Cloud solutions have proven their value in many different business applications, a major one being the ability to use a cloud service as a storage solution. By doing so, a business can enjoy a few additional advantages as compared to one that relies on more traditional storage solutions.
Here, we’ll go over these advantages to help you determine if an investment into cloud-based storage is right for your business.
What happens when you run out of on-site storage space? Presumably, you need to acquire additional storage space - which will require purchasing another storage solution and adding it to your infrastructure - for considerable costs. As many businesses have found, this can be a pain.
Alternatively, cloud storage is much easier to manage, as you are typically charged based on your usage rates. This means that you will always have sufficient storage space for your needs, without the hassle that an on-site upgrade entails. Furthermore, you also need to consider what scaling your on-site solutions really means. Sure, you can add a few hard drives to your infrastructure, but you also need to consider any backups you have maintained and make sure they can support the changes you have made. With a cloud solution, it’s all taken care of for you.
Many people may compare purchasing their own storage hardware to subscribing to a cloud provider’s storage services and assume that making a one-time purchase is ultimately cheaper than a subscription service would be. In a way, it is, however, there are other costs to consider as well.
For instance, maintenance costs. With a cloud service, the service provider takes care of all of the upkeep, updates, and upgrades, incorporating that into the monthly service cost. With an in-house solution, you’re pretty much on your own, which means you have to invest the time into all of these considerations… and as they say, time is money.
Put yourself in this position for a moment: you maintain a data center, which contains the data of dozens of companies who pay you in return for space on your infrastructure. With all of this valuable data sitting in your data center, doesn’t it just make sense that you would provide it with as many protections as you could? Cloud providers feel the same way, which is why you can be pretty certain that their data centers are locked down with enterprise-level security solutions.
When a business leverages cloud storage, that business is opening the possibility of mobility and remote work to its employees. When files and resources are stored in a cloud solution, they can be accessed by an employee when that employee isn’t on the network - something that requires a built-in method to accomplish with network-hosted files.
As a result, you and your staff can use a cloud storage solution to extend potential productivity beyond the confines of the office, with all files updated for anyone who accesses them next.
As you can see, the benefits of utilizing cloud storage extend beyond convenience. To learn more about cloud solutions and to discuss implementing them in your business, reach out to Washington Works at 301-571-5040.
About the author
Washington Works has been serving the Bethesda area since 2005, providing IT Support such as technical helpdesk support, computer support, and consulting to small and medium-sized businesses.
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