Businesses globally are accelerating their digital transformation journeys to enhance their agility, innovation and security. Adoption of cloud services has become one of the most dominant trends in this endeavour. In fact, Gartner forecasts that public cloud spending is poised to shoot up from $490.3 billion to $591.8 billion in a year’s time.
6 compelling benefits of cloud solutions
Businesses that have been using cloud services long enough report higher efficiency, better customer service and increased profit margins. Other advantages of adopting cloud services include:
1. Improved access to data under all work conditions
With hybrid and remote work part of the long-term business vocabulary now, the cloud has become integral to the business framework since it can securely store data and systems, and enable remote access to them from anywhere at any time.
For example, consider cloud services for organizational call centres. Earlier, 90 percent of businesses used on-premise solutions. However, as call volumes rose because of the changed circumstances, making contact centres cloud-based enabled businesses to re-route calls to home-based agents, who assisted customers by accessing their data in the centralized data pool hosted on the cloud. This ensured that customers experienced the same quality of service while agents remained safe at home or at any other remote location.
2. Better collaboration between work groups
Cloud-based productivity applications enable better real-time digital collaboration between employees, and with clients. While working on a document, changes can be made on-the-go. This increases productivity, improves communication and eliminates unnecessary back-and-forth processes. This is especially useful for businesses working on cross-border projects, or businesses partnering for an event or announcement.
3. Increased cost savings for both small and large enterprises
Pay-as-you-go (PAYG) cloud services enable businesses to tailor their usage and be charged accordingly. This is especially valuable for small businesses and start-ups with smaller IT budgets and fluctuating sales volumes. Using cloud services on contract also helps reduce capital expenditure and overhead costs, and allows businesses to use their human and financial resources for other critical and strategic purposes.
4. Better security during all operating conditions
Cyber threats are an undeniable reality of the modern business world. Cloud service providers usually include data security services that cater to both single and multi-cloud environments.
For instance, cloud services allow healthcare businesses to store files and reports in a secure centralized location but providers access them from different networks when required. This allows providers to deliver quality healthcare without running the risk of leaking sensitive personal information.
5. Assurance of business-as-usual under all situations
During mergers and acquisitions, businesses earlier had to undergo an extensive IT system integration process, which could disrupt productivity and incur high costs. However, having cloud-based systems significantly improves and simplifies integration. It minimizes disruption during the transition period and saves both time and money. Any necessary software updates automatically download onto the cloud so that businesses always have the most up-to-date systems at the best possible rates, and without interruption.
6. Quicker data recovery during emergencies
Cloud backups improve business resilience. For businesses that need to be always-on, such as financial services, any prolonged downtime can be catastrophic for all concerned parties. To mitigate the impact of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, natural disasters, even power outages or any other disruptions, cloud backups for critical services can be created in multiple data centres so that data services can bounce back quickly and ensure end users always have access to their funds. In a recent VMware survey, 88 percent of IT executives utilizing cloud services said that they have been expanding their disaster recovery and risk mitigation policies.
Cloud is the future of digitalization
It is impossible to discuss digitalization without including cloud services. They are a natural addition to most businesses’ digital transformation strategies and will only become more robust and versatile to adapt to the changing needs of the business world.
Businesses today need to evolve and adapt quickly to face new demands and challenges. With the cloud as a cornerstone of digital transformation, cloud services have almost become a necessity to do business in the digital future. It is no longer a question of why, but how soon can a business begin using cloud services.
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