10 reasons to give cloud computing a go

Cloud transition is not a buzzword anymore. With more than 52% of enterprise businesses having their digital transformation already completed, the cloud becomes the new standard.

The features like security, scalability, cost-efficiency, automated backups, and recovery form the basis of why the cloud is so great. Of course, there also are some myths and misconceptions, and we have already demystified some of these.

However, there are more subtle benefits that are often overlooked, yet can be a real game changer for your business. Thus said, today we list 10 reasons to give cloud computing a go.

Variety of deployment options

The businesses can opt for one of the three main cloud computing types that fit them best. Want to have full control over the processes and ready to pay some extra? Choose the private cloud. Want to be able to scale the resources up and down quickly at low cost and do not expose any mission-critical systems? Public cloud is your choice. Want to get the best of two worlds? Try hybrid cloud and enjoy!

Choice of the suitable cloud pyramid layer

The businesses can dive as deep as they need to the cloud and choose the most appropriate cloud pyramid layer for them. Choose from Software as a Service, Platform as a Service or Infrastructure as a Service depending on what your business needs are.

Wide selection of built-in tools

Every cloud service provider (CSP), be it AWS or Azure, GCP or IBM Cloud provides a plethora of built-in features and tools that cover nearly any aspect of your business workflow. Should you need to develop some specific functionality, there are SDK and API gateways available to connect your third-party software to the cloud platform.

While some features are common to any provider, some are distinctive to one or another. Thus said, you can choose the tools and services that fit your specific business needs best. In addition, modern tools offer a chance to combine tools and features from multiple CSP’s using a multi-cloud strategy.

Benefitting from Big Data and AI algorithms

Cloud becomes the synonym of AI, actually. If you have the infrastructure, the computing resources and the tools to process your data flows and obtain valuable analytics results — why not do it? In fact, 54% of compiled in 2017 Fortune 500 list of companies use Big Data and AI to empower their business. We have told of 8 impressive business success stories based on Big Data and you can see for yourself that the impact is huge.

While this might seem an excessive expenditure item from the get-go, you will see the added value quite soon as your business scales up. Cloud platforms allow adding Big Data analytics and AI algorithms to your service package at any point, so the choice of when to do it is up to you.

Improved collaboration, flexible work practices

When your staff works on a single cloud-based system and stores all the data in the cloud they can access all the data from anywhere, as all they need is an Internet uplink. In fact, up to 73% of business tasks involve collaboration over the Internet, which means they can be done with telecommuting.

In addition, up to 42% of office workers would agree to get up to 5% salary cutto be able to work from home, which means the business can save millions in wages in the long run. Thus said, going to the cloud can cut your salary expenses in addition to infrastructure spending, thus ensuring a healthier, stronger bottom line.

Workflow streamlining

Long gone are the days when an important report could not be delivered and printed due to a server outage or a network issue. CSP’s take care of the infrastructure and ensure its uninterrupted availability, so your business workflow is streamlined. There are even more benefits of moving the infrastructure to the cloud, yet the safety of mind regarding the business continuity and permanent availability of all critical systems is invaluable for business.

Cloud development platforms

Providing access to cloud-based software development platforms on a subscription basis can be much cheaper than purchasing multiple copies of proprietary IDE software. Keep in mind that cloud SaaS development platform providers handle the updates themselves, so your team always has access to the latest technology without having to handle the updates and compatibility issues.

Shorter time to market

Cloud solutions do not require time to build and polish the infrastructure, they are available once you issue the check. Speed is crucial in the rapidly evolving business landscape of the 21st century, and the solution that took 9 months for release might be already irrelevant. Add the infrastructure design, deployment, and management costs, and you will see why going to the cloud can be an essential part of success.

Reduced risk levels

The question an entrepreneur has to ask quite often is — “what happens if this fails?” Compare the costs of buying the hardware to provision 128 servers needed to perform the task and the time/personnel needed to configure everything correctly — or rent them on an hourly basis. If the market expectations are unclear, is it worth the risk to plan 12 months ahead and invest in building the environment — or would it be better to use free (or almost free) cloud services using a flexible system of trial periods, discounts and spot instances or AWS reserved instances?

Expenditure optimization

Every business should plan their expenses and profits in advance. Tracking the completion of these goals is essential to staying on the safe side. CSP’s provide informative logging tools and customer dashboards that help track the completion of business goals with ease. How much money is spent weekly? How much was spent over the last 6 months? Do we meet the self-sustainability threshold?

Using vast data visualization capabilities provided by cloud vendors the businesses can audit their operational performance and adjust their practices to reach the optimal spending and secure their bottom line.

Final thoughts on giving cloud computing a go

As you can see, transition to the cloud can provide numerous benefits:

• Various deployment options,
• Multiple cloud pyramid layers,
• A plethora of built-in tools,
• Easy usage of Big Data analytics and AI algorithms,
• Improved collaboration and flexible work practices,
• Streamlined workflows,
• Cloud-based dev tools,
• Shorter time to market,
• Reduced risk levels,
• Expenditure optimization.

Keep in mind we took the obvious benefits out of the equation from the very beginning. Even receiving any three of the benefits of cloud computing can be a huge boost for your business, but being able to leverage all 10 makes cloud transition a no-brainer decision, doesn’t it?

Initially, I’ve posted this story on my company’s blog — https://itsvit.com/blog/10-reasons-give-cloud-computing-go/

10 reasons to give cloud computing a go was originally published in Hacker Noon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.