As businesses look to maximise their IT return on investment and increase functionality, hosted services are playing an increasingly prominent role. Cloud computing adoption is continuing apace, across a host of industry sectors, as more organisations recognise the benefits it can potentially offer.
According to the Cloud Industry Forum, the number of first-time cloud computing users has increased by 27% over the last 18 months. The organisation expects that, by the end of 2013, over 75% of UK businesses will be using at least one cloud service formally. In addition, 80 per cent of current cloud users will have increased their spending in this area.
But why exactly are businesses choosing to spend on hosted services, delivered remotely by a third party, rather than investing in their own on-premise infrastructure? Here are some of the main benefits of cloud technologies:
Reduced costs
With businesses able to source IT services on-demand according to need, there is less of a requirement for capital expenditure. Cloud vendors are responsible for managing the majority of servers and connections, and for ensuring the security of IT hardware - whereas cloud subscribers are merely consumers. They do not physically own the IT solutions they use, but they have no need to do so since services are provided online at a fraction of the cost.
Flexibility and scalability
Cloud subscribers can increase or decrease their use of cloud services according to demand and how much they want to spend. There is no longer any need to pay for services you do not require - businesses merely sign up for the specific IT functions they require. If needs change over time, they can simply pay more or less each month for access to cloud services.
Mobility and agility
Cloud computing empowers professional people to work from a variety of locations, from a variety of devices. They can sign in to their cloud account - for instance, through Office 365 - on a PC, laptop, smartphone or other mobile device, and pick up where they left off earlier on a different platform. This is because files, documents, software and locations are available online, with no physical tie to the system being used. They are technology-neutral, meaning that - so long as you have an internet connection with sufficient bandwidth - you can work from almost anywhere.
Easier upgrades
The cloud vendor is responsible for upgrading cloud solutions, meaning subscribers do not need to worry about keeping up to date. When new solutions become available, cloud computing providers will invest in them and then make them available to subscribers. Failing to keep up to speed is bad business for the provider, since they are likely to be competing against various other broadband vendors for work.
Business continuity
With cloud services enabling employees to work from almost any location, an on-premise IT disaster will not have the severity of implications it could otherwise. Many employees will be able to carry on working from another location, given that they can access the tools and solutions they need over the internet. So even if there is a fire, flood, theft or technology outage, it should be possible to keep functioning normally.
IT security
Cloud computing providers' reputations are built on providing secure, constantly available services to their customers. As such, they invest significant amounts of money securing their servers, data centres and connections, which has a positive knock-on effect to other users. Individual companies may not be able to spend thousands of pounds on IT security, but as a cloud user, they benefit from economies of scale.
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