Whether you realize it or not, you are already utilizing cloud software many times in your day to day life. Whether you are checking your bank account balance on your phone and wondering when those impulse purchases were made, simply downloading an app from the Apple Store or updating your LinkedIn status, this is all a result of the inevitable technology transition small to medium and even large corporations will face in the near and far future if they are to keep up and even stay ahead of their competitors.
It is evident that this software on first glance just means being able to access data from a remote location, however, while this is a small part of the overall benefits, cloud software can possess much more than that for a business looking to add value and save time when it comes to general operations and their IT infrastructure.
Here are the 6 main benefits that are almost immediately evident once the transition is made:
1. Keep Your Operations Flexible
Chances are that day to day, the tedious nature of tasks that are a part of the operational side of the business are taking up time and resources all while compromising how efficient you and your team can be. When it comes to cloud software, many of these “processes” can be automated as well as guarantee to be accommodated if bandwidth for a company is constantly growing or changing. Flexibility based on an organisation’s demand will be supplied which is why many IT Directors love the “operational agility” aspect of what the cloud can offer.
2. Work From Anywhere
Now short of moving to a remote island in which a basketball called Wilson is your best friend, chances are day to day you will for the majority have access to the internet no matter where you are in the world. All company data as well as applications associated will be available to all employees on a wide range of devices. The flexibility of being able to constantly monitor activities, guide operations and react to any changes or situations will be a blessing when these events or tasks require the immediate attention that only the cloud software can encapsulate.
3. Let’s Collaborate?
How often do those pesky little meetings out of the office that supposedly will lead to “efficient group collaboration” take up time and energy that only leads to minimal progress in the grand scope of achieving a larger task? With cloud software, a wide array of people will be able to meet “virtually” thus being able to collaborate, brainstorm and share information as quickly as they can think of it. This feature will not only cut down the time it takes to organize and execute these meetings but most importantly, product development, decision making and time to market will all drastically improve thus being able to reduce the sales and strategic / short term growth pipelines that exist.
4. Increased Growth & Decreased Costs
Not only does a flexible cost structure exist in almost every single cloud provider on the market, but with this will come a greater return on investment when growth KPI’s are measured. As aforementioned, a number of your competitors are most likely already on cloud software or strongly considering it. Instead of finally accepting your invitation to the cloud transition party, why not go one step further and become the life of it by utilizing it uniquely with the benefits only your company possesses. Whether that be through product development, guerrilla marketing strategies or even a chain of virality and word of mouth phenomenon of the services or products you offer take place, the agility as well as trial and error aspect that a smaller company will be able to capitalize on as opposed to a larger competitor can drastically increase brand awareness resulting in eventual loyal clients.
5. The Security Will Be Strong With This One
So picture this, you unfortunately lose your laptop, phone or tablet…if you are on the cloud then the problem is minimal as all data stored will be safe and encrypted however, if using a single server on each device, well then that data is available to whoever bears it. Being conscious of the security measures you must take is vital to being well on your way to achieving 100% utilization of cloud software. Being able to remotely wipe data from any devices stolen, lost or not in use anymore is also another pretty good feature of taking that extra step to protect anything of value that the cloud can bring your company.
6. Mergers & Acquisitions Have Never Been Smoother
While this may mostly apply for medium to larger corporations, the reality is that now days mergers and acquisitions can happen at all levels and it is a certain competitive advantage to be ready of any opportunities for growth opportunities of this level present themselves to you. Possibly the biggest recurring barrier to acquisiton is the transfer of data and records from one company’s server to another. With systems within the cloud in your business, end-users in each organisation that are responsible for manually coding information from A to B can much more readily and rapidly achieve these tasks. As a result, fast tracking these processes can make the whole experience a much smoother one for both parties involved.