If you own a business or are thinking of starting one, you will have to decide whether your office tech will be local or hosted on the cloud. For the last few decades, the majority of businesses tended to have most of their business-related technology locally, usually in the form of dedicated servers and expansive networking. But with the growth of the cloud, that’s no longer a necessity.
The modern business owner can now move most of the heavy lifting completely to the cloud, which come with a multitude of benefits.
Better Uptime
Having a local server in the building might come with its own advantages, but there are also some downsides to consider. One of these is total uptime. While a quality server will undoubtedly last a number of years, there may be times when it isn’t working as expected. This might be due to a networking error, a problem with the operating system, or an issue with power supply.
Whatever the case may be, even a few hours of downtime can be costly to a business. Moving your business to the cloud usually guarantees much better overall uptime. This is especially true if you choose a hosting service that has multitude data centres and an excellent track record of uptime.
Lower Costs
Building the hardware you need at your location of business can be fairly expensive, both in the short and long-term. The cost of the hardware itself, as well as upgrades, dedicated IT staff, along with monthly power bills can all add up quickly. This is a problem that can be avoided by instead using the cloud for most business. Power costs will be significantly lower, and you won’t ever have to worry about the components breaking down and needing replacement.
Having IT staff on the premises at all times can also be extremely expensive, especially if a systems administrator is needed. This also means having more money to invest in other areas of the business, or to purchase better equipment for employees, or to afford them some extra break time so they can relax and check out the news or the latest ZAR casino games.
It’s Greener
Another benefit to using the cloud is an improved environmental impact. In a time where more and more businesses are cutting back on emissions, the cloud can help immensely. This is due to the fact that modern data centres generally have excellent efficiency and may even be powered by renewable energy sources. Google, for example, has made great leaps forward in recent years to try and reduce their carbon emissions. This ties in closely with power usage, especially if you happen to be in a country where the primary power source is coal.
Real-Time Collaboration
One of the greatest benefits of using the cloud is collaboration in real time. This means that several employees can be working on the same project at the same time. Combine this with video conferencing, instant messaging, and cloud backups, and it’s perfect for most small to medium businesses trying to cut down on their costs.
