Is the Cloud right for your business?
- Has your business been inaccessible during power outages from severe weather events like Hurricane Irma or other major storms?
- Are you tired of constantly upgrading your PCs and Servers which seems like every 24-48 months?
- Do you have to pay expensive IT support staff just to keep the servers up and running?
- Is your industry quickly changing and competitive and you need to keep pace with customer facing software applications?
- Are you looking for ways to provide more work flexibility to your employees?
What is Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is designed to help every size business modernize. It’s an easy and cost-effective solution for your team to increase productivity. Your company’s applications are available from anywhere, anytime with easier collaboration between offices. The digital platform is scalable and stable. It provides a good backbone for your development team to more quickly deploy new applications.
Per a 2015 McKinsey Digital article, “cloud-based technologies can serve as the bridge between legacy IT systems on the back end and consumer-facing applications on the front end, allowing companies to pursue seamless testing, provisioning, deployment, governance, and security of servers and new software releases.”
Hardware is Something of the Past
Hardware — like servers and desktop computers — has a limited lifespan no matter how many hours you spend patching and replacing parts. Not only is hardware a depreciating asset, but it can become obsolete even earlier than you expect.
The capital cost of replacing computers and servers can eat up valuable cash for a company that might otherwise be spent on investments to improve a product or sales process. Baird Equity Research Technology published a report stating that “cloud services will drive a shrinking IT spending pie. As companies increasingly replace server and networking infrastructure with cloud services, we see a meaningful direct impact on existing hardware and software vendors.” In fact, Baird estimated for every $1 a company spends on cloud computing, $3 to $4 are lost by the hardware and software vendors. Your business wants to maximize the value of your IT spend. You should be thrilled to be the beneficiary of these lower costs and improved efficiencies offered by cloud service companies.
Finding the Right IT Solution Can Be Challenging
If you are a business owner, executive or the CIO of a small or medium-sized business, you have probably faced the challenges of budgeting for a complete IT solution. A solution that solves your challenges of performance, access, and redundancy. Or a solution for storing a complete backup and disaster recovery plan. You want to optimize your IT, but each decision to improve one of these areas costs money in hardware and manpower.
Implementation and maintaining hardware, whether it be an outside IT provider or internal employees providing support, is costly. Companies immediately recognize the cloud’s benefits because it provides a complete IT solution, removing the risks of disaster-related downtime and does it at an affordable cost.
It’s Time to Move to Cloud Computing
Your Tampa business should make the switch to the cloud. Instead of replacing your expensive servers and workstations, get a state-of-the-art cloud server that is scalable. This means you only have to pay for what you need today. If your company grows and your data storage or processing needs grow, your IT costs will only increase.
Cost Effective
Typically cloud computing is charged as a monthly, user-based cost which makes your IT expenses predictable and affordable. Microsoft licensing is included so businesses always have access to the most up-to-date versions of Microsoft Office.
You won’t have to make any more complicated decisions about purchasing individual desktop workstations and the cost associated with maintaining, protecting and updating the software on your employees’ desktop computers. Business software is loaded and protected at the server level with your employees’ access. This is done through a simple thin-client, internet-based endpoint. IT becomes simpler and more effective, providing opportunities to increase your employees’ productivity. whether it be seasonal fluctuations in your business or growth, users are easily added and removed providing your company with flexibility.
Security Protections for Your Data
Every business is at risk from malign global actors looking for a quick and easy security breach that can provide valuable customer data or a quick ransom costing your business hundreds of thousands of dollars. Cloud storage providers implement baseline protections for their platforms and the data they process, such as authentication, access control, and encryption. Your business can then supplement the security, offering other measures to strengthen cloud data protection and tighten access to sensitive information in the cloud. Patching and monitoring are continuously done to bolster the cybersecurity defenses for your data.
Competitive Advantage
Cloud computing provides a competitive advantage to Tampa companies that are looking for flexibility and responsiveness over slower-moving rivals. Hiring top-notch employees is challenging in the current state of the economy. Nimble companies, however, will see the benefits of offering work-from-home options to retain and attract talent.
Implementing and upgrading business software and applications is made easy in the cloud computing environment. Your employees always have access to the most productive tools. Your sales staff can meet with clients on the road and retain easy access to critical company data or applications. Access can be offered from any device, including your employees’ home PC’s or mobile devices. With cloud computing your business needs less or even no IT staff so your company can focus on growing your business not your back office.
It’s Time to Implement Cloud Computing in Your Business
Any sized company looking to streamline their IT service should consider the Cloud. An IT service provider, like mpsWORKS can easily quote the cost of implementing a cloud solution for your company.
mpsWORKS is a leading provider of IT support and consulting, focusing on small and medium-sized businesses in the Greater Tampa Bay area. We provide managed IT service and cloud services on a flat monthly rate that allows businesses to better budget their monthly IT expenditure. Our company provides 24/7 IT support that keeps our clients’ networks running smoothly. For more information contact Robert Bohacek at (813) 693-2989 or rob@mpsworks.com.