Cloud technology is becoming more and more commonplace within the workplace, whether it be for data storage, document sharing or password safekeeping. But, the one thing that many companies still don’t want to let go of yet is their servers. Some physical servers have been made to be more energy efficient and less in-need of maintenance, but the cloud still seems to be coming out on top when it comes to energy efficient alternatives. Not only are cloud based servers now becoming more powerful than static servers, but they also alleviate a ginormous burden of work for your technical staff. Let’s find out below the many reasons why you should be switching to the cloud.
- It’s cheaper
Cloud storage is not only incredibly easier to sort through documents, files and other media, but it is cheaper to enact. Services such as iCloud, Google Drive and DropBox have made collaborative document storage so so easy and it comes at next to no cost at all. Saving money on printing supplies and staff to organise the millions of pages could be a real time and money saver for your company. To make sure your business is saving the most money possible enlist the help of an AWS savings plan or other cloud provider savings plan.
Moving your servers to the cloud could also be a massive game changer for your business expenditure. The average small business, according to Selectra , uses between 15,001 kWh – 30,000 kWh of electricity per year, which could amount up to over £5,000, a large part of which is used on technology. Getting rid of your static servers, which are using tonnes of electricity 24/7 could save you hundreds of pounds.
- Convenient
Now that more and more workplaces are offering the freedom to work from home , access to files and documents is necessary for this to take place. In the interest of comfort and convenience, cloud storage makes documents easily accessible and editable from whichever device that each staff member desires.
Not only for this reason, but countless times documents are forgotten and/or lost in important scenarios such as in meetings, presentations and keynote speeches. Having the entire library of company documents at your fingertips prevents this from ever happening.
- Safe and secure
Also, just because every document is available on the cloud, it doesn’t mean that everyone has access to it. Sections and departments can be set up to allow certain documents to be available to certain people. Documents can even be shared on an individual basis for those relevant parties.
As cloud technology has become more advanced, cyber-security has followed suit, meaning it’s much harder for hackers to gain access to your company information. That said, Microsoft Cloud reported an increase of 300% in cyber attacks on their platform in 2017. Even if you decided to keep your most important documents in paper, tangible form, having the majority of files online will still make a huge difference.
- Collaborative
Teams that work together on similar and same projects will inevitably need access to the same files, but having them on the cloud will mean full collaboration on documents, seeing where and what your colleagues are editing and see which contributions you need to make yourself. There is a huge list of amazing software that can work on this level, including:
- Google docs
- Trello
- Dropbox
- iCloud
- Always updated
Instead of having to print out new copies of documents or send fresh copies over via email every time you change a document, access to cloud-based technology will allow people to see the changes in realtime and even access older versions of those documents. It also means that if you see an error yourself, you don’t need to bother anybody, you can change it yourself and the other members of your team will be able to see the changes that you made.
Keeping things up to date is extremely important in today’s day and age, so having cloud technology in your company will make sure that this is always the case.
