When it comes to your business's data and several tech-related areas, there's a realm that's become vital in the last decade or so: Cloud storage. Sometimes simply referred to as "the cloud," cloud storage is a innovative form of data storage and retrieval that allows for access from anywhere -- but it requires strong tech support and related services to ensure you're managing your cloud usage properly.
At Onward Technology, the cloud is just one of several areas we assist clients with as part of our managed IT and tech support services, which are available to businesses of any size and scope. The cloud brings benefits to a variety of business types, sizes and needs -- here are some of the top advantages of utilizing it, which you should strongly consider if you aren't already doing so.
Perhaps the single largest benefit of the cloud is its accessibility. When you use your PC or any other device, this includes uploading data to your chosen cloud storage option (i.e., Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, etc.). This ensures that any of your devices can access it -- and you can access it from anywhere.
On the go? Not a problem; as long as you have an Internet connection, you can log into your cloud storage from any computer or mobile device to gain access to your files. Whether you need to rope in remote employees, or simply want to give yourself remote access to your files no matter where you are, the cloud helps make it happen.
Furthermore, the cloud is ideal for long-term growth and scalability -- without making any significant changes to your on-site infrastructure.
No matter the scope of your company, at some point you're likely to experience growth (or perhaps even hit a plateau). While it's true that this can damage most companies' bottom line, with the right cloud infrastructure in place, this doesn't have to be the case for your business. By using managed IT services combined with solid cloud storage solutions, you can increase your company's growth without having to update your physical hardware.
This is because the cloud allows organizations of all sizes to quickly and easily scale their infrastructure as much as they need. As your business grows, you don't have to sign new leases or make significant changes to how much data storage space you're utilizing -- you can simply scale up your cloud plan, whether it's with the same provider or a different one.
While disasters that risk data loss are rare, they still can happen -- and your business needs to be prepared for them when they do. With cloud infrastructure in place, this process becomes far easier and less expensive to manage.
Particularly for smaller businesses that don't have a lot of resources, an offsite backup is ideal because it gives you the ability to ramp up quickly after a disaster -- without having to make significant changes or incur any additional costs. If you're utilizing cloud storage, your assets will remain intact and accessible.
If you're attempting to maintain your own data servers and related infrastructure, one of the highest areas of demand here will be making the regular updates that are required to keep your equipment's software up-to-date. This process will be a significant drain on your resources -- but in addition to that, it isn't always easy to ensure that these updates are installed correctly and completely.
With the cloud, on the other hand, these areas are handled for you. Because so much of cloud technology is software-based, the providers themselves are the ones who deploy these updates -- thus ensuring that they're always up-to-date and will always meet your company's needs.
For many businesses, the security offered by quality cloud infrastructure is one of the top features offered, even more important than disaster recovery. Today's world is sadly full of unscrupulous individuals like hackers, thieves, and others -- but when it comes to security, the cloud excels when compared with on-site infrastructure.
For one thing, in terms of physical facilities, you don't have to maintain or secure data centers in order to keep your information safe. This is because most cloud providers will take care of this for you; in fact, many of these professionals are likely to be subjected to higher levels of security than your business.
Another important security feature is that the cloud offers 24/7 monitoring -- while traditional data centers only offer this during standard working hours, you can expect around-the-clock protection when it comes to your data. Additionally, cloud infrastructure's self-healing features are designed to automatically recover when there is a threat, hijacking, or similar problem.
This makes them ideal for businesses of any size -- particularly in terms of small startups that can't afford to lose time due to server overloads.
Finally, cloud storage is simply a far more efficient method than traditional data centers. By their very nature, these facilities are designed to hold as much information as possible in the smallest possible area. This also makes them conducive to new technology like edge computing, which is a natural outcome of this design model.
In addition, cloud storage offers better performance than on-site systems -- making it ideal for companies that need fast uploads, downloads, and other actions. For anyone without extensive IT resources or experience, cloud storage is the easiest way to meet your data storage needs.
For more on why your business can benefit in major ways from utilizing cloud storage, or to learn about any of our managed IT or tech support services, speak to the team at Onward Technology today.
