The advantages of cloud computing are frequently discussed but hold little power unless evaluated from a personal point of view. That means B2B companies need to stop analyzing cloud solutions from a B2C perspective. Instead, by looking at the capabilities and advantages from a B2B viewpoint, you can truly understand the capabilities of these technologies.
As a business owner or IT decision maker, there are dozens of reasons to consider an investment in the cloud. Specifically, you’ll want to focus on the following six reasons:
- Ability to effortlessly scale. B2B companies scale at a much more drastic pace than most B2C businesses. That’s why it’s critical to only use resources and tools that grow and contract with you. Because most cloud solutions operate on a subscription basis, you’re able to change your requirements at virtually any point in time. Additionally, because you can increase output without adding more people, you can reduce your cost per unit and achieve economies of scale much quicker.
- Access software from anywhere. With traditional software, you have to physically be at your desk or computer to access your company’s resources. With cloud solutions, though, you can use them from any device with a network connection. That’s why millions of B2B companies are investing in cloud accounting software, online payroll management tools, and other similar resources.
- Less upfront cost. One of the biggest benefits of cloud computing is the upfront cost savings. Instead of spending thousands of dollars on IT infrastructure, you can allocate that money to critical tasks and pay as you go. It provides enormous financial flexibility for B2B organizations that find themselves strapped for cash.
- Quick disaster recovery. With cloud technology, disasters suddenly become less cumbersome and, well, disastrous. According to research conducted by the Aberdeen Group, the average downtime for a cloud user is as much as four times less than a similar business without the cloud.
- Effortless collaboration. Did you know that as many as 73 percent of knowledge workers regularly collaborate with people in different geographical locations and time zones on a monthly basis, according to an Adobe Acrobat white paper? That means nearly three out of four people have to send back and forth messages, reformat files, and account for time differences when working on projects. While cloud computing doesn’t solve all of these issues, it certainly makes collaboration much easier.
- Smoother mergers and acquisitions. Ultimately, cloud computing allows for smoother mergers and acquisitions, should your business ever decide to go that route. This is a result of data being readily available and consolidated – as opposed to B2B organizations in which files are spread out over multiple servers and devices.
There’s very little inherent risk in making a move towards cloud computing. The upfront cost is low, it is able to scale as you grow, it protects your valuable data and files, it makes it easy for everyone to communicate, it is accessible from virtually anywhere and streamlines organizational changes and fluctuations. Next time your team discusses IT changes, make sure an investment in the cloud is the first topic on the agenda.
