Small businesses are beginning to choose cloud computing more than ever before today. It’s for good reason. Upfront costs tend to be low, access to cloud data is available anywhere, and there’s less risk of data loss when there is a crisis. If your company is still considering going with cloud computing, here are five important benefits why you should choose to make the move.
It’s more flexible and allows for effortless collaboration
When your company moves to the cloud, you get a host of software options to perform virtually any business task with. For example, a friend of mine who owns a specialty pet supply store uses the Shopify cloud app as her point of sale system as well as performing everything from inventory management to e-commerce on one interface.
ERP systems, like Sage Business Cloud delivers a full-business lifecycle solution from financials, through inventory, production management, people management, and distribution. When you move to the cloud, you have the choice of working with your business processes in more flexible ways than before.
You can easily scale up when your business grows
Most small businesses plan to grow into bigger businesses one day. Growing, however, can be a problem when you use software solutions that you have brought together in-house. When you move to the cloud, every software-as-a-service (SaaS) app made available to you should be inherently scalable. It is built from the ground up to be scaled up or down.
Cloud migration increases data security and disaster recovery capability
From data security to concerns about the ability to recover from fires or floods, small businesses are usually not well protected. When disaster strikes, nearly 40% of small businesses never reopen. Others take as long as three months to recover. Storing all your data on the cloud not only means greater security, but it also gives you the ability to get to your data even when the physical location of your office is inaccessible. In addition, using hosted voice cloud solutions means that calls to your company proceed as always, even when connections to your office are interrupted.
The cloud frees your IT department to work on other things
When you employ cloud-based IT solutions, you take a huge load off your in-house IT department. Freed of routine, everyday tasks such as keeping systems running and answering support questions, your IT department is likely to have more time to innovate for your company.
You save money on up-front costs
Whether you’re a small or medium business, moving your business processes to the cloud can mean saving the money that you would invest in software and services in initial setup, configuration, and training. It was found in a study by The Aberdeen Group that organizations using SaaS ERP typically achieved ROI faster than companies with an on-premise ERP solution. You are also likely to gain access to tools and resources that you wouldn’t normally have if you had to buy everything that you used.
When your company takes advantage of the efficiencies of cloud business solutions, you gain direct access to the best tools available without having to worry about scalability in the future. You get better resilience in the event of a crisis, and your IT team can do more for your company than simply deal with everyday problems as they occur. Moving your business to the cloud can be a smart move.