There’s little doubt that anyone doing business today has heard the term ‘cloud computing’, but just because someone has heard that something exists, it doesn’t mean they know what it is. When it comes to computing and software, this is perhaps more true than of anything else; this is a complicated subject that people take many years to study. Understanding it immediately isn’t something that will come naturally to everyone.
Understanding cloud computing is something that business owners are going to need to do, however. If they don’t, they run the risk of destroying their reputation, upsetting their customers, and potentially working illegally. The cloud is a crucial element of any business running today, and here are the reasons you need to know more about it, and why it’s good for business.
Work Anywhere
The cloud is a virtual storage area for your important documents and business data. This means you no longer need a server, and you don’t have to be physically connected to one place, like an office, to work. Essentially, if you use the cloud to store your information, you can work from anywhere in the world – as long as you have an internet connection and the password to your cloud account.
In today’s world, being able to have a choice as to where you work is becoming more and more critical. It means you can work from home if and when the need arises, or you can take your work away with you when you travel. You can even choose to work from a coffee shop or café, or out in a park if you prefer. Your work-life balance will benefit hugely.
The cloud also means you will always have access to your data when you need it, no matter where you are. If you need to show a client some documents or add a slide to a presentation you’re giving away from home, you can do if you use the cloud.
Security
One of the main reasons people use the cloud to store their data and important information is that it is secure thanks to data encryption. Although you can access it quickly and painlessly, cybercriminals can’t. Unless someone has a password to your cloud account, no one can access the data stored there apart from you.
This means you can keep sensitive information including your business bank account details, your tax returns, and your customers’ payment and shipping data in the cloud in the certain knowledge that it will remain as secure as possible.
If that information were kept on a laptop or external hard drive, hackers could easily find it, and your business would be ruined.
Data Recovery
What would you do if you had everything of importance to your business stored on your laptop, on a USB stick, or you backed it all up to an external hard drive, and then that device failed in some way? If your laptop was attacked by a virus or stolen, if your hard drive was lost, if your USB was broken or it was corrupted, what would happen? You wouldn’t be able to run your business anymore, and you might have to start all over again, depending on what was lost.
This is why the cloud is so useful. If you store this crucial information there instead of on a potentially vulnerable piece of hardware, you can recover your data at any time, and you’ll never need to worry that it’s lost.
