Top 8 Cloud Hosting Benefits: Why and How to Get Them

Cloud hosting comes with an abundance of benefits for anyone who leverages it. To start with, individuals and businesses who feel the need to add a hint of flexibility and scalability into their day-to-day working, without compromising on security,  the cloud is what that helps. Cloud hosting has several uses for all sorts of people, whether they are professionals such as accountants using QB hosting or non-professionals who only need the cloud for storage. For instance, you can host your website on the cloud, your personal data including photos and music, and, at the same time, you can also run your entire business on the cloud. 

Who Should Move To The Cloud?

Cloud hosting, in layman terms, means storing your data on a third-party computer, instead of saving those files on your local desktop. If you have ever stored your vacation photos on your Google Drive with the idea that you will never lose them, you have been savoring the benefits of the cloud without even realizing it. Now, keeping in mind the benefits that the cloud has to offer, businesses benefit the most by migrating to the cloud. However, that does not mean you can not use it for your personal needs(cause you already do). Talking about businesses moving to the cloud, it can be understood with a simple example:

If you own an accounting firm and often find yourself tied to your office desktop to meet the deadlines, you are in an ideal situation for making a move to the cloud. Cloud hosting allows businesses to host their desktop applications on remote servers. These cloud-based applications can be accessed from any place, at any time of the day, that too from any device. The only need is to have an internet-connected device. 

The Benefits: Why You Should Move To The Cloud? 

1. Easy to Scale

What do you do when the space on your local hard drive runs out? You buy a new one. Now, imagine doing that continuously for five years. How many hard drives will you buy and how many of those will you store? And, what happens if you lose one? When on the cloud, you save yourself the troubles of heading out to the market to buy more storage space. The cloud is highly scalable. Which means, you can simply buy extra storage simply by paying your cloud vendor for it, and vice versa. 

2. Flexible Pricing

Just as the cloud is highly scalable when it comes to storage space, the pricing plans are no different. The pricing scheme offered by most cloud services providers is quite flexible. The best part of being on the cloud is that they let you pay-as-you-go, implying that you spend only on the services that you use. Also, the pricing plans are designed differently for shared and dedicated hosting plans, giving users full leverage to choose plans that best suit their needs. 

3. High Uptime

Service-based businesses that promise 24*7 availability to their clients understand the importance of high uptime. A company’s downtime history plays a huge role in influencing the trust their customers have on them. With traditional hosting techniques, your site may go off the grid if your local server is down. When on the cloud, you get 99.99% uptime guarantee. Since you are working in a multiple-server environment, when one server goes down, you are automatically moved to another so you always stay online. 

4. Secure Environment

The traditional servers are more vulnerable when it comes to security threats. They can be stolen, get destroyed in a natural calamity, or they can simply breakdown. When your data is on a remote server, it is protected under multiple security parameters. For instance, the data on the cloud is encrypted, protected with an anti-virus program, access to the files is granted only to authorized personnel, and the data is backed-up multiple times so it is never lost. The data centers are carefully located in areas that are away from natural disasters and is also monitored day-in and day-out using security surveillance cameras. 

5. Easy to Set Up

The best part about moving to the cloud is that the cloud vendors take care of the setup, which is mostly done free-of-cost. Migrating into the cloud is simple and easy, which does not involve a lot of time to do so. Although, care must be taken while transferring data from the local server to the cloud server.  

6. Environment-Friendly

The cloud comes as a winner when it comes to being environmentally friendly. Firms working in the cloud have reportedly experienced reduced electricity bills, low maintenance costs, reduced the need for installing cooling systems locally and it also eliminates the need to buy more physical space when scaling up. Low carbon emissions, higher efficiency, and reduced wastage of computer hardware are some of the added benefits enjoyed by firms moving to the cloud. 

7. Gives A Competitive Edge

Firