As essential as technology is for businesses to compete and succeed nowadays, the investment needed to obtain and use local hardware is a lot to ask for many small and medium-sized businesses. Fortunately, technology also offers a solution to the conundrum: cloud-based hardware.
Let’s see what switching to the cloud can do to improve your business’ mobility and overall security.
Depending on Physical Hardware Can Have Considerable Drawbacks
For all its perceived value, physical hardware—whether it's a workstation or server—definitely has its downsides. Not only does it break (and seemingly only at the worst time), but it can also get lost or stolen if an employee lets their guard down… even just for a moment.
Your team is also limited in when and where they can work… If they need to connect directly to the network in order to use certain applications, it could limit your talent pool or make it harder for people to work while traveling.
Plus, we’ve all felt the sting in our wallets when the time comes to refresh this hardware. For a business, best practice dictates that you do so every three years or so. Do you really want to spend all this money so often, or would it be better to switch this expense into a consistent, predictable investment?
Modern technology allows you to do so via virtualization.
How the Cloud Can Resolve These Drawbacks
Whether you prefer Microsoft or have committed to Google’s software stack, both offer solutions that let you virtualize your business hardware: Azure and Google Cloud, respectively. These tools allow you to stop hosting your operating system, your applications, and your data storage yourself and instead turn to an external provider’s data center to store and maintain them. By doing so, you can capitalize on a few strategic advantages.
Work is No Longer Tied Exclusively to the Workplace
Picture it: you’re in the middle of a huge project, and just as you’re approaching the finish line, you (or a team member with a critical skillset) get sick. Like, super contagious, need-to-stay-home level sick, but not the kind of sick where you can’t do your job.
With the cloud, you or your team member can still complete the work, as tools are in place that allow the person in question to securely access the data, the software needed, or even their workstation from a device at home. After all, you’d still be working with the same computer; you’re just using a different computer to access it.
Data Security is More Certain
Let’s consider another scenario: your team member is at a conference, and to their dismay, they discover their work laptop was stolen when they stood up to get a complimentary cup of coffee from the hotel’s communal dispenser.
With virtualized tools, the damage that was inflicted is minimized. It’s really just the cost of the laptop itself, as all the data is stored in the cloud rather than the hardware. While it’s still unfortunate and may call for additional security training, the incident quickly becomes much less severe and less of a regulatory concern.
Expenses are More Manageable
There are two kinds of expenses a modern business needs to handle: capital expenses (one-off, pay-as-you-go costs that arise as circumstances demand) and operational expenses (predictable, stable subscriptions that follow a predetermined schedule). One is far more preferable to businesses, and that’s the one that utilizes the cloud.
A subscription to cloud services simply fit a business’ operations better, from their flexibility to the fact that a business can avoid having to drop thousands of dollars on single orders.
We Can Help You Transfer from Hardware to Cloud!
At Business Solutions & Software Group, we take care of your IT, including the cloud resources you depend on. We’ll be there to ensure every virtual PC, every Software-as-a-Service subscription, and every storage space is managed, secured, and efficient enough to serve your needs.
Reach out to us at (954) 575-3992 to learn more about how we can help!
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