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According to a research by Gartner dated 2019, up to 60% of business owners will be relying on the cloud for hosting data by 2022. 

More and more businesses are adopting cloud technology, and why not? There are several benefits for an organization, including improved productivity, cost-saving, improved collaboration and process efficiency, etc.

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Cloud computing exists for decades now and it has been growing faster in this digital age.  The data has become extremaly important for businesses. And lately businesses find it difficult to store this critical information on local servers/applications. 

Cloud computing can help solve this problem. To be more precise, it allows us to store all crucial information on the cloud rather than on local systems. For this reason this is more important for businesses that need to handle a large amount of data over the internet.

Still, there are some business leaders who are hesitant to adopt cloud-based software for their organization. This may be because of various reasons, including network connection dependency, loss of control, security issues, downtime, etc. 

Despite a few challenges, there are many advantages an organization gets with cloud-based software. This article walks you through various benefits that an organization can reap while adapting to cloud technology.

Picture 1. Cloud-based software stats

Why Should You Use Cloud-based Software

1. Cost-saving

Cloud service providers let you pay per usage of the cloud infrastructure. This means that the cloud space can be easily scaled up /down according to changing business needs. Consequently, you will not get charged for the services which you are not using.

If you compare initial costs with the benefits that you are getting out of this investment, the benefits will outweigh the costs. Moreover, the cloud-based software will also reduce the maintenance cost of the infrastructure as the cloud service provider will take this care.

In addition to this, you don’t need to invest in hardware for protecting your business data. In this case the data security is provided with cloud computing services. So overall, this is a cost-effective solution that helps organizations reduce the upfront cost of IT infrastructure.

Let’s take an example of Etsy, an online marketplace for handmade goods, and provide recommendations to buyers. They were able to use cloud capabilities to analyze data and provide customized recommendations to buyers cost-effectively.  

Read 20+ Best E-commerce Tools for Emerging Startups

Picture 2. Etsy

2. Improved Collaboration

Cloud-based software helps organizations to make the collaboration process easy and effective. These cloud applications provide easy data sharing or editing options. This helps employees work effectively on projects remotely and in real-time.

If the software includes role-based access control, it helps to access data depending on the roles of each employee in the organization. Business leaders can also easily manage teams remotely. These improved collaboration options will help businesses to reduce time-to-market and improve customer service.  

Office 365 suit is an example of how you can use a cloud-based app for better team collaboration. Office 365 provides Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive, SharePoint in one place so that your team can seamlessly manage data.

Read How to Build a Great Remote Customer Service Team

3. Improved Data Security

Many businesses hesitate to go for cloud computing. The reason for that is that they see cyber data crimes as a significant security issue. But generally speaking, it is evident that cloud-based software improves data security.

Cloud service providers ensure data security by various means. Some of these are following IT security guidelines, using encryptions while transferring data, single sign-on, role-based access control, etc. Additionally, you can go the extra mile and take measures to secure data at your end.

These measures include:

• Use additional data encryption methods while uploading data to the cloud system
• Review default cloud settings and make changes as needed
• Set role-based access control to ensure everyone has access to data according to their scope of work

Let’s take an example of Duke University, which uses Box, a cloud-based service for protecting business data. Box protects data of Duke Faculty, students, and affiliates using encryption and access controls. In other words, all communication data is encrypted with SSL, and data is encrypted in storage using 256-bit AES encryption.

4. Automatic Software Updates

Cloud-based software gets updated to newer versions by the service provider regularly. These automatic updates save time for your IT department and the costs of any outside consultation.

This contrasts with a purchased software, which you need to upgrade yourself or give to an external IT consultant. As you don’t need to handle the maintenance activities, this saves time, which you can use for other strategic initiatives. 

5. Mobility

Your business information is not stored on a single computer. Instad, it is stored in cloud spaces. So, you can access cloud data on mobile devices like smartphones, tablets, and laptops. Consequently, business files and other data can be easily shared and are more accessible.

