Find out what cloud is and what advantages cloud gives your business
Back in the 1970s and 80s, if a business needed figures calculating in a hurry, they’d tend to buy in ‘data processing’ services. Well, popper pants, double denim and gin and tonics have enjoyed a recent revival and so too has the buying-in of computer services, only this time it’s got a 21st-century twist in the form of the cloud.
To put it simply, cloud means that instead of buying expensive and clunky computer hardware and software, that same hardware and software is provided to you by another company, sans equipment, which you can access over the internet.
Where the clunky and expensive hardware and software are located doesn’t matter. You’ll be getting the same services you would with traditional equipment, but you’ll access them via the internet in a much more seamless manner.
Most people use the cloud all day long without even realising it. If you’ve got an iPhone or Android phone, the photos you take daily will often be backed up into either the iCloud or Google. You could delete them off your phone but when you log into your iCloud or Google account, they’ll still be there. You probably don’t know where your photos are stored. You’ve probably never thought about it before. The likelihood is you’re not particularly bothered, but that’s just one example of how it works.
In a business sense, cloud can offer so much more than photo storage. It can allow your employees to make phone calls on a desk phone or their mobile and switch seamlessly between the two, without the recipient even realising it. It can give you to access a series of collaboration tools, including the Microsoft 365 business suite, enhancing your employees’ efficiency and equipping them with the tools needed for the job.
In the current climate, cloud has played a more significant role in working environments than ever before. We’ve probably all encountered Zoom, Skype for Business or a Microsoft Teams call, and all of those would have been hosted in the cloud.
Advantages of using the cloud
For a start, switching to the cloud will mean fewer infrastructure costs. And, because you’ll have less hardware and products, you’ll save space! Not only that, by switching to the cloud, you’ll have lower upfront costs too as the cost of installation isn’t usually necessary.
With cloud products, it’s relatively straightforward to scale your solution. For example, if a call centre has seasonal workers, they could add on additional VoIP users for a few months if they needed to and then potentially scale back down when they scaled back their staff.
Should anything go wrong with your cloud solutions, they’re usually covered by robust service level agreements (SLAs). This means that your provider will get you back online and working again within a shorter period of time than if they had to send an engineer out to fix a hardware issue.
Are you interested in how cloud solutions can support your business? Contact us today to find out more.
