In Part I, we discussed the key reason — cost savings — why companies move to Cloud services. However, it appears that saving money is not the sole reason why small and medium sized businesses are switching the Cloud. There are a number of other factors as well that must be taken into account:
• Agility: Allows you to adapt and respond to customers’ needs quickly;
• Efficiency: Workers are provided with the right tools to perform their jobs;
• High Availability: The services are always available supported by redundant data centres;
• Mobility: Allows employees to be mobile and still access data from anywhere and anytime;
• Scalability: Pay-as-you-Go model allows you to scale up or down based on your demand.
Ultimately though, small businesses have to determine for themselves whether it makes sense for them to switch the Cloud or not. It is true that by using the Cloud, there will be less of a need for IT professionals, but that may not necessarily bring the costs down.
If cost alone is the main criteria for businesses deciding to make the switch to the Cloud, then they must decide for themselves if it is economical for them to make the switch. The best way for them to do so is to take a trial run to gain a better understanding of the costs of running applications in the Cloud. This hands on experience will allow them to make a more informed decision.
As Cloud computing brings tremendous advantages, it is likely that you have made up your mind and have moved to the Cloud. However, in case your have not, it is important that decision makers in your organisation are presented with a strong and cohesive plan for their approval. Pointing to the financial savings alone will not be sufficient to make the case; rather you will need to emphasise the whole benefits, such as agility, productivity, scalability, accessibility, profitability, high availability, and more.
We, at Backup Technology, are always available to help you make the right decision by providing you free consultation. Once you are ready to test our Cloud backup and disaster recovery services, we will be happy to set you up with a trial account. Keep in mind that there is more to the Cloud than the eye can see. Entering the Cloud is not an easy proposal, but, do not fret; and we have you covered.
