The most recent statistics from Exploding Topics show that the market for cloud-based apps is worth over $150 billion. Such programs, which harness the power of cloud computing, have become so integral that the typical company nowadays uses dozens of cloud-based software applications and multiple cloud services.
So, if your organization has yet to move to the cloud, now is the best time.
But why exactly should you consider using innovative cloud solutions? How can they help you and your organization in the first place?
The experts at EMPIST have answered all those questions in this comprehensive cloud computing advantages and benefits guide. So read on, as what you learn here will help you understand why your organization should consider moving to the cloud ASAP.
1. Improved Security
One of the primary benefits of cloud-based apps is their multi-layered security. Their robust features can make them more secure than an in-house system, which can be susceptible to internal data theft. CSOOnline.com reports that such events can be incredibly costly, with a single incident costing as much as $15 million.
Here’s a quick look at cloud-based applications’s multi-layered security features and how they help.
Encryption
Cloud providers encrypt data in transit (during transmission) and at rest (during storage). Through encryption, they can make data, especially sensitive information, unreadable to unauthorized individuals.
Firewalls and Network Security
Cloud environments use firewalls and other innovative network security measures that:
- Track traffic
- Screen user identities
- Monitor for suspicious activities
- Block malicious traffic and software from accessing the cloud environment
Through these robust technologies, cloud-based apps help minimize the risk of data loss and security threats.
Identity and Access Management (IAM):
Cloud providers implement robust IAM systems, which are security frameworks that verify user identities and control access to cloud services and resources. They help ensure that only the right people with the proper credentials have rightful access to data.
Here’s a more detailed explanation of how IAM works:
- Identity Verification: Authenticate users by confirming identity through usernames, passwords, and multi-factor authentication
- Access Control: After identity verification, determine the resources the user has allowed access to and the permissible actions they can perform
- Policies and Permissions: Define users’ access rights through policies and permissions, ensuring users can only access what they need and have the right to
With cloud-based apps’ IAM systems, your organization can lower your risks of dealing with potential insider threats caused by a lack of access control.
Shared Responsibility
Cloud providers and users share responsibility for cloud security. The shared responsibility model enhances security by creating a transparent framework in which both parties (the cloud provider and the customer) understand and act on their respective roles. It fosters collaboration and mitigates the risk of security gaps and breaches.
2. Cost Savings
According to Coursera, computer and information technology (IT) professionals in the U.S. make an annual median salary of around $104,420. Of course, skill set and experience level can skew these figures. However, hiring such experts in-house can undoubtedly be a significant expense for your organization.
The good news is that cloud-based apps are business efficiency tools that can help you save significantly on costs. Here’s how.
Reduced Capital Expenditures
Aside from salaries, having on-site IT infrastructures also means organizations must spend money on physical facilities such as:
- Servers
- Storage
- Networking equipment
All the above can cost thousands and thousands of dollars.
However, organizations can avoid those expenses by opting for cloud-based solutions. Moving to the cloud allows them to eliminate or reduce the need to invest in physical infrastructures. Cloud providers already own these infrastructures, and customers can simply “tap” them and pay a minimal amount for their use.
Lower Operational Costs
In addition to the costs of investing in physical IT infrastructure, organizations would also have to spend money continuously on:
- Facility maintenance and upkeep
- Software updates
- Security upgrades
Failure to address the above can result in costly and highly prevalent cybersecurity threats, such as data breaches. For instance, the Anti-Fraud Coalition reported that between November 2023 and April 2024 alone, there were nearly 6.85 billion known record breaches.
Cloud-based apps can help your organization minimize the need for in-house IT staff and the associated costs of IT infrastructure maintenance. Your cloud service provider will handle these expenses, considering they own the hardware and software.
Pay-As-You-Go Model
With cloud-based digital transformation apps, you only pay for the resources you use. Thanks to this pay-as-you-go pricing model, your organization can reduce overspending or wasting financial resources.
Resource Optimization
Cloud platforms offer tools and features that allow users to optimize and track resource utilization. With these perks, your organization can avoid paying for unused capacity.
3. Flexibility and Scalability
You can quickly scale cloud-based apps up or down to meet your organization’s changing business needs. Such flexibility allows you to avoid complex and costly modifications and updates to your physical IT infrastructure.
4. Better Tech, Happier Employees
In today’s supposedly tech-savvy world, outdated technology can make or break an organization and lead to employee and talent loss.
Take the so-called “Great Resignation” of 2021 as an example. ComputerWorld reported that over four million American workers quit in September 2021. It also noted that the crisis was much worse in the technology sector and that many employees felt frustrated with their workplace technology.
Shifting to cloud-based apps can help improve employee happiness and satisfaction because they:
- Facilitate real-time teamwork
- Enable multiple users to access, share, and modify documents simultaneously
- Allow numerous actions, regardless of location
- Promote seamless communication through real-time data transmission
- Reduce delays associated with traditional file-sharing methods
5. Improved Efficiency and Productivity
Cloud-based apps are accessible from most internet-connected devices. So, they allow employees to work productively from anywhere, whether on the go, in the office, or at home. Such flexibility helps boost productivity and enables them to enjoy a better work-life balance.
6. Streamlined Workflows
Many cloud apps have features that allow them to automate repetitive tasks and processes. Through automation, employees can:
- Free up their time
- Focus on more strategic and creative work
- Become more efficient
- Complete tasks and projects at a faster turnaround time
7. Mobility for Better Productivity
Cloud-based apps give users freedom and convenience of online and mobile access. For example, employees can access their work-related cloud-based apps wherever they might be, provided they have an internet-connected smartphone, tablet, or laptop.