Moving to the cloud will empower your employees who frequently need traveling & the remotely working team. This enables improved productivity of the team, faster business operations for the business, and better work-life balance for the employees.

Take for example CloudTV, a cloud OTT platform. They used the cloud to unify all forms of content. This means that they unified web-based content , OTT, video-on-demand onto different mobile devices like laptops, smartphones along with set-top-boxes.

6. Flexibility

Cloud-based applications offer greater flexibility than local applications. If you need changes in IT infrastructure, then cloud services can quickly serve this demand.

You don’t need to invest your time on critical IT issues that occur when you have local applications. Instead, you can let the cloud service provider take care of your IT infrastructure related issues. This flexibility will give you more power to focus on your core business strategies.

7. Disaster Recovery & Backup

For every business, the disaster recovery strategy is a crucial part. Disasters are unavoidable. Moreover, there is little we can do to prevent them. Consequently, these IT disasters may cause organizations unproductive hours and financial losses.

Cloud-based software offers faster disaster recovery. It provides off-site backup for all your business data. Apart from that, you don’t need to invest in expensive backup and recovery systems.

8. Data Insights

Cloud-based software provides better data analytics for business decision-makers. As the world is moving towards digital transformation, data insights play an important role in making business decisions faster.

They can create customized reports for various data. Moreover, the management team can have access to use these reports for much more in-depth insights. In this way, you can get a competitive advantage as the data insights become faster than ever before. 

You can find many API solutions that can be integrated with your existing cloud-based application that will run data insights. These real-time data insights can be used to understand your customer journey. Ultimately, you can  customize your product/services based on this data to deliver a better customer experience.  

Let’s take an example of Salesforce. This cloud-based CRM tool helps the sales team to set goals easily, manage reports and create personalizes dashboards. In this way you have an in-depth view of customer data. As can be seen, the in-depth customer data insights help them to improve the efficiency of their sales team.

Read Customer Experience Guide: How to Put your Customers First?

9. Scalability

Cloud-based applications can be easily scaled up and down. In other words, you can determine many things related to headcount, customers, services, or production depending on your businesses. This is the most important advantage for companies that are growing faster.

Cloud-based software can quickly adapt to a companie’s needs. Moreover, this won’t take much time in comparison with on-premise resources. In the final analysis they may take months to scale up or down. 

Let me give you an example of Pinterest. This is the world’s largest visual bookmarking tool. With over 200 million users, Pinterest uses AWS cloud service to scale its storage. Apart from that it uses it also for processing and data analysis methods. In this way they’re able to deliver excellent customer experience.

Picture 3. Pinterest

10. Environmental Beneftis

Apart from the advantages mentioned above, there is an environmental benefit associated with these cloud-based applications. 

The power used by in-house data centers contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. However, many organizations are not aware of this carbon footprint of their IT operations. So, if you are planning to go for cloud-based software, remember that you are contributing to reducing carbon footprints without a significant expense.

Cloud infrastructure benefits the environment by encouraging businesses to switch to virtual services instead of building up huge rooms filled with robust hardware. Besides, it improves energy efficiency and reduces paper waste.

Conclusion

Cloud-based applications help you focus on your business rather than the software/IT infrastructure. You can utilize your IT workforce efficiently to focus on strategic business ideas.

Let’s have a quick view of the benefits of cloud-based applications:

• Reduced costs
• More flexibility & scalability
• Mobility 
• Improved collaboration
• Enhanced data security
• Automatic software updates saving your time
• Quick disaster recovery and backup 
• The reduced carbon footprint for a better environment

All of these will make you go for cloud-based software if you have not already. And this is going to give you an advantage over your competition.

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Nishi More is a Marketer and content writer at Interview Mocha. A writer who enjoys helping businesses meet their hiring needs. When not writing she enjoys reading motivational books, latest trends in recruitment technology & explore new places.