Businesses have been using the cloud for nearly a decade. But many people at the top of those firms still don’t understand the many ways in which cloud computing offers a competitive edge.
The cloud isn’t just something that’s nice to have, but an essential utility that can help improve your company’s prospects. Here are just some of the ways that it can help you outperform your competitors.
Rapidly Launch New Applications
When companies relied on tradition in-house IT systems to meet all their needs, it took a long time for anything to change. Migrating to new software could often take months, or didn’t happen at all because of the hassle involved.
But with the cloud, that’s all changed. Using new software is as easy as downloading a new app to your phone. Another company somewhere else takes care of the entire process, making getting the software you want at your end easy.
All of this makes your business leaner and more agile. You can ditch apps that you don’t need and get new services at a moment’s notice.
Free Up IT Staff
Having an IT role sounds glamorous. Many people imagine that IT staff spend all their time coming up with exciting new ideas and services. But the reality of the job is somewhat different. Almost always, it devolves into troubleshooting and frustration. When you do computing in-house, things just don’t seem to work.
Professional IT consultants often recommend that companies use the cloud so that they can get more value from their current team of computer professionals. The cloud doesn’t replace people – it just frees them up for higher value tasks. Your organization will always need individuals with the skills and the knowledge to recommend various hardware and software changes.
Boost Your Adaptability
Being able to adapt to a changing market has always been important for business. But today, companies succeed and fail at a faster pace, meaning that being adaptable to changing market conditions is often essential for survival.
The cloud gives businesses the flexibility they need to succeed in the long-term. Distributed computing makes it easy to scale up and scale down, and it gives employees more freedom to work wherever and whenever they want. This ancillary benefit shouldn’t be underestimated: talented employees will always be attracted to those firms that offer the greatest freedom.
Improve Profitability
IT costs can be considerable when you attempt to control everything in-house. But if you’re prepared to let a cloud provider take over the provision of information technology for you, then you can save a lot of money.
On average, companies find that they save around 60 percent on their IT bill when shifting to the cloud. The cloud is a pay-as-you-go service, meaning that you only have to pay for the services that you need. If cash flow is an issue, you can instantly reduce your outlays until you can afford to resume them once more. There are no license fees to pay usually, and there’s no need to eat into your capital through upfront spending on servers.
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