While nearly, if not everyone, can benefit from cloud computing technology, it is especially advantageous for organizations with hybrid workforces and fully remote workers. With these apps providing real-time access, employees can stay up-to-date with co-workers and clients.
8. Gain Invaluable Insights
“Knowledge is power” and “data is money” are two statements that define today’s digital age.
Your organization generates and stores millions of pieces of data, which contain invaluable information. Analyzing these kernels can be difficult with human expertise and skills alone, but it is certainly achievable if combined with the power of the right cloud-based data analytics app.
But why should you even analyze data with the help of cloud technology?
Make Better Informed Decisions
Data analytics empower businesses with better insights and information, helping them make more educated decisions. Your organization can make wise judgments based on data science and facts rather than intuition and gut feelings.
For example, when you analyze data with innovative cloud-based apps, you can identify the following that you’ll likely fail to notice without technological intervention:
- Patterns
- Trends
- Opportunities
By helping you identify the above, you can make more strategic and practical decisions across all areas of your organization, be it marketing and sales, finance, or operations.
Optimized Operations
Data analytics with the help of cloud-based apps help organizations identify areas for improvement and optimization in their:
- Functions
- Operations
- Processes
By analyzing and tracking data related to efficiency, performance, and resource allocation, businesses can:
- Catch and address bottlenecks
- Reduce costs
- Improve overall productivity
For example, cloud-based data analytics can help reveal areas where an organization can streamline production processes or enhance employee productivity.
Competitive Advantage
In today’s increasingly competitive landscape, organizations that can effectively analyze and interpret data can stay ahead of the competition by:
- Identifying emerging trends
- Forecasting future demand
- Researching and developing new products or services
Understanding customer behavior and preferences enables organizations to tailor their products, services, and marketing efforts to meet and satisfy customer needs. The happier and more satisfied customers are, the more loyal they will likely be to your organization.
9. Disaster Recovery
While you can minimize your organization’s risks of falling victim to cybersecurity threats, not all dangers are within your control. For example, natural disasters like floods from storms or rising water levels can lead to irreparable damage to data storage devices. Earthquakes can also:
- Disrupt power
- Damage infrastructure
- Cause physical destruction of servers and other data storage facilities
So, no matter how much control your organization has over its processes, some things will always be outside its control. In the case of natural disasters, even short downtimes can lead to resounding adverse effects, such as:
- Productivity losses
- Lower revenues
- Damaged brand reputation
While you can’t prevent or control such disasters, you can mitigate their effects by using cloud-based apps to facilitate faster data recovery. Since cloud-based services are online, they provide quick data recovery in emergency scenarios like power outages and natural disasters.
10. Prevent Data Loss
If your organization hasn’t invested in cloud solutions yet, all of its valuable data is in office computers or on-site data storage equipment. The problem is that if your local hardware develops issues, you might suffer permanent data loss. Criminals can also steal physical hardware.
Mitigate such risks of data loss by creating copies and storing them on a cloud-based server. You can worry less about permanent data losses with information stored off-site and in the cloud. Even if your on-site copy gets lost, damaged, or corrupted, you can easily and quickly download the copy you have on the cloud.
11. Automatic Software Updates
Say goodbye to the time-consuming process of manual software updates. Cloud-based apps can save your organization valuable time, as these programs automatically update and refresh themselves.
Automatic software updates also help bolster cybersecurity. Updates fix bugs while addressing security concerns or previous software versions.
Remember: Cybercriminals often hack devices and infrastructures by exploiting known weaknesses in buggy programs. For this reason, failure to install updates when they become available can pose security concerns.
Cloud-based apps can help reduce the risks of such threats with their auto-update features. Simply enable this feature on your applications, and they should self-install developer-launched updates, upgrades, or patches.
12. A Step Closer to Sustainability
As helpful as turning the lights off and recycling can be for the environment, these practices are not enough to make a company sustainable. Genuine sustainability requires solutions to address wastefulness at every facet and level of an organization, including reducing resource use whenever and wherever possible.
Switching to cloud applications is a step towards sustainability for the following reasons.
Energy Efficiency
Cloud service providers invest heavily in energy-efficient facilities. For instance, many power their infrastructures with renewable energy sources. So, by investing in their products and services, you can reduce your organization’s carbon footprint associated with maintaining IT infrastructures.
Remote Work
Cloud-based apps facilitate remote work. They reduce employee commute-related emissions and the energy use of large-scale, on-site IT infrastructure.
Data Center Consolidation
Cloud providers consolidate workloads into highly efficient data segments and centers. With this practice, they can reduce overall energy consumption compared to multiple smaller yet less efficient on-site data centers.
Enjoy the Many Benefits of Cloud-Based Apps
Cloud-based apps offer many perks and pros, including increased security, cost savings, enhanced productivity, and improved sustainability. So, if your organization has yet to move to the cloud, now is the best time to consider the transition.
EMPIST, our company delivering top-class managed IT services, will happily help you throughout your cloud migration journey. We are proud of our nearly quarter-century of expertise in information technology, from web development to cybersecurity to cloud solutions. With our knowledge, skills, and innovative technology, we can help your organization reap the benefits of reliable cloud solutions.
Speak with us today so we can get started with your free consultation!