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The coronavirus pandemic has ravaged the world, bringing endless miseries and suffering to people.
Crisis upon crisis, piled up – healthcare, economic, moral, mental, social. You name any aspect of personal and social life, and it is upended by this pandemic.
While the sufferings were overwhelming, but the onset of the pandemic made us to amend our ways of life and bring ourselves to accept the new realities.
Exploring the new norms
In a way, it set into motion the norms of the future and how things will be done. The change was occurring, but the pandemic turned the controller and set the speed to ‘max.’
Here are a few examples:
- Social Distancing
- Wearing of masks
- Online Business
- Home schooling
And of course,
- Work from home
Among all these, work from home is something that required the most adaptations.
Businesses and companies had to find a way to manage remote teams, communicate through digital channels, have conference calls instead of physical meetings, and leave their brick-and-mortar office for a team scattered all around.
But they adapted.
What helped them was an influx of software and tech that allowed them to undertake all these tasks while being apart.
Other than communication and project management software, the go-to tools of businesses were cloud software.
Take this, for example,
During the pandemic, Azure cloud computing services grew 50%. Azure is developed by Microsoft, and they expect to earn $14.83 billion from their cloud segment for the third fiscal quarter.
This scenario is not likely to change even after the pandemic goes away. TechRepublic claims that 70% of the organizations that are using cloud services plan to increase their investment in the software.
The advantages of Cloud Software
Since cloud computing is here to stay, let’s look at some of the obvious benefits that it offers.
Ease of access
The biggest and most obvious advantage of cloud software is the ease of access that they provide. Since the data is stored on the internet and not in a physical device, it can be accessed from anywhere.
All you need is a device and an internet connection. Unlike the office-based setup where your system has to be linked to the sharing network for each team member to access a file.
Cloud software also help with collaboration. They allow easy access to files and save real-time changes. They also allow users to track progress so that the entire team stays in the loop and can avoid conflicts and confusion.
Quick updates
Like every other application on our smartphone and laptops, cloud software automatically updates with new features, expanded resources, and improved usability.
With physical sharing servers, any update or improvement requires the shutting down of systems or temporarily moving them to new servers. It sometimes even results in loss of data.
Cloud software on the other hand, automatically update without any hindrance in their accessibility or data loss.
Also, if your needs exceed your cloud storage limits or bandwidth, you can easily increase them without any physical changes.
Zero maintenance
How many times have your office servers been shut down on pretext of maintenance?
Not only do these upgrades result in loss of valuable time, but they also require a team to monitor the structure 24×7.
Well, not with cloud software.
They take the word maintenance out of your life. Since you don’t have to worry about the maintenance of the system, you can simply get on with your job.
After all, don’t you have deadlines to meet?
Scalability
Consider Google Drive. You get 15 GB free with your account. Now, if your need has increased, you can easily expand up to 2 TB of space. Just like that!
Another benefit that cloud software offers is that it is one medium for all your needs.
Unlike a traditional workplace where you have to store stuff on a different place and then share it using email or some other transfer medium, here you can create, upload, save, edit, access, and even share data with a single cloud software.
This makes it easier to scale when working on cloud software because you don’t require multiple tools or software to carry out the tasks.
From communication to resource management and even the most used accounting software by big businesses, all of them offer cloud services to improve flexibility for their clients.
All your needs are catered to by one software, and you can scale it whenever you want.
Security
Security has to be the biggest benefit of cloud-based computing and cloud software.
Since there is no physical infrastructure, there is no fear of theft or any significant damage to it. Also, it rules out the danger of a calamity like fire, earthquake, or damage by any other means.
Not only this, cloud software provide backup, and multiple recovery options to help you in case data is lost.
With secure accessibility, you can control who can access the data and restrict the access of people to it.
So, there is no fear of someone plugging in a pen drive and damaging all your data by inserting a virus.
Saves money
After security, the biggest advantage that cloud-based computing and software offer is the reduction in the costs of doing business.
CARE, a leading global humanitarian organization, estimates they have saved $250K after they began using cloud services
Physical data storage infrastructure brings multiple expenses with it: hardware procurement and installation, software licensing, manpower, electricity, migration costs, maintenance, to name a few.
They cause a big strain on the company’s financial resources and thus increase the cost of doing business.
Cloud software gives you a chance to save all this money. Here, the biggest expense will be the annual subscription fee you pay for the software. Once that is settled, there is zero cost of maintenance and upgrades.
Final word
The migration to cloud technology has already gained significant momentum, and all indications point that it is only going to get faster from here.
After all, companies have not cracked the enigma of work from home, and they quite like what they are getting. Obviously, employees are the happiest with this arrangement.
So, if you aren’t on the cloud yet, hop on and make your life easier.
