Do you want to prevent network service disruptions? Do your employees like to collaborate from any location? Do you want to achieve economies of scale and save money?
If you answered yes, your network infrastructure should be up in the cloud.
Most companies are now opting out of the expense, risk and hassle of housing their own physical network architecture. Instead, they use cloud computing to reduce costs and increase performance, productivity, reliability and security.
What is the Cloud?
Cloud computing is a virtual network comprised of web-connected servers, software and storage that can be accessed over the internet.
Cloud services are delivered in three ways: private, public and hybrid.
Private: A cloud built by your company or a service provider and dedicated to your business. This is an expensive but necessary option for highly regulated companies with strict data rules.
Public: Clouds hosted by a third-party service provider and distributed over the internet. This is the most popular and least expensive option because the cloud provider owns and manages the infrastructure, including hardware and software.
Hybrid: A common solution, the hybrid option utilizes a combination of public and private clouds so businesses can store and access different levels of data from multiple clouds.
Why Do You Need the Cloud?
Cloud technology has many benefits over in-house network servers, which explains why 48% of companies choose it to power their businesses.
Cost Efficient
Building and maintaining an in-house network is a significant and ongoing capital expenditure. Not only does it involve investing in equipment and software, but it can also require considerable staffing to keep it running and to address issues as they arise. With the cloud, there are no physical infrastructure investments, and you only pay for the services you use, typically based on storage capacity, memory space, number of users and features.
Flexible
Cloud technology is designed to adapt as your business changes. Cloud computing companies, like Amazon Web Services, Oracle, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure, provide different levels and types of services to create custom solutions that can scale with you.
Secure
Cloud providers have more experience detecting and preventing cybersecurity threats than small businesses and a deeper arsenal of resources. Instead of constantly monitoring and updating your own data server hardware, cloud providers deploy specialized data security teams on your behalf to implement mitigation strategies against the most prevalent threats.
Natural disasters, pandemics, and hardware crashes are unpredictable events that can devastate an on-premises network and leave employees without access to critical programs and applications. Data backup on third-party cloud servers provides reliable, secure access no matter what happens in your world.
Collaborative & Productive
Cloud computing drives productivity and collaboration by enabling users to access it anywhere. Whether in an office, on the road, in the field, or at home, employees can retrieve documents, run programs, share information and connect on projects in real time.
Migrating to the Cloud
Before you can migrate to the cloud, a host of factors must be considered. An advisor can help you analyze current technology and processes to align cloud services with business priorities and goals.
For more information or to find out which cloud computing solution is right for your business, reach out to me at jrodriguez@grayreedadvisory.com.