Tell me more about the Cloud

The cloud, or cloud computing, has been the trend in the business market for some time. There are many advanced cloud-based services to meet your business needs and chances are you interact with the cloud in some way each day. If you’re not there already, you should start moving in that direction now.

If this is an introduction to the cloud for you, we would like to explore some of the overall benefits of the cloud from a pure IT infrastructure standpoint. The concepts below are great points for businesses that are looking to migrate services to the cloud.

So tell me about the cloud

The cloud has been around and gaining traction for the last 15~20 years. Advances in computing power and networking have made the cloud feasible for any size business. It has been the perfect storm of computers, networks, and high-value applications that have come together to create an environment that has allowed the cloud to take off. But this is all abstract--below you will find some definitive points that highlight the advantages the cloud brings to businesses.

• Cost savings - cost is not everything, but it’s important to businesses watching the bottom line. Cost savings can translate to low or no capital expense (CAPEX) when moving to the cloud. Cloud computing is typically an operating expense (OPEX) that businesses can fit into a monthly or quarterly budget.
• Speed to market - businesses with limited IT resources and budgets can quickly deploy new productivity applications internally and go to market with new offerings sooner when taking advantage of cloud computing
• Scale and flexibility - businesses grow and contract for many reasons, including seasonal flexing or as part of the overall business cycle. Either way, the cloud allows businesses to quickly add or delete capacity as needed.
• Focus on the business - businesses are typically great at coming up with business ideas, taking them to market and monetizing, but not as great at building out IT infrastructure. The cloud allows businesses to ramp up quickly with the product and internal software without having to focus on the core IT infrastructure.
• Mobility - business today is on-the-go. The cloud allows employees to access files at the office, on the road, or at home with ease.
  Increased collaboration - Multiple employees at remote locations can access single source files to achieve business goals.
• Business continuity - The cloud should be part of every business continuity plan. By having applications and data in the cloud, companies have a head start on keeping these items safe.