Businesses across virtually all industries generate a mass of files, data, and other digital assets. They need to be stored somewhere.
In recent years, many firms have turned to cloud solutions for their data storage needs. If you own a business and haven’t done this yet, you should strongly consider doing the same.
Migrating to the cloud offers a range of benefits. The following are some of the more noteworthy.
Saving Money
The cloud isn’t as intangible as it sounds. It consists of a network of servers that a cloud services provider owns and operates. Companies and individuals can store their data on these servers as if they were renting office space.
Storing your data in the cloud can save your business a lot of money. If you were to store it on your own servers, you’d have to purchase the equipment, hire employees to monitor and maintain the infrastructure, and rent the space to house your servers. All of that becomes unnecessary when you migrate to the cloud.
Improving Brand Image
Storing data and digital assets in the cloud can also help a company reduce its spending by minimizing the need to store physical copies of various documents and files.
In addition, this could translate into greater brand loyalty. According to recent surveys, consumers believe it’s very important for businesses to practice sustainability.
If storing files in the cloud enables your firm to use fewer resources, customers who learn about the practice will possibly be more inclined to continue as your customers for years to come.
You might even attract new clients as a result of migrating to the cloud.
Scaling Your Business
The best cloud storage providers offer a range of plans, depending on your storage needs. They also enable you to upgrade easily as your storage needs increase.
This will empower your business to grow more efficiently. If you store your data in-house, when your storage needs increase you’ll have to purchase more equipment and procure more space to house it.
This takes time and can slow your progress. Avoid this by opting for a cloud storage solution.
Security
For obvious reasons, keeping your company’s data secure is essential. Leaks can harm customer trust, result in competitors accessing valuable intellectual property, lead to fines if a leak represents a failure to comply with applicable regulations, and worse.
Luckily, many experts believe that data stored in the cloud is more secure than data stored in more familiar ways. Not all cloud storage providers can provide the same level of protection, of course; you’ll need to choose one that clearly prioritizes security.
Still, it makes sense that the average cloud storage solution would be more secure than in-house servers. Cloud storage providers understand that security is a major priority for their customers.
As such, they make a point of consistently upgrading their security based on the latest best practices because they have to remain competitive. When a business is responsible for its own server security, making those upgrades can be routinely postponed in favor of more pressing tasks.
Access
Remote work is becoming more common. Perhaps some of your teams are distributed across the country (if not the globe). You might also have employees who travel often and extensively for work.
This is another excellent reason to migrate to the cloud. A quality cloud storage solution will allow authorized employees to get access to files and data from anywhere with an Internet connection.
Some cloud storage providers also offer collaboration tools, to ensure your employees can work together with ease, regardless of where they are.
Reliability
It’s impossible for a cloud storage solution provider to guarantee a 100% uptime rate. But it’s become increasingly clear that cloud server uptime rates tend to be much more reliable than those of the average firm’s own servers.
You don’t want your business to suffer because your servers are down. In today’s fast-paced environment, even minimal downtime can mean delays that have a negative impact on client and customer satisfaction.
You can guard against this by storing your data with a reputable cloud services provider.
Peace of Mind
Although cloud storage solutions enable you to no longer have to store your data and files in-house, for understandable reasons some business leaders who have embraced cloud solutions still continue to do so. They regard the cloud as merely a backup for their files.
This gives them the peace of mind based on the knowledge that if something were to happen to their in-house data, they can readily retrieve it via the cloud.
Boosting Productivity
This is an oft-overlooked benefit of cloud storage that can actually be fairly significant. When you store your data on your own servers and computers, eventually your firm’s computers will run slower than is ideal.
This can have a major impact on overall productivity. On the other hand, when you free up space by storing your data in the cloud, you will probably be able to get more done.
Plus, a recent survey indicated that at many businesses, tracking down files stored in-house is a regular task that eats up more time than it should. This is less likely to be an issue when you make use of a cloud storage solution, because they’re typically designed to ensure users can search for any files they may need with ease.
The amount of time this may save your employees translates to far greater productivity.
How a Cloud Storage Provider Helps
The above are all essential reasons to prioritize cloud migration at your business. Perhaps you may be reluctant to do so simply because you believe the process of transferring over will be too overwhelming and/or time-consuming.
If this is the case, don’t worry about it. Some cloud storage providers also offer training, tools, and consulting services designed to help their customers migrate to the cloud more easily.
Find such a provider and take advantage of their assistance to begin leveraging the many benefits of cloud storage.
