If you’re a savvy businessperson, you’ve no doubt heard of cloud-based software. In fact, chances are you already use cloud-based storage, either in the course of your work activities or in your personal life. If you have an online email account, such as a Gmail, Hotmail or Outlook.com account – and, let’s face it, most of us do – or you use OneDrive, Dropbox or Google Docs to store or share documents, you’re already one of the millions of people worldwide who are reaping the benefits of cloud-based storage.
A recent study suggests that almost 70% of businesses are already using some form of cloud-based technology, with almost 20% saying they plan to adopt a cloud-based solution in future. According to Google, well over 5 million businesses have paid subscriptions to their G Suite apps and services, using them to transform their business operations and enable their employees to work smarter, faster and more collaboratively.
What is cloud-based software?
Put simply, cloud-based software stores all features and files of a software application on an independently maintained, secure server, which is remotely accessed by the end user via the internet, rather than storing the software on local computers or servers.
What are the advantages of cloud-based software?
Cloud-based software solutions provide dozens of benefits, opening up opportunities for growth and unification by offering unprecedented interconnectedness and scalability.
If your business doesn’t currently use cloud-based software, then it’s time to consider how cloud computing can create business efficiencies and cost savings and increase your business’s competitive advantage by helping you to better organise and sync your staff, so they can stay focused on what’s important – growing your core business capabilities. Read on to find out more about the benefits of cloud-based software and how it can help your business maximise its potential.
Cost savings
While you might be dissuaded by the initial costs of moving to a cloud-based software solution, recent studies have indicated that businesses that have switched to using cloud-based services have enjoyed an almost 300% ROI over the first three years. These significant cost savings have been achieved through a number of means, including:
Reduced capital expenditure
Using cloud-based software and technology solutions eliminates the need to expend valuable capital on purchasing and maintaining servers on your premises. There are no expensive hardware replacement costs when your servers fail, and no costly infrastructure upgrades when your business is looking to grow, and you require more data storage space or improved data management solutions.
Improved productivity
Cloud-based software provides your end users with easy access to templates and reusable cloud-based workflow solutions, which enables them to create and share uniform content more quickly.
Additionally, by offloading the responsibility for IT hosting and infrastructure to an external company, your business can focus more time and energy on its core business functions.
Pay as you go for only what you need or use
Unlike other software solutions that come as a set suite of applications or features, many cloud-based software tools allow you to pay only for the functions and features you need or want to access. The same goes for storage space – you get, and pay for, as much storage as you need without paying for space you don’t need or use or needing to upgrade in-house servers when you need more space.
Faster revenue growth
A recent study by Dell indicated that companies who invested in cloud-based solutions, in combination with greater mobility, security and big data functions, experienced up to almost 55% faster revenue growth than their competitors.
Improved data security
The level of data encryption used when transmitting your data over networks and storing it in cloud-based databases is often much greater than the data security that can be provided when managing data through standard in-house systems.
The encryption offered by cloud-based solutions doesn’t just protect data from unauthorised access by hackers; many cloud-based solutions allow application of different security settings and access levels for staff, preventing them from viewing data they are not authorized to see.
Improve data recovery after disaster
Businesses are increasingly reliant on technology to operate, manage business-critical data and facilitate collaboration and communication, therefore disasters that result in technology failure and loss of data (or access to data), and interfere with the business’s ability to collaborate and communicate, can result in significant financial and productivity losses and damage to reputation.
It is crucial for businesses to have an effective, rapid recovery plan to restore access to data and infrastructure. Cloud-based software solutions generally feature on-going, automatic data backup and/or offer Disaster Recovery as an optional service, enabling faster disaster recovery.
Improved flexibility and mobility
Cloud-based software provides businesses with unprecedented flexibility and mobility. If your business has staff who work from home, travel as part of their job, or work at other companies’ worksites or locations, all they require to log into your cloud-based system is a smartphone or device connected to a mobile network, putting all the business information they need at their fingertips.
Increased collaboration
Cloud-based software enables greater collaboration between staff members, allowing fast, secure and easy simultaneous access to information, documents and systems. Changes can be viewed in real-time, without needing to email documents back and forth or waiting for laptops or devices to be docked so that information or systems can be refreshed.
Increased insight from integrated analytics
A number of cloud-based software solutions provide businesses with the benefit of integrated analytics, through inbuilt tracking mechanisms and customisable reporting functionality that enable you to glean actionable data from your business processes and transactions. The insight gained from analytic functions can assist your business to discover opportunities for improvement in efficiencies and business planning.
LeVeon can help with cloud conversion solutions
At LeVeon, we want to help you simplify the business of doing business. We know that, as a small or medium business owner, you need to make the most of the time you have. The more quickly and easily you can organise your business information, and the faster and simpler your administrative processes can be, the more time you free up – whether you choose to reinvest that time in your business and devote it to doing more of your core business activities, or you decide to give yourself a well-deserved rest, is entirely up to you.
To learn more about how LeVeon can help you to transition your business systems into the digital age and make the most of cloud-based solutions, call us on 0488 008 259, send an email to rod@leveon.com.au or fill in our Contact form to have a LeVeon representative contact you.