Increasingly, the terms ‘cloud storage’ and ‘cloud computing’ are gaining currency in the modern workplace. Cloud-based technologies offer a number of substantial benefits, particularly in the decentralised modern world of digital work. They work through remote servers, which can store all of the files and host the software used by the business and its employees.
A recent Startups.co.uk survey reveals that 82% of businesses are under pressure to keep up with new technology, but it isn’t always clear which technologies are essential and which aren’t.
For most companies, business cloud technology falls into the former category. But exactly why is it so worthwhile?
Enhanced Communication and Real-Time Collaboration
When every part of your team is connected to the same cloud-based service, they’ll be able to seamlessly communicate with one another. This can allow for a cohesive workspace, with shared document editing and video meetings, even when team members are based in different locations.
This can help to vastly reduce the clutter of an overstuffed email inbox. Using traditional methods, workers might expend huge amounts of time and mental energy trying to sift through messages to find the worthwhile ones.
According to data from the Office for National Statistics, around a quarter of all workers are based at home at least some of the time. Making work more efficient for these people can lead to sizeable productivity gains.
Secure and Flexible Remote Working
Another advantage of cloud technology is that it supports flexible working hours. Cloud services are able to operate securely at any time of day. This can mean that a company won’t need to make special arrangements for a worker to contribute at a given time. Through the cloud, workers are simply afforded the freedom to log in whenever they want to.
This is partly a consequence of the fact that servers are being hosted remotely. There’s no need to keep them on your business’s premises or to worry about them being kept online. Remote servers, run by specialist companies, also tend to be more secure and agile. When you’re working through a remote server, you can pivot more easily to cope with changes in your business environment or in the technology itself.
Streamlined Project and Task Management
When you’re using a cloud-based task manager, you’ll benefit from a central dashboard. Here, you can obtain an at-a-glance overview of the state of a given project. The data is being constantly and automatically updated as contributions are made, which vastly reduces the work involved with updating spreadsheets. Not only that, but you can always be sure that the data you’re looking at is current, and that a project really is in the state that it seems to be.
A Pathway to Scalability and Growth
If you’re running your own servers and IT systems, then growth can be an ongoing challenge. You might need to make huge one-off investments in new hardware, and face spiralling costs as that hardware needs to be periodically updated, tweaked, and rewired.
With a cloud-based solution, much of this is handled ‘under the hood’. This means you’ll be able to scale your operations up and down without assuming major financial risk. The UK has recently benefited from a boost in investment from Google, and the state of the infrastructure in the UK makes it a more compelling option than ever.
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