When it comes to cloud computingMany still interpret these as complex solutions only for large companies with a huge volume of data and considerable financial capacity. But nothing could be further from the truth. The cloud is especially useful for SMEs and the self-employed, and these are some of the great advantages of working in this environment.
1. Cost reduction
The company does not need to invest in its own IT infrastructure and software licences. No special hardware needs to be installed to get started. On the contrary, acquiring your own technological infrastructure is much more expensive and not all businesses can afford it. Why? Because it is not only a matter of technological acquisition, but of everything that this entails: maintenance costs, energy costs, technical staff, etc.
It has been proven that with management from the cloud a business can save between 20% and 30%. On the other hand, the company can focus exclusively on its activity without having to devote time and resources to technological maintenance, which can sometimes be extremely expensive. SMEs lose up to one month's work a year repairing failed equipment, a fact that gives us an idea of what the cost of maintenance can mean for a business.
2. Mobility: Access from any device, anywhere
Wherever you are, you have access to all company information. Mobility has become a great competitive advantage, both to work or to attend clients from any place, and to favour the labour flexibility of a worker who can organize all his activity without depending on an office. Simply having an Internet connection is enough to access applications or information. In addition, documents are hosted in the cloud, not on individual computers, so different users can share them or work on them without the need to be physically together. According to different studies, companies that take advantage of mobility and collaborative work, increase their income by 50% on average.
3. Payment for use and expenditure under control
Cloud computing is based on pay-per-use models. The company contracts only the services it needs at any given time and has the possibility of adjusting costs to its real needs. The customer adds or removes services depending on what they require, avoiding having to invest in their own infrastructure which would eventually become obsolete. In other words, they pay for what they need and when they need it. If certain days of the month require more capacity or data storage, it is enough to expand your services online and instantly. And if, for example, the company changes the number of workers or its structure, you only have to add or subtract functions.
4. Always up-to-date technology
To always be able to enjoy the latest versions of the software and the most modern applications until recently was a "luxury" only available to large companies. With the cloud, the customer is assured of a technology that is always updated and optimized. Updates from the user's point of view are done automatically and will simply be available the next time they log in to the cloud.
5. Unlimited storage capacity
Today we handle large amounts of data and the cloud offers virtually unlimited storage. For example, if your computer has 500 gigabytes of hard disk, keep in mind that that's infinitely small compared to the terabytes available in the cloud. In other words, you don't have to make upgrades to your own computer every few years, with all the expense that entails.
6. Respect for the environment
Although in cloud computing we almost always talk in terms of profitability or productivity, this point is also very important. Making use of the cloud reduces a company's carbon footprint by saving resources that go from being stored in physical components to being virtual. This means considerable savings in energy consumption, which translates into significant benefits for the environment. Virtualization can reduce energy consumption and pollution levels by more than 60%.
7. You don't need 'the latest' in computers
Computers with smaller hard disks, less memory and processors can be used. For example, in this context, a computer would not even need a CD or DVD drive, since it does not require installing programs and the data or documents do not need to be saved on the hard disk either. Also, with less programs hogging the memory of the computer, the PC will perform much better because it has fewer processes loaded.
8. Security
Unlike traditional computing, where any PC failure can destroy all data, in this environment, if the computer's disk stops working that would not affect your data. And to put it a little less "drastic", if it simply happens that the computer crashes, all the data will still be in the cloud and fully accessible from another device. As for information backups, it is clear that they are vital to any business, but what is the reality? That not everyone does them, or at least not on a regular basis. In the cloud computing environment, users don't have to worry about backups because the cloud performs them automatically and with secure encryption, making them resistant to any hacker attack.
9. You stop being tied to a PC
Very important: "don't be a slave to your computer or an operating system". With the cloud you are no longer tied to a PC. That is, you can change computers without fear, because applications and data will still be in the cloud. Your documents, data and applications are the same no matter what computer or device you are using to access them. And today you can use Windows, Linux, Mac, tablets or smartphones of all kinds
10. Equality
Finally, and undoubtedly one of the most important advantages, is that the cloud service allows small and medium enterprises to be in the same conditions as large ones, promoting a fairer and more equal market in access to technology and this balances the "playing field".
We live in an increasingly virtual world. Perhaps the time has come to evolve in SMEs too and rethink whether computer equipment, however advanced it may be, can compete in price and efficiency with the enormous capacity and "a la carte" cloud computing services offered by a good data center.
Consultant in Logistics and Supply Chain Technologies
