Five reasons to move business operations to the Cloud

According to the European Commission, cloud computing has the potential to employ millions by 2020 in Europe alone. Gartner, meanwhile, observes that the global cloud computing market is predicted to expand to $45.6 billion by 2017. It’s clear that cloud-based applications are here to stay; they are found across marketing, sales, HR and finance departments and help businesses of all sizes reduce costs and increase efficiency. Yet many businesses are still reluctant to make the move, so for those who have yet to take the plunge, here are five reasons why you should consider relocating to the Cloud:

1. Money matters

There are numerous financial advantages; in fact the Cloud can save businesses up to 80 per cent of their IT budget by avoiding time consuming admin tasks. Cloud-based service solutions manage all equipment updates, restores and security software, so IT staff are liberated from these routine tasks and are free to deal with more pressing business issues. In fact, Aberdeen Group found that organisations using cloud services could resolve issues up to four times faster than their counterparts who weren’t!

2. Security

Security is a big concern for many businesses. According to Microsoft, 60 per cent of SME owners that hadn’t yet adopted the Cloud cited security as their main worry (and recent headlines regarding high profile data breaches do little to allay these concerns). But this is somewhat misleading: with a properly implemented security policy, any business can migrate to the Cloud knowing that their data is secure, as all cloud-service providers must adhere to rigid security standards. And it seems that these requirements are bringing in results - Microsoft also found that 94 per cent of SME owners who had moved to the Cloud had gained security benefits that they hadn’t before realised.

3. Scalability

We’ve mentioned the financial benefits that the Cloud brings, but it’s also scalable. As your business changes, you can add and remove employees at no additional cost and with minimal time and effort. Meanwhile if your business needs extra storage, it’s readily available. And if you’re concerned about the environment, you should remember that moving to the Cloud reduces your carbon footprint by up to a colossal 90 per cent.

4. Disaster Recovery

In the event of disaster, businesses need to know that their data is safe. Whether there’s been a theft, flood or virus attack, cloud servers ensure your data is backed up. And there can be no unauthorised access to data, so you don’t need to worry about your most sensitive security information falling into the wrong hands. Additionally, cloud servers encrypt your data so even if it was captured, it would be impossible to read. With these disaster recovery plans in place, any downtime you may suffer is kept to a minimum.

5. Flexibility

Employees in the UK with over 26 weeks service can now request the right to flexible working and according to the Office of National Statistics, in the first quarter of 2014, 4.2 million people worked from home; that’s almost 15 per cent of the UK workforce. It’s safe to say that today’s workforce is a flexible one, but businesses must ensure that productivity is not impacted as a result of this. By using cloud based systems, employees can work anytime, and from anywhere; all they need is an internet connection. This means they can work as productively outside the office as they do in.

Moving to the Cloud may seem like a big step, but it’s the logical one. Aside from the financial benefits, it ensures flexibility, security and scalability for your business. What’s not to love!