Despite IT generally considered a dull topic in the business world, businesses are now more than ever considering their options to suit their setup to their worker’s demands.
Businesses of all sizes can take benefit of the cloud’s adaptability in terms of applications and data storage.
Both the modern worker and modern enterprise need to react to the ever-changing technology scene with the agility to perform to the current standard. Outdated technology is no longer efficient, even if it is still up and running. Business owners and decision makers need to consider how cloud computing can help their business reach the next level and stay competitive.
INSTANT COMPUTING POWER
When using the cloud, workers can gain instant access to all information and data required. For start-ups, this provides them with the opportunity to experiment and analyse what is working for them without using, and potentially wasting the already tight budget.
With cloud service providers taking care of delivery and maintenance of the IT model, businesses can request different apps to be delivered in the cloud depending on individual employee requirements.
BACKING UP AND STORING DATA
Data backup and storage are among the most common uses of the cloud for small businesses. 63% of cloud users in an AT&T survey said they rely on these cloud functions the most.
Cloud backup and storage can help protect your company from malware and natural disasters that could jeopardise business critical data if it was stored. If data was stored on site and an incident did occur, businesses would be badly affected to potentially the point of all activity being forced to a halt.
By opting for the cloud, businesses of all sizes are able to cope with the growing number of threats being posed amongst data at an enterprise level and IT can instead, focus on tasks at hand rather than monitoring IT activity.
COLLABORATION FROM ANY LOCATION
Collaboration within the workplace is no longer an option but instead, a necessity. Whether we are aware of it or not, we are constantly collaborating with our colleagues on a day-to-day basis.
The traditional option for collaborative working would typically involve emailing files to colleagues instead of hosting these files within a secure cloud environment. Not only is email an insecure tool for collaboration, it is also more likely to be flawed. Unlike the cloud, emailing files back and forth does not allow for one live version of the document meaning multiple users version need to be edited, updated, saved and sent continually throughout the project.
Atlas Cloud offers Citrix ShareFile as a tool to save and share files in a secure environment allowing users to access the information with intense security levels. This allows workers who are working collectively to view and edit one live version of each document involved rather than attempting to update numerous versions of the same file.
SCALABILITY
When businesses are planning to expand their workforce, it can involve time-consuming planning, consideration and an entire re-think to budget spending in order to facilitate growing staff numbers.
This can often make smaller businesses hesitant to the idea of expanding, despite the fact that expansion is a huge player in the success of achieving financial goals.
Businesses should consider moving their IT set-up to a cloud way of working to allow for more flexibility and opportunity to progress further as a business through an improvement of talent and capabilities.
By opting for the cloud, businesses are no longer confined to pieces of hardware that could become unused and therefore result in a waste of budget. Instead, the cloud can offer businesses a way to increase their operations cost-effectively by supplying them with an IaaS model which is based on changing employee requirements.
EMPOWERED EMPLOYEES
It is standard knowledge that if employees are happy their work will show this. Increased productivity is just one of the results empowered employees can offer businesses.
With mobile first strategies shaping the way we now work, it is now time for businesses to opt for this way of working. Job applications are now advertising roles with a main focal point on a “work from home” option being available within the spec. This alone highlights that employee needs have to be answered for businesses to perform to their best ability.
But why are work from home policies dominating the business scene? Working from home has seen positive results such as:
- 66% of employees said the greatest benefit of home working was the improvement in work/personal life balance.
- 44% of workers stated that the greatest benefit of working from home was eliminating the long commute.
- 45% said it overall increased their productivity.
These results highlight that by avoiding the dreaded commute and remaining in the comforts of your own environment, employees are better equipped to work to a higher standard.
MOVE TO THE CLOUD TODAY
It is evident that if businesses are wanting to grow, they should consider different IT models that allow employees flexibility and mobility to meet their demands whilst producing the best results. Atlas Cloud can offer same day implementation of cloud-hosted applications and desktops, allowing you to adopt a new approach to working easily without hindering productivity.
If you’re ready to take your business to the next level, do not hesitate to contact us today for a free demo.
