Benefits of SME companies moving to Cloud IT

A migration to Cloud IT can bring about a wealth of benefits to SME’s, here we explore the key advantages

Increased flexibility

We now live in an age where mobility is favoured, long gone are the days where we work chained to a desk by a wired connection.

With SME cloud computing your employees can remotely access work-related data from any location, at any time. This can not only offer your business increased flexibility for your employees who now may be able to take advantage of a ‘work from home’ incentive. But it can also simplify your processes as the cloud makes it easier for small business owners to manage their business without a need to print and store paperwork.

Reduced costs

Being able to offer your staff the ability to work from home is an attractive benefit, they may be able to achieve a greater work/life balance and be happier/more productive for it. In addition to this, you may benefit from reduced costs with regards to floor space, equipment, utility bills for heating, water, etc.

You could also opt to implement ‘bring your own device’ BYOD which will allow your employees to work on their own devices. Personally owned laptops, tablets, even mobiles can be utilised for work purposes. With apps to segregate professional from personal usage, you can protect business data and employees will feel comfortable using a familiar platform. In addition to all this, you will also save on costs previously incurred from purchasing/replacing devices.

IT storage space

Enabling cloud computing could also streamline your business, running a data centre can be costly and time-consuming. Physically there is the floorspace and costs associated with keeping the equipment onsite. On top of this if you don’t have the skills ‘in-house’ you may also have to employ technicians who install, monitor, manage and look after the centre. Moving to cloud IT means that you will now only pay for the services you utilise which could prove cost-saving to your operation.

IT security

Storing your data in the cloud can be a safer option in comparison to retaining data onsite. Not only can the level of security offered by firewalls etc be higher but it also removes the threat of a data breach brought if you were to be the victim of a break-in. Even if an employee was to lose or have their device stolen, having remote access to business data on the cloud allows you to remotely relocate or even delete any confidential information if necessary.

IT disaster recovery

In the same way cloud IT can offer increased security it can also bring added peace of mind with regards to its disaster recovery benefits. If your premises or data centre itself was to become damaged through fire, flood or even accidentally and data lost, having to repair or even replace damaged equipment could be extremely costly. Not as costly however as the damage to the reputation of your business.

IT scalability

Of course, any ambitious SME would have plans in place for future growth. Traditionally this would comprise of purchasing and storing additional servers, storage space and licenses, sometimes well in advance of actually needing them. With Cloud IT, you can simply upgrade your storage, services or features as and when required with an immediate return on investment.

If you would like to learn more about SpirIT Cloud services please contact us where a member of the team will be happy to help you.