Those in boardrooms are usually tasked with the future strategy and direction of the business whilst ensuring that the organisation gets the most out of its existing processes; or alternatively, choosing which technology will help the business progress with longevity.

However, one thing that many businesses seem to be lacking in terms of preparedness is the ability to ensure safety and security of data, as well as being prepared with cloud technology. It is starting to feel like not another week goes by before yet another data breach is reported to the ICO; it was only recently that EasyJet fell victim to a cyber attack. The big question is, does your business have the strategy in place to help mitigate this risk and have systems in place to minimise any potential disruption? This also applies to the current situation that we find ourselves in; with a pandemic causing mass business disruption – those businesses that were agile and prepared for remote working and cloud systems; have adapted much more quickly than those less prepared. 

One of the strategies that your business needs to now consider is the backup plans that are available in this kind of situation. In addition to this; it’s important that cloud enabled technology and security for business’ data is considered – scams and phishing have increased vastly during the pandemic and its important that your organisation is protected. According to research by the IDG, ensuring that businesses have viable continuity plans is the third most important objective which is driving the need for cloud initiatives. In the same report entitled the State of the Network; it also found that 35% of network professionals see that ensuring business continuity is the main challenge faced when dealing with data security and cloud access.

We seriously recommend that moving your business into the cloud is now an extremely important step to take. With this in mind, here is a list of benefits associated with moving the main areas of your business to the cloud in order to help guarantee the future of your organisation for the foreseeable future.

 

Ability to recover from situations becomes faster

The ability to ensure that your server is up and running, up to date and most importantly; backed up regularly is one of the most advantageous aspects of running your business data from the cloud. It is remotely protected and backed up in real-time which means that if necessary; recovery is extremely easy as and when you need it.

 

There are reduced costs

It is undoubtable that the most cost-efficient way of managing and running your data security is through cloud technology. This is because if there is ever the need to back up your data, this would undoubtedly involve expensive physical servers; sometimes in remote locations. The cloud on the other hand is; as you are probably aware; available online. This means that you can outsource your hardware and software needs; creating a perfect solution just for you – and this also means only paying for the exact services that you use.

The other indirect cost saving comes from the fact that the ability to quickly get your organisation back up and running and even run the business through a coronavirus-type situation like we are currently working through; means that you can get back to generating revenue faster and saving yourself thousands, if not millions.

 

The ability to work anywhere

Perhaps poignantly and most relevantly; the cloud has enabled so many businesses to get through the coronavirus pandemic with limited disruption thanks to the ability of working remotely. This is likely not going to change; either – many businesses are expecting that their employees will now have greater flexibility and the ability to work remotely from home etc; will become expected from the top talent at the very least. It is now vitally important that businesses who are not completely cloud-enabled should start considering the move into bespoke technology solutions that will help with this.

 

Securing the future for your widespread growth

Physical servers come with very physically limited storage. The issue with that is that over time and during business growth, you will have to continually expand and replace those physical servers at a high expense each time relative to the gain. With cloud solutions, that storage is unlimited and easy to upgrade and change to extra storage as and when you need it.

One thing that the current pandemic situation has shown us is our preparedness; or lack of, for external variables out of our control. In addition to this, it’s extremely important to gauge how your business will grow out of this situation and move forward. One thing is for certain, this pandemic has forced agility from all businesses across the world and it is now incredibly obvious that we will not return back to “normal”, but we are now moving toward a “new normal” and part of this will be the expectancy for cloud technology to live at the center of all progressive, forward thinking organisations.