Cloud hosting or cloud computing as it is popularly known holds innumerable benefits for modern organizations. It can help firms achieve economies of scale, workforce efficiency, improve accessibility, monitor projects more effectively and reduce spending on technology infrastructure among other things.
Cloud Computing Explained
Cloud computing is an off-premise form of computing where the resources are made available by a series of interconnected servers housed in the data centres of the service provider. In simpler terms, cloud computing is computing based on the Internet. Before the advent of cloud computing, people had to install and run applications and software downloaded on in-house physical computer or server. Cloud computing allows you to use the same application and software via internet.
Cloud computing is gaining popularity at a rapid pace and it is estimated that more than 90 per cent of the organizations in India will be using at least one kind of cloud service in the next couple of years.
It is intriguing as to why so many organizations have moved, or in the process of moving to the cloud. Experts attribute the fast rising popularity of cloud hosting to affordability, scalability, reliability, better efficiency and improved cash flow among other things. In the following paragraphs we shall look at some of the top benefits of cloud hosting.
Increased Levels of Flexibility
The flexibility that cloud computing offers is one of the primary reasons for its fast growing popularity. Cloud server hosting can easily meet growing or fluctuating bandwidth demands. Organizations can easily demand and get additional resources to meet the challenges posed by sudden spike in network traffic. The resources are supplied by an underlying network of servers that can easily handle any demand for additional resources like bandwidth, RAM, CPU, storage space, etc at a moment’s notice.
Likewise, you can easily scale down your cloud capacity if the additional traffic to your website has subsided. This level of agility and flexibility offered by cloud computing can give businesses using cloud services a real competitive advantage in the marketplace. The utility model offered by cloud computing prevents wastage of resources as firms need to pay only for resources they demand and consume.
Online Backup and Disaster Recovery
It is imperative for organizations of all shapes and sizes to have a strong online backup mechanism to protect their business critical data and information. Modern organizations operating in a highly complex and dynamic business environment need quick access to data and information generated in the course of business operation to remain competitive in the marketplace. Under such circumstances, any unfortunate loss of mission critical data to any unforeseen and unexpected event or disaster could bring the organization quickly down to its knees.
It is therefore of utmost importance for modern firms to have a robust online backup and disaster recovery procedure in place. Unfortunately, for small organizations that lack the resources and technical expertise, investing in a robust online backup and disaster recovery programme is more often than not an ideal than a reality.
Cloud hosting has proved to be a real boon for such organizations. With cloud based services, you always have a backup, no matter what happens in your own organization or data centre. Your backups are created automatically thereby eliminating any possibility of crucial data loss owing to human error or misjudgement. Any catastrophic events and disasters like fire, theft, crashes, virus attack, hacking, flood, etc will not hamper your business continuity as all your critical data can be restored with a simple click of a mouse button and an internet connection.
It therefore comes as no surprise that small businesses are more likely to opt for cloud backup services in comparison to large organizations to save time, protect their data and avoid large up-front investment.
Automatic Software Updates
The beauty of cloud computing is that the servers are off-premise, out of sight and out of your hair. A quality cloud hosting provider will take care of your software updates at regular intervals. Well-established cloud server hosting firms apart from rolling out regular software updates also take good care of your security processes to ensure maximum security for your data and information. Top management no longer has to concern itself with software maintenance and updates. The time thus saved can be used for devising strategies to gain competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Uninterrupted Network Access
This is another major advantage of opting for cloud hosting services. Cloud computing simply means network access from just about anywhere, anytime and from any part of the world with the help of an internet connection. This greatly enhances workforce productivity as employees can gain access to important file and documents from any place and any time of the day or night.
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