4 Ways the Cloud Enhances How You Do Business

When it comes to using technology to improve your business, it’s hard to beat the benefits that cloud computing provides. The cloud can help to boost your functionality in a variety of ways. As a result, cloud technologies have seen explosive adoption rates--and it’s no wonder, when you consider what the cloud is capable of, and how it can benefit your workforce.

Boosted Mobility
One of the most significant pain points that businesses have experienced in the past is a lack of access to their files. Unless there were multiple copies of a file floating around (which increases the risk of data leakage and inconsistency) an employee would have had to remove the business’s sole copy of a file to work on it, greatly increasing the risk of data loss.

However, the cloud mitigates these potential issues almost completely by allowing documents and data to be accessed from anywhere that an Internet connection can be established. As a result, there is a greatly reduced risk of data loss due to misplaced files. Another consideration is that if your organization gets hit with a disaster, a secondary workplace is much easier to set up.

Business Continuity and Data Backup
On the subject of disasters, cloud technologies also enable businesses to better ensure their ability to continue their operations should something befall their physical office. In cases such as floods, fires, or other destructive forces, it is much better to have your data safely stored in an offsite location, rather than keeping your critical files in a filing cabinet that gets damaged in a disaster.

The cloud also allows businesses to add another layer of data redundancy to ensure that it protected if something terrible happens. It accomplishes this by storing the data in multiple off-site locations, so when it is time to recover data, it is accessible and easily restored.

Collaboration
When was the last time that you wasted reams of paper, as employees who were working on a project printed out copy after copy, only to scribble all over them, crossing out things, and annotating others? This approach is inefficient, wasteful, and expensive.

The cloud, on the other hand, allows these documents to be shared and edited online, ensuring that all of your resources have the same version to reference and eliminating the vast majority of your printing and production costs.

Scalability
Physical storage solutions generally come in a limited assortment of sizes, meaning that you could potentially have to make a large investment to keep a relatively small number of files. While having to buy a filing cabinet or two may not seem like such a large investment in the grand scheme of things, it also depends on how much utility you’ll ultimately need from it.

This is where the cloud has the advantage once again. Working with the cloud provider, you are able to arrange to have exactly as much storage space as you’ll need, with the ability to increase or decrease your allotted storage as necessary. As you do so, the fees that most managed cloud providers charge will adjust incrementally, ensuring that you pay only what your provider is due.

Preferred can help you when it comes to implementing a cloud solution for your business. Give us a call at 708-781-7110 for more information.