The unpredictable pandemic has forced various business sectors to shift their workforce and adopt work-from-home culture overnight. Every ongoing business process switched its operations entirely online within a blink of an eye.
Although the global pandemic has jeopardised the world’s economy, some businesses are still able to sustain, even thrive, with the help of advanced technologies such as Cloud computing.
According to research, since the majority of employees are working from home, cloud adoption has shown substantial growth. In 2018, the global market for cloud applications accounted for $118.7 billion and anticipated to reach $437.9 billion by 2026. That’s impressive.
Cloud computing is a notable uptick in the technology where one can accelerate business operations effectively without interruption.
Reasons to Accelerate the Push To Cloud Services During This Pandemic
“Cloud is the saviour amidst pandemic.”
Over the past few years, organizations have embraced a series of technology innovations- Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Blockchain technology, etc. that have made the business processes effortless with fewer investments. However, all these technologies work optimally only when combined with the cloud platform.
So, when companies transition to the cloud, they are eventually improving the digital experience instantly by adopting the latest technologies.
Let’s dig deeper into the reasons to adopt cloud during the pandemic.
1. Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery
By adopting the cloud, you gain business continuity that can prove beneficial during unusual circumstances like we are all experiencing with the pandemic. Business continuity means that you can maintain business operations as usual, even if you are in a different location from the team members.
Another boon to adopt cloud platform for business continuity and the need to embrace cloud entirely occurs within the practical unpreparedness of business for such unusual and sudden events where conditions like lockdown appear.
“Preparing to store data now on the cloud means planning data availability for the future.”
It means if you plan to store your data on the cloud today, you are eventually planning to have its availability even after something inevitable happens like a disaster. Disasters can be of any type- cyclone, tornado, or merely a power outage. A natural disaster cannot be retrograded; hence, having a cloud-based platform can mitigate the risk of data loss.
When the data is stored in the cloud-based servers, it comes up with backup planning. Data can be backed up even at the time of disaster to enable day-to-day operations without a stop.
2. Flexibility and Scalability
Due to the pandemic, the fluctuation in the business demands is quite evident. When businesses get impacted due to a natural crisis, it becomes hard to predict the growth of the business. In such cases, companies tend to analyze the present resources allocated and the future resources needed to run the business.
This is where companies can take full advantage of the cloud. Cloud offers high-level flexibility to scale the resources needed according to the demands of the business. The business might have a progression point during a few months, and the demand may also take a downturn after a few months.
During the progression period, there will be a need to add more users and storage space while working from home. Cloud service providers can scale it accordingly without having to purchase hardware or a new set-up.
3. Collaboration and Accessibility
The effect of the pandemic has led offices to shut down in the short-term, but who knows if the results will be long-term. After all, it has already been more than half a year. The recent work-from-home spike indicates the companies will need to manage teams entirely remotely.
In such cases, messaging apps and tools must not be the only thing at your disposal. For instance, if you are an accounting-centric firm, you may require to be in touch with the clients for sharing updates. Not only accounting firms but any other business that needs to be in constant contact with customers may need better collaboration solutions.
Sharing documents is tough, but not when you host on the cloud. Cloud adoption enables businesses of all types and sizes to work on the same file simultaneously anywhere around the world, making communication among the team members much more manageable, minimise the latency in work, and restrict real-time access to a limited number of users.
4. Cybersecurity
Security in any company is the primitive concern, and any intervention- cyberattacks, malicious attacks, etc. may hamper the business operations. Cyberattacks have always remained as a serious threat to the increasingly digital business world, and the pandemic is only worsening the problem.
No matter if you are working from home or office, security threats can never be taken care of if proper strategies are not implemented.
When the business data is stored in the cloud, the cloud service provider makes sure the information is secured under multiple layers of security, giving the company the best security platforms, detecting and eradicating the threats in real-time.
5. Reduced Overhead Costs
Every organization has a planned budget, and the basic principle demands to operate within the allocated budget to drive profitability. Moving along with the account requires the adoption of cost-effective business solutions.
When organizations set up their on-premise infrastructure, the cost of deployment, and the cost incurred in managing the infrastructure is much higher as compared to what cloud computing service providers offer. The cloud itself means using someone else’s computer.
Cloud adoption has an altogether different economic profile. Cloud enables organizations to cut down overhead costs like the cost involved in purchasing the local software, servers, and IT professionals who manage the systems within the office.
Cloud computing services reduce the costs by many factors or more when compared to individual corporate operations. At this pandemic time, the maintenance of on-premise infrastructure becomes difficult, and this is when cloud service provider infrastructure can be of great help.
Cloud is the Saviour Amidst the Pandemic
Cloud is not only the answer to concerns like data security, DR, but it is ubiquitous, helping businesses accelerate in the fast-paced digitalised world. During this pandemic, the transition to cloud computing might be a collective smart decision.
Mohak Arya is a content writer at Ace Cloud Hosting, one of the leading provider of QuickBooks Enterprise Hosting, with more than three years of experience. He has a keen interest in reading and writing about accounting, taxation, accounting trends, and implementing the latest technologies to transform accounting.