Businesses of all sizes are shifting some or all of their data and applications to cloud computing environments to take advantage of the many benefits available to them, but cloud computing is still an emerging set of technologies. The benefits to the business may not be apparent.
What does cloud computing offer a business that is used to traditional compute models? Here are several of the business benefits of using cloud computing.
NO NEED TO RIP-AND-REPLACE
Businesses can make the switch from traditional to cloud computing without any costly upgrades or additions to existing infrastructure by using the cloud as a form of outsourcing. Businesses should evaluate their IT environment and identify applications suitable for initial moves to the cloud. There are IT environment assessment tools that can assist in aligning applications and the associated infrastructure. These tools provide insights into on-premises hardware with recommendations to move to the cloud with actionable data to support decision making.
REDUCE YOUR COSTS
Cloud computing environments enable businesses to scale their compute and storage needs up on an as-needed basis, which can keep costs low. Additionally, the cloud architecture moves IT spending from capital to operating expenditures, which makes it easier on the books and simpler to justify. Costs are directly aligned with a business’ usage, so they’re also easy to predict. Once in the cloud, companies need to maintain an ongoing cost-containment strategy to ensure maximizing the value of moving to the cloud.
AUTOMATION PROVIDES AGILITY
An agile business is a successful business, and agility is gained from high levels of automation. Cloud computing services are designed to be heavily automated and self-provisioning, giving end-users the ability to quickly scale their needs up and down without any manual intervention. Businesses should take an automation-first mindset and use that to create a software platform to perform more routine day-to-day operations functions. This is a huge benefit that allows for quick response to customer demands, which improves service and responsiveness.
SCALABILITY
The cloud provides a platform for efficient and effective scalability for applications to access additional resources on an as-needed basis without the need for procuring expensive equipment. With effective designs, these resources can then be scaled back down to match customer demand drivers or compute performance requirements. When cloud environments are designed as cloud-native, this style of computing can take maximum advantage of the cloud characteristics and in particular, the nearly limitless scalability.
ENABLE ACCESS AND EXTEND GLOBALLY
Cloud computing gives businesses the ability to establish access to their applications effectively in many regions around the world. With cloud, the providers have cloud regions established all around the world and augmented with edge locations, which means lower latency and a better experience for users at an effective cost.
FOCUS ON CORE COMPETENCIES
The automation built into cloud computing requires less work on the part of IT, so resources and budgets can be freed up to focus on core competencies. A business runs on IT, but managing IT should be as easy and streamlined as possible. The cloud providers, as shown in the shared responsibility models, now take care of procuring hardware, power and network redundancy, physical data centers, edge locations and much more. Cloud computing offers such flexibility to focus on core competencies that businesses can use to differentiate and provide excellent service to their customers.
EXPERT ADVICE TO HELP YOU REALIZE THE BENEFITS OF CLOUD
As a long-time managed services provider, we have deep expertise in helping companies realize these benefits by helping them with their cloud journeys. If you would like to discuss how, then connect with us here:
