In the modern marketplace, enterprises of all sizes are having to adopt the latest digital technologies if they want to stay competitive and relevant. However, to make use of remote working platforms, AI, machine learning, automation, IoT and data analytics, they need high-performance infrastructure that is always available, cost-effective and flexible enough to cope quickly to increased demand. The obvious solution for SMEs is cloud IT. Here, we’ll look at how smaller enterprises can benefit from cloud adoption.
1. Greater control of IT budgets
With smaller IT budgets than their larger competitors, SMEs find it a challenge to develop comparable in-house infrastructures, something that puts them at a distinct disadvantage. By migrating to the cloud, they can have access to similar infrastructures to their competitors and gain greater control over operational IT spending.
This is becausecloud providers charge customers a fixed monthly fee for their standard package and any additional resources the company uses are paid for on a pay as you go basis. This has helped businesses slash their IT costs as they do not squander finances on redundant resources. What’s more, this model enables companies to predict usage going forward, helping them to budget for the expense. There are even cloud tools that analyse usage data to provide insights to help cut costs even more. SMEs can also set limits on resource usage so that they remain within budget.
2. From Cap-Ex to Op-Ex
In-house IT systems require heavy, long-term and continually increasing capital investment. Hardware, application licences, premises and staff are expensive, especially when redundant servers are maintained to deal with spikes in demand or to ensure continuity in an emergency.
Migrating to the cloud eradicates the need for capital expenditure and data centre operating costs, as the company shifts to their vendor’s infrastructure which is paid for using the OP-Ex model discussed in the previous section.
3. Managed services
IT is a tool that should help a business do its work, not be work in itself. That isn’t the case with an on-site data centre that can be a drain on human as well as financial resources. In the cloud, however, it is the provider that takes care of IT management, enabling customers to focus on developing their business.
At Hyperslice, we provide the high availability that keeps our customer’s systems online, we make sure that software patches and updates are automatically applied, we provide the best, user-friendly control panels for the management of customer environments, and we can deploy new servers within minutes. What’s more, our HyperSupport™ team provide 24/7/365 technical support to assist with any issues our customers have.
4. Scale-up on demand
All businesses have fluctuations in their needs for IT resources. Throughout the year, there will be periods of peak demand and even throughout the day, there will be less busy times. In the past, being able to cope with increased demand has meant investing in hardware which spends much of the time doing nothing. This is an incredibly inefficient way to ensure there is always capacity within an IT system.
The scalability offered by the cloud puts an end to this inefficiency. Companies can take out a cloud package that covers their basic, day to day IT needs and then, when demand increases, they can scale up, on-demand, to deal with traffic spikes or carry out resource-heavy tasks. Some businesses do this every day, scaling up during the hours most customers are online and scaling back down again when demand drops. As companies are only charged for the additional resources they actually use, cloud’s scalability provides a level of cost-efficiency no other solution can deliver, while ensuring there is always enough resources to meet the company’s needs.
5. Better than in-house security
Providing IT security that keeps systems protected and helps companies comply with regulations can be both expensive and technically challenging. Many small and medium-sized enterprises struggle with both the cost and the expertise required.
A cloud vendor, on the other hand, invests significantly in both expertise and the latest security tools to keep their data centres and their clients’ systems secure, providing levels of protection unachievable by many companies on-site. At Hyperslice, for example, we use industry-leading, next-gen FortiGate firewalls with intrusion prevention and in-flow virus protection, as well as providing a wide range of other security features, including SSL, email scanning, remote backups, DDoS protection and more. What’s more, we can also help with PCI DSS and GDPR compliance.
Our network of UK based data centres is protected by sophisticated security and managed using industry-standard best practices (ISO2000, ISO9001 and ISO27001). We ensure the latest software versions and patches are automatically deployed to provide up to date security.
6. Remote working
Remote working has become the new normal, not merely because of the pandemic, but increasingly because employers are seeing the financial advantages of reducing office space and the benefits of flexible, remote working to employees.
The cloud is the go-to solution for businesses wishing to implement remote working. There is a growing number of sophisticated, cloud-based, remote working applications that enable employees to carry out their tasks from anywhere with an internet connection. Being cloud based, they let employees access company information in real-time, they enable managers to track and monitor the productivity of their teams and provide essential tools to carry out remote work. What’s more, they provide additional security, centralising data securely online and enabling the company to control access and privileges.
Conclusion
Cloud computing is a game-changer for smaller enterprises. It makes them more agile and cost-efficient while putting them on a level playing field with larger competitors in terms of access to infrastructure and the latest technologies.
For more information, visit Hyperslice.com.
