Turning Your Business to the Cloud, Pros and Cons?

With the increase in remote and hybrid working and the options to have a remote back-up facility, more and more businesses are turning to the cloud for their IT solutions, but before jumping on board it’s worth taking a proper look. 

The pandemic made many companies jump to cloud-based systems in a hurry as they had to enable remote working, however, it was already a growing trend and a permanent move to cloud-based working should only be considered with due diligence and research first. 

We have put together some of the key pros and cons to help you get started on your decision-making journey: 

What are the Pros? 

  • Increased business efficiency

Using a cloud system has been proven to increase efficiency and productivity for companies, allowing you to outsource your IT requirements and enabling you to have complete visibility over all workload and workflow. 

Using the cloud can help to streamline work processes and help you to improve the way you work with clients, making your business life simpler and easier all round. It can remove a lot of the stress. 

  • Remote access to business systems

Access to the cloud only requires an internet connection making it easy for you and your workforce to work from literally anywhere. It means you can connect with clients and employees around the world and creates the ultimate flexible working options. 

You can also access it from all devices meaning you can take your business with you in the palm of your hand, and you never have to be disconnected unless you choose to be. The cloud brings enormous flexibility to change and adapt the way you work. 

  • Data storage 

Having a cloud means all of your data, information and company documents can be kept in one secure place. It gives you security and back-up should your company’s systems suffer any kind of breach. 

It also makes it easy to share data so employees working in different parts of the country can work together and collaborate on projects with all their joint work stored and accessed within the cloud. 

The cloud provides all of this storage without you having to worry about running and managing a large IT team or large server room on premises and allows you to scale up your business quickly and easily. 

Money savings 

One of the biggest pros is that having the cloud cuts out any need to buy servers or expensive software for your business. It is generally much cheaper than investing in hardware to store all your data. 

Plus, you don’t need to keep updating every couple of years to keep up with changes in technology as the cloud updates automatically. While you do have to pay for the cloud, ultimately it will cost much less than managing your own IT and data hardware. 

What are the cons? 

  • The requirement for high-speed internet

If you are working through the cloud, then you will need a large bandwidth. Most businesses would choose a fiber access technology for gigabit internet service. This could mean that remote workers will struggle if their home internet isn’t up to standard. 

It might also mean that company systems could be slowed down if too many people are trying to use the cloud at the same time and the internet support isn’t strong enough to cope with the extra usage. 

  • Lack of control over your data

By relying on a separate company to effectively store your business data and information, rather than having it all on your own in-house servers, there can be that fear of a lack of control. 

Not all cloud service providers offer the same terms so it’s definitely important to look at the details if this is something you are concerned about, so that you can better understand each other’s expectations and responsibilities. 

  • Security worries

One of the biggest cons of using the cloud is that it can be very easily accessed from an unsecure computer or network. If workers are remotely accessing the cloud from outside the office, there is a risk that their passwords are not secure, or that outside parties might be able to access their laptop. 

This is one of the biggest concerns businesses have about moving to the cloud, however, generally issues around security are down to user problems so it might be a case of just providing some additional awareness training for staff. 

The fact that cloud-based systems are only accessible over the public internet, does make it a lot easier for hackers to access if they are determined, but there are safeguards which can be put into place, which you’d need to talk through with your cloud service provider. 

If you are thinking about moving your business to a cloud-based system, there are many positive reasons for doing so and you just need to do your research to counteract the negatives and worries, by choosing a good and reliable provider.