10 Huge Benefits of Cloud Computing for Small Business

Cloud computing is here to stay, with more and more companies finding value in the collaboration it offers. Are you thinking of switching your small business over to the cloud? Read about how cloud computing for small business can streamline your operations first.

Technology has revolutionized the way that we do business and the rate at which your company embraces it will have a massive impact on the success you experience.

Look no further than the 686 billion dollars SMB’s (small to medium-sized businesses) are spending on IT to understand how much companies are doubling down on getting ahead of the tech curve.

On a broad scale, perhaps the most innovative technological revolution small businesses have been able to enjoy is “the cloud”. Cloud computing for small business adds advantages to a variety of operations. This extends from managing inventories to checking emails to having conference calls and beyond.

To help you better understand “the cloud” and what it can do for your small business, our team has created this article. In it, we outline 10 huge advantages cloud services for small business can bring you!

1. Flexibility

As a small business owner, you and your team have to wear a lot of hats and spread yourselves pretty thin to get the growth-inducing traction you need. With cloud computing for small business, all of your most important applications that would traditionally be installed on your office computer are now anywhere you are.

You can check inventory from your smartphone. You can review your company’s finances from a tablet. You can do pretty much anything from anywhere you have an internet connection!

2. You’ve Got Backup

Loss of data can be a catastrophic event for businesses. If you’re storing a lot of vital information on your local computer and don’t have a backup solution in place, you’re at risk.

Fortunately, with cloud-based applications, your data is backed up to multiple offsite servers which brings the odds of you ever losing anything down substantially.

3. Buy What You Need, Leave What You Don’t

Keeping expenses in check is important to businesses, especially in their critical early days. Cloud computing for small business helps you do that by only charging you for the bandwidth and scale you need.

For example, if you were using cloud-based accounting software and only needed access to a couple of features, you’d pay for a basic plan. Alternatively, if you needed hundreds of features and 20 users to have access to the software simultaneously, your cost would scale with that need.

4. Stay on the Cutting Edge

Computing in the cloud means always being up to date. When you run out of date software on your local computer, not only are you missing out on new features but you’re also open to security threats.

With cloud-based computing, software is always updated on your service provider’s side and requires no intervention on your part.

5. Work Together

One of the best features most cloud-based programs have is collaboration tools. These tools enable multiple people from a team to work on projects together at the same time, even if they’re on opposite ends of the earth!

That means better sharing of ideas and faster completion of assignments.

6. Less Office Space

When people can access the files and applications they need to work from anywhere, they don’t need to be in any one place. That means there’s no longer a need for you to lease an expensive office.

So, for example, if you managed a team of computer coders and had them on a cloud development platform like Coder, your team could be working from their respective locations yet it would feel like they were all in the same room.

That’s in-office-like productivity at a much lower price tag.

7. Stay Competitive

If you’re not able to work from anywhere at any time, we hate to break it to you but someone else is. Your competition could be running circles around you while you’re trying to commute to your office.

Cloud computing for small business lets you be on the positive end of the above hypothetical.

8. Stay Green

If leaving a small footprint on the planet is part of your company’s culture, then cloud computing for small business is definitely for you.

Since the servers your applications run on provide you with additional energy and bandwidth only as you need it, there is a lot of power savings and less stress on our collective resources.

9. Easier Management of Documents

A lot of companies manage a ton of shared documents (Excel sheets, Word docs, etc.). Sharing and editing those documents can be a nightmare without cloud computing.

To reduce the chances of errors and heighten productivity, opt for cloud computing so your documents can be kept up to date and managed jointly seamlessly.

10. Data Can Stay in the Right Hands

If you have all of your corporate data on a laptop hard drive and that laptop gets lost, you’ve created an IT security nightmare for yourself. With cloud-based computing, your data is encrypted off-site and always protected, no matter where you are.

If you lose a laptop, no problem. You can remotely sign that laptop out of your cloud-based accounts and just like that, it no longer presents a risk to your business!

Wrapping Up Huge Benefits of Cloud Computing for Small Business

If you own a small business that has aspirations to grow into something much larger, you are going to want to take cloud computing for small business seriously.

With cloud computing, your business becomes more versatile, secure and competitive.

Looking at advantages like that, you would be hard-pressed to come up with good reasons to not start learning about and migrating your businesses processes to the cloud!

If you want more expertly crafted articles on how you can improve your business processes and boost profit, keep digging into the content we have waiting for you at Small Business Brief today!