If this is your question, in the prevailing pandemic situation, companies irrespective of their sizes are forced to work on a remote basis evolving varying operational models. Thanks to the adoption of the cloud, today the IT infrastructure cost for the companies has become a variable cost instead of being a fixed cost. The bigger companies have so far managed to adopt the cloud at various levels.
However, for smaller businesses, the adoption to date has been very cautious, largely influenced by necessity. In the current pandemic scenario, the SMEs need to take a fresh look at the varying cloud services right from Infrastructure-as-a-Service ( IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service ( PaaS), and Software-as-a-Service ( SaaS) so they don’t have to commit to fixed IT Capex expenditures instead manage their IT spending at Opex level.
Simply put
Cloud computing enables data to be stored, managed, and processed via the internet. Data here could simply vary from a simple 1-page word document to enterprise data measured in GBs. However, this still fits the need of SMEs by allowing them to take advantage in terms of
- Infra cost as it reduces the cost to set up and maintain on-premise servers
- Accessibility to data stored on the internet as the internet can be accessed from anywhere and many more are explained below
You can jump-start with cloud computing by consuming services offered by various enterprises.
Suit your need
Business needs can be suited within 3 cloud models available namely, Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).
PaaS allows companies to customize the licensed application that they own to suit their needs. In the same way, if a service is owned to suit the delivery model while it still is hosted centrally it is known as SaaS. Mostly SaaS is consumed on-demand. The applications and services when hosted and managed on the cloud by accessing service providers’ infra are said to be IaaS. Servers, networks, and storage facilities fall under IaaS.
The most commonly visited and reliable services providers are
KNOW THE BENEFITS BEFORE YOU JUMP START CLOUD COMPUTING
1. Access via wide network:
Working remotely is the new norm in today’s world. Workspaces can be planned at minimal cost as cloud services can be accessed via the internet on any device, not just desktop but also via laptop, mobile, iPad, and tablet.
2. On-demand and pay as you go
The best offer from the cloud computing model is that any business can consume any service that best fits their need on a subscription basis. Thus businesses get to pay only for the consumption and best manage the operational costs.
A reasonable cost would be incurred for cloud space setup. This can be considered a good investment as moving forward the entire maintenance cost will be minimal and the spending on the hardware environment will reduce drastically.
3. Instant recovery
In a fast-changing world, both naturally and digitally, companies should ideally prep themselves for robust disaster recovery. Situations like this demand involvement in terms of cost and experts. Cloud services can be very handy at these times as data is available round the clock and stored in a place where tampering is the least possible.
4. Reliable and secure
The Cloud computing services enable continuity of business from anywhere in the world. Most co-workers these days operate at different time zones and getting hands-on to the latest version of any work is no challenge as it’s readily available on the cloud.
In terms of security, cloud services are offered in compliance of very stringent rules and regulations to protect users’ data. Continuous surveillance and proactive disaster prevention systems are in place ensuring a high level of a secure environment for data.
5. Future Enabled
Digital Transformation is another word buzzing around lately. Technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Big data rely on the cloud rather than traditional methods. Processing and training abundant data, AI making inference with data fed and applying what it has learned into real-life scenarios are possible with highly powered processors supporting via the cloud.
6. Adaptable
With limited capital and manpower adapting to changes in a business environment is a huge challenge for SMEs. A considerable investment is needed both in terms of time and money to see a long run in any business. The current Corona situation has altogether posed a very new challenge of survival on the financial and business front. The world is moving in a direction of PRE and POST COVID-19
Adapting to the cloud is comparatively as working with the service provider is all you need to do for the initial setup. There are various certifications available to make yourself eligible to handle the cloud services and involve in maintenance. This can be achieved with the existing IT team in place while the need to hire expertise can be totally avoided.
7. Conclusion
Any Business users who have the flair to grow their Business on a short investment, then Cloud Computing could be the best solution for them to add real value and can take their small business to the enterprise level.
