensive computers with tremendous performance and plenty of memory. Now all your information will be stored on the cloud and most of the calculations will be performed there. Users no longer need bulky computers or laptops, because now they need a compact netbook for full operation.
In addition, now you can also use Saas programs for daily work. Their advantage is that you pay for a monthly subscription, and not for the software product itself, and you can use it as much time as necessary for your business. Moreover, you no longer need to wait for updates to be released – everything is updated automatically and you can always be sure that you are working with the latest version of the program for the same money.
6. Lower carbon footprint
If your company has an environmental mission, then migrating to the cloud is another way to confirm it. A study by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a nonprofit agency that helps companies track carbon emissions, showed that by 2020, spending on 69% of infrastructure, platforms, and software for US company cloud services with revenues of $ 1 billion or more would save electricity by $ 12.3 billion and will reduce carbon dioxide emissions, equivalent to 200 million barrels of oil. This is enough to power 5.7 million cars per year.
Some IT directors and business owners believe that saving energy with the help of the cloud is not their problem, but such a position may be a lost opportunity for them to save because not all companies today use energy saving in cloud technologies.
In addition, this is an additional marketing opportunity to declare your environmental mission. Modern customers change their worldview under the influence of a changing environmental situation, and no longer want to be committed to brands that put their business and money at the forefront, forgetting about the environmental consequences. Just think about it when you make your final decision.
7. More cost agility
Servers of ordinary companies on average are loaded with no more than 15% of their capacity. But in certain periods there is a need for additional computing resources. Thus, the company’s servers are either out of work or can’t cope with their work. When switching to cloud computing, this unreasonable waste of resources will be solved. Now you will use only the amount of computing resources you need, and the cost of equipment and its maintenance will be reduced to 50%. If a large company is concerned that its data is processed “on the side”, then for such a company cloud providers can build its own, personal cloud. In any case, you pay only for what you actually use.
8. Reduced data security risks
As you know, data is your most expensive resource, and the cloud protects it from almost any encroachment. According to the Gartner study, by 2020, 80% of all information leaks from the cloud will be due to improper configuration or internal problems of the company, and not the vulnerability of the provider. Therefore, IT organizations will need to pay attention to internal business processes and personnel training in the basics of security. In the meantime, your data in the cloud is under reliable protection and business risks due to their loss are minimized.
Conclusion
The management of companies also often does not understand the advantages of the cloud, focusing on their own feelings and not making financial calculations. At the same time, some companies consider the cost of migrating their data to the “cloud” quite high. However, all cloud services are provided on a monthly rental basis, which significantly reduces the total cost of their use. After all, the maintenance and modernization of IT infrastructure is also the full responsibility of the cloud provider, freeing the company from these worries. However, subscribing to Saas services still requires some investment. The price of cloud services reach thousands of dollars.
