The cloud is no longer a buzzword: in fact, it is already fast becoming mainstream for companies worldwide. From healthcare to tourism, logistics and mechanical engineering, there is no doubt that the cloud is rapidly gaining popularity amongst midsized companies across every sector.
According to IDC, total public IT cloud services spending in Australia is expected to exceed A$1.7 billion in 2018, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.2 per cent – approximately eight times the rate of the overall IT services market.
Indeed, in today’s increasingly hyper-connected world, questions around the effective deployment of the cloud have never been more central to the future of every company than now. While there are many benefits that can be gleaned via the use of cloud, here are nine core arguments that can certainly help convince key decision-makers to make the transition.
- Cost Efficiency
Due to the heavy investment costs that come with deploying the latest technologies, it is a widely acknowledged fact that many Australian companies are still being held back by legacy systems. Yet, failures caused by use of the old hardware actually create the need for larger investments to replace the malfunctioning components. Furthermore, studies have also shown that employees have the tendency to lose productivity and efficiency while working on slower IT systems. In fact according to an Ernst &Young report, some 35 per cent of Australian workers have complained that they are hindered at work by issues with legacy hardware.
The solution is simple – on one hand, administrators have heavy investments costs that come with keeping a legacy hardware, plus delayed work time and continuous maintenance; whilst on the other, they can simply opt to outsource IT services to a third-party cloud provider at a reduced fee. What will your choice be?
- Scalability
Every company and industry – no matter how large or small – will certainly experience financial peaks and lows, such as the summer period for the tourism industry or Christmas for the retail trade.
A key benefit of the cloud is that capacity can be adjusted at any time based on individual need. Fundamentally, the solutions are scalable and the “pay per use” principle ensures that costs are only accrued when resources are actually needed.
- Business Continuity
Accidental fire and water damage can occur any time. Damage such as a flooded server room or worse, if the entire IT system is destroyed, can ultimately lead to severe downtime and subsequently, complete business failure.
Fortunately, organisations can mitigate these risks through the use of cloud. Indeed, cloud applications are an integral component of emergency planning. This is because cloud providers can use their large server parks to automatically absorb failures, so companies can avoid the huge costs that come with creating their own failure security framework.
- Flexible Work Arrangements
Cloud applications are the foundation for modern, flexible work arrangements. Through the cloud, companies can increase their appeal amongst a new generation of young professionals entering the workforce – the millennial – who often find flexi-work policies, as well as the liberty of working from anywhere and at anytime, an attractive benefit. In addition, the cloud also aids in boosting efficiency, as access to files while out of office or travelling overseas is made possible and with ease.
- Lower Total Cost of Ownership
While cloud applications are not cure-all remedies, it is definitely still worth to test some applications. The good thing is that tests are often inexpensive and come at a low risk. This is especially so in comparison to the benefits of working with the cloud, such as greater business agility and flexibility.
- Added Security
It is a common myth that cloud solutions offer less data security. Regardless of where data is stored, complete security can never be guaranteed. However, public cloud providers have computing centres that are extremely secure. For peace of mind, cloud and network monitoring solutions can prove invaluable to an IT administrator as they can alert staff to both security threats and underperformance.
- Less On-Call Requirements
If a failure occurs, the administrator’s first reaction is to sound the alarm. There is no doubt that almost every IT administrator has experienced a hard drive crash while on vacation or over the weekend. Being on-call 24/7 is a huge burden from both a financial and time-cost perspective, but these costs can be absorbed by the cloud.
- Reduced Maintenance Work
Administrators spend a good chunk of their time doing maintenance work, such as installing local software. These routine tasks take up a lot of time, whereas with the cloud, updates can be rolled out across the entire company with just a single click.
- Increased Operational Efficiency
Cloud computing is ultimately an efficient, inexpensive, alternative to an independent IT infrastructure. Outsourcing also means that the company can invest resources into its core competencies, instead of investing money in – from management’s perspective – general operational costs.
In a nutshell, deploying a virtual server from a third-party service provider has the potential to introduce a wide range of possibilities for cost savings, improved performance and higher data security. Ultimately, the goal of such cloud solutions is a consolidated IT environment that effectively absorbs fluctuation in demand and capitalises on available resources.
About the Author:
By Andrew Timms, Senior Sales Manager APAC at Paessler AG
