The cloud — or cloud computing — is a hot topic that seems to be on every IT and business manager’s mind these days. Of course, even if you just use your smartphone to do some online banking or update your social media profile, you’re already making use of cloud computing’s many capabilities. At its most basic, the use of the cloud involves the act of computing over the internet by accessing a remote network of servers. The opposite of this occurs when you store or access data locally on your computer’s hard drive, external drive or on an on-site server.
The Future of Cloud Migration
Now, when you stop to think of how much data an average business generates and needs constant access to in order to operate, you begin to realize what an economically sensible solution moving to the cloud can be. To back up this claim, a report from Intel Security — “Building Trust in a Cloud Sky: The State of Cloud Adoption and Security” — found some remarkable business trends concerning migration to the cloud.
The Intel report looked at thousands of IT professionals and decision-makers and found that 90 percent of respondents were already using some form of cloud computing. And what’s really telling is that IT departments reported that within the next 15 months, 80 percent of all IT budgets will have some form of commitment to a cloud solution. In addition, 73 percent of businesses have plans to fully move their computing needs to the cloud over the next two years.
Custom Cloud Solutions
Naturally, all businesses are not created equal, so there’s no one-size-fits-all cloud solution. As matter of fact, with both public and private clouds available, many businesses are struggling to find the right remote computing solution — which might be why hybrid cloud adoption saw a threefold increase in 2017.
But regardless of which cloud strategy is right for your business, there are some key benefits of moving your business’s computing needs to the cloud. Read on to see why the cloud service model is fast becoming a key ingredient in so many business plans.
Prime Reasons for Cloud Migration
Whether your organization is just now considering its first migration to cloud computing or you’re an IT professional looking to consolidate all of your organization’s operations in the cloud, the following benefits show how the move could make good business sense:
Flexibility
Due to hiring spikes and new product launches, businesses can experience growth spurts that put a great deal of stress on their IT infrastructure. And without extra computing bandwidth, some companies can wind up losing business in these situations. Of course, this doesn’t have to be the case. With any good cloud service model comes the ability to quickly scale up — or down — your computing capacity via remote servers. In addition to scalability, the cloud also allows remote access and provides mobility options, which offers businesses with virtual workers and multiple locations significant convenience.
Disaster Recovery
For any number of reasons, having a robust disaster recovery system in place for a company with on-site servers might be financially impractical or even impossible. But when you consider the potential damage to your business if you lose access to your data — even temporarily — you can’t allow that risk to continue. This is why the ease of setting up a full disaster recovery system through a cloud-based service makes migration to the cloud so popular for businesses. Without large investments of time or capital, when you move your computing to the cloud, you can safely go about your business with the knowledge that if disaster strikes, your data is fully protected.
Security
From stopping hackers and malware to correcting employee mistakes and missed software updates, strong cybersecurity has never been so important to your organization’s well-being. However, when your computing is conducted remotely, there are a number of security benefits.
First, a good cloud-based service means the responsibility of software updates is taken care of automatically by your cloud supplier, allowing you to focus on the tasks related to your core business needs. And in the unfortunate event that an employee loses a piece of equipment with sensitive data on it, such as a laptop, you can both protect your data because it’s in the cloud and remotely wipe the lost laptop’s stored data so the device is useless to anyone who finds it.
Data Transmission
Cloud-based data transmission is another aspect of cloud services that businesses find highly rewarding. In many industries, there’s a constant need to transmit data in a safe and reliable fashion. Think of HIPAA compliance with regard to electronic health records for healthcare organizations or security organization controls for financial institutions, and you can see why faxing has remained a steadfast method of data transmission.
Now, with cloud faxing capabilities like the service supplied by Softlinx, all document transmissions and receipts can now occur via the cloud. From hospitals and insurance carriers to educational and governmental institutions, the reliability and ease of document control is a major reason for migrating computing, as well as faxing procedures, to secure online solutions.
Cost
While the move to cloud-based services has many operational benefits, it’s hard to overlook its cost efficiency, especially if your company is experiencing sudden growth. The reason for this is a simple business model shift. When you purchase and maintain IT infrastructure on-site, a large upfront investment is required — plus, you need to keep acquiring and maintaining hardware and software over time.
However, when you migrate your computing needs to the cloud, the cost becomes an operating expenditure with the added benefit of its being a pay-as-you-go or subscription-based model. And that means it requires a far smaller investment to get the full benefits cloud computing offers.
Softlinx for the Advantages of Cloud-Based Faxing
To learn more about cost-effective, secure HIPAA fax service, contact us or schedule a live demo. Or, if you prefer, call (800) 899-7724 for answers to all of your questions.
