While “the cloud” has been around since the early-to-mid-2000s, the momentum around cloud computing solutions continues to increase. In fact, worldwide end-user spending on public cloud services is forecast to grow 20.4% in 2022 to total $494.7 billion, up from $410.9 billion in 2021, according to the latest forecast from Gartner.
With organizations continuing to shift to the cloud, let’s take a look at some of the major benefits of a cloud solution.
Adapt in a Changing Environment
Today’s business landscape is evolving at a rapid rate and it’s critical that your infrastructure be able to adapt in order to remain competitive. A cloud solution allows you to deploy technologies globally in minutes, significantly reducing the time it takes to make resources and updates available to your user base. This level of agility is becoming more and more necessary to stay one step ahead of emerging technologies and consumer demand.
Scale Up or Down
Another benefit of the cloud is its scalability. You can easily scale your solution to meet your business where it stands by adding or removing user licenses. Oftentimes, a cloud service provider will offer licensing optimization assessments, where they survey your current environment to identify licenses that aren’t being used and remove them, so there are no idle resources consuming costs. Further, the scale of the cloud is nearly infinite, so you can grow capability without capacity concerns.
Align Your Cloud Initiatives with your Business Goals
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Reduce Capital Expenses
The cloud is extremely advantageous if you’re looking to scale back on IT-related spending. One of the most significant cost savings the cloud affords is around infrastructure and associated costs. Compared to a traditional on-premises solution, you do not need to invest in servers and databases with the cloud; rather, you can select from multiple purchase models – including pay-as-you-go which allows you to lease resources as needed – to lower costs. Additionally, cloud consumption is billed monthly, negating the need for a long capital expense process.
Leverage Economies of Scale
With a cloud solution, you can achieve a lower variable cost than you could get on your own. Because usage, infrastructure, and labor costs are amortized across thousands of customers in the cloud, service providers can achieve higher economies of scale, which translates into lower pay-as-you-go prices for customers.
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Utilize Vendor Investment
Cloud vendors such as AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud are seeing unprecedented investment in their respective platforms. Their product and service offerings are modernizing very fast and shifting beyond traditional IT. Businesses can benefit from this scale of investment, as it provides outsized value for the cost.
Gain Expert Guidance
Disaster recovery and data protection are of paramount importance, and the cloud can be an invaluable tool on both fronts. One of the challenges with the cloud is the time it can take to download data if you need it. It is best practice to determine critical data that needs an on-premises backup early on and make sure it is replicated in the cloud for quick availability in case of a disaster. When you partner with a cloud service provider, they can help you identify your critical data, define your RTO and RPO standards, outline a business continuity plan, and more.
Future-proof Your Business
When you make the cloud a core component of your overall IT strategy, you are setting your business up for growth and success. A core concept of the cloud is centered around tying processes to data, which in turn drives greater capabilities and extends the lifecycle and value of solutions. This will help your organization thrive in a business ecosystem that is constantly changing.
Get Started on Your Cloud Journey
Whether you are looking to migrate pieces of your on-premises environment to the cloud or have existing cloud instances that need optimizing, Buchanan can help. We offer a range of services – from assessments to migration to ongoing management – that can fill the gaps for your organization and set you on the path to enjoying the variety, scalability, and flexibility the cloud has to offer.
Get in touch today and let us know how we can help.
