The latest trends show that businesses of all sizes and industries, no matter where they are located, are turning to cloud services as a way to increase productivity. Spending on cloud computing infrastructure and platforms every year keeps increasing at an exponential rate and so far, according to Goldman Sachs, a growth of 30% has been predicted for the year of 2018. This means that the cloud market size will just keep increasing fueled by the massive cloud adoption. Whether it is cloud migration, bespoke cloud-based software or new solutions that can improve the way businesses organize their work load and manage costs, fast growth and implementation of new cloud services seems like the only way to go forward.

If we analyse how much most of these companies that invested into the cloud technology have spent so far, we will discover that most of them invested at least part of their I.T. budgets into the new cloud technologies. This is surely good news for companies like Tailored Ltd, as more and more businesses and their accompanying end users are ready to buy bespoke cloud-based applications, with centralised file sharing, communication, social media and content sharing capability being one of the main functionalities required by almost every new business in the process of transition onto a cloud.

There are numerous factors that are driving cloud adoption but for now we will take a deeper look into some of the main ones. Along with quantifiable improvements that the cloud-based solutions bring, such as improved productivity, lower costs and savings in time, these main factors make the principal driving force motivating all the businesses across all the sectors to make the switch for the cloud.

If we wanted to view benefits that cloud computing has on businesses from a different angle, we would realise that the majority of company executives are always the ones who are the most actively involved in their organisations’ decissions about cloud strategy. These executives have a different perspective on cloud-based technology which is purely driven by numbers and productivity. Studies done by Goldman Sachs from 2017 show that, if we take all the companies into account that have implemented cloud-based systems so far, that all of them noted an increase of 19% in company growth.

 

1. COST FLEXIBILITY

Businesses only need to invest into server and cloud infrastructure when it is actually needed. Due to the technology’s high flexibility, more capacity can be added during peak usage times and then deprovisioned when it is no longer needed. This means that the cost of cloud computing is much lower than traditional systems. Compared to this, traditional computing was in a way wasting storage space because when the capacity wasn’t needed after peak times, it would just sit idle for the rest of the time.

2. COST-EFFECTIVENESS AND REDUCED EXPENSES

Collaboration within businesses in increased by allowing dispersed groups of people to meet virtually and easily share information in real time and via shared storage. All of this can reduce time needed market and improve product development and customer service.

During times of recession or business cut-backs (like the energy industry is currently experiencing), cloud computing offers a flexible cost structure, thereby limiting exposure.

3. SOFTWARE FLEXIBILITY

The latest software versions needed to run the business are made available to all staff and customers as soon as they are released. Further more, companies like Tailored Ltd can design highly specialised, sophisticated, bespoke software solutions that target a particular requirement of a particular business. These tailored software solutions offer frequent updates, 1 on 1 customer service and flexibility where businesses are given an opportunity to fine-tweak a particular option within the software as they go. In contrast, software solutions for the more traditional systems are usually developed by large corporations that might have major updates only once a year and it may take a significant time for these updates to come out.

4. INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY

With cloud computing, companies can reduce the size of their own data centres, or eliminate their data centes completely. The reduction of the number of servers, the cost of software and the lower number of staff can significantly reduce I.T. costs without impacting I.T. capabilities of that organisation. Further more, cloud-based systems save time by speeding up the way businesses operate, improva data management, business organisation and work-flow, create hassle-free work environment which all leads to increased productivity.

5. IMPROVED MOBILITY

Data and applications are available to employees no matter where they are in the world. Business owners and their employees can take their work with them anythwere by using a lap top, smart phone or a tablet. Now going on a business trip would not necessarily mean relinquishing work obligations. With cloud solutions, work is where your portable device is, and working in the field or outside the office will not mean that the work load will suffer.

6. CLOUD IS ALWAYS ON

Tailored Ltd provides cloud hosting services that are always on-line and extremely reliable. The connection is always on and as long as employees have a functioning Internet line, they can get to the particular application they need from literally anywhere. Some applications can even work off-line.

7. IMPROVED COLLABORATION

Because companies do not have to purchase equipment and build out and operate a data centre, they do not have to spend significant money on hardware, facilities, utilities and other aspects of operations. With traditional computing, a company can spend millions before it gets any value from its investment in the data centre.

8. CAPACITY FLEXIBILITY

Flexibility of the cloud is reflected in its capability to be turned up, down or off depending on circumstances. For example, a sales promotion might be wildly popular so in these cases the need for capacity can increase. To avoid crashing servers and losing sales, an additional capacity can be added quickly. When the sale process is completed, capacity can shrink to its original size to reduce costs.

9. ENVIRONMENT-FRIENDLY

With fewer data centres worldwide and more efficient operations, we collectively create less of an impact on the environment. Further more, companies who use shared resources can have better environmental credentials than the ones that don’t.

Despite vast benefits of cloud computing, business owners have identified several barriers holding the cloud adoption back. The security of data is one of the top concerns holding back cloud development projects. That is followed by the concern regarding the regulatory compliance, followed by the loss of control over I.T. services and knowledge and experience of both I.T. professionals and business managers. As organisations address their security and compliance concerns by extending corporate policies to data in the cloud and invest in closing the cloud skills gap, they can more fully take advantage of the benefits of cloud services.