5 Critical Ways Cloud Computing Has Revolutionized Business

The whole notion of cloud computing is still being realized by business owners. Unlike a tangible in-house system of computing that entrepreneurs became used to having around the office, cloud computing seems to have changed the modern workplace in ways that cause many business owners to beg for clarification. To understand if cloud computing is right for their company to indulge in, it might help to take a closer look at five ways cloud computing has revolutionized how companies do business today.

Reducing In-House IT Departments

Prior to the introduction of cloud computing to the business world, companies were under pressure to provide large amounts of space for massive computer networks. IT departments were basically a huge expense and involved a vast number of different employees to manage a company's IT needs. Today, with the advent of cloud computing services, many companies have embraced ways of outsourcing their entire IT department to be managed by offsite cloud computing service providers who handle the IT concerns of numerous companies at the same time.

In some ways this transformation has caused IT professionals to lose jobs, which has translated to a reduction in overall costs for the companies for which they used to work. This has also created a situation where companies use websites like Directliquidation.com to sell off large volumes of IT equipment they no longer have use for in-house. As a result, companies find that they no longer need to operate out of such large office buildings either; consequently, they save money on their monthly rent costs as well by moving their IT needs to the cloud.

Software Updates

Imagine needing to update software at 250 business locations across the span of all 50-states. Doing updates the old way would potentially take days or even weeks to get everything ironed out and up and running smoothly. Today, cloud service providers not only make this task happen rapidly, but they manage the entire remote deployment of software updates as often as needed to ensure that all your independent locations are current with the latest version of your corporate software.

By reducing the delay otherwise associated with software updates, this helps companies to make major software transitions appear to occur more seamlessly. This also helps to ensure that all your independent locations operate consistently on the same page and exhibit the ability to ensure the same level of quality service for your clients everywhere you do business. Not only is this cost effective, but using the cloud is clearly a more-efficient way to perform software updates over a large geographical region.

Scalable Data Storage

Before the cloud, scaling for massive data storage was nothing short of a nightmare for corporate giants. Each location where data was being stored and utilized had to be outfitted with new equipment to handle the scaling increase of the data load. As one can imagine, this gets rather expensive every time a corporation needs to rescale for an increase in data storage capacity. According to Businessreviewusa.com, switching from in-house scaling methods for data storage to a remote offsite cloud model works far better for large corporations.

The main reason is because remote cloud structures are infinitely scalable. If a corporation needs more data storage space, they simply purchase more storage space from the provider managing their private cloud network. If there is a need to increase the storage capacity again, it is simply a matter of repeating this process to accommodate the larger data load.

Improving Sensitive Data Security

Data security is one of the great concerns of our modern business age. It seems that everywhere you turn, companies experience serious sensitive data breaches. By storing data in the cloud, rather than on physical devices, a company will make it more difficult for data thieves to gain access to your company's sensitive data. Stealing a physical computer from your office does not necessarily grant a thief access to your remote private network or your sensitive data. For starters, because your data is not being stored in-house, this makes it difficult for hackers to figure out where your data resides.

Even if they did know what cloud service was hosting your company's private, sensitive data, they would still need the right encrypted passwords to gain access to the data. Using a cloud service for sensitive data storage provides many layers of practical security that helps ensure your company is safe from a data breach.

Real Time Item Availability

In the past, consumers found it difficult to know if a store they were visiting would have items they wanted to purchase. With the cloud’s ability to hold and deploy massive data to vast numbers of end-users in real time, stores find it easier to put their current stock online to help consumers know what is available for immediate purchase at stores local to the user making item information requests. This is great news for mobile shoppers, because these people generally hate wasting time and gas only to learn that a retailer does not have the item they want in stock.

These are just some ways companies are employing the use of cloud computing to ensure that their customers end up being more satisfied with their overall level of service. Business-to-mobile-consumer connectivity has also sparked the demand from consumers for company-specific apps. In this capacity, companies are able to leverage the cloud to gather personalized data from apps that monitor consumer feedback in real-time. The recognition of emerging real-time trends is another benefit that businesses are reaping from the cloud's ability to advance the frontier of Big Data analytics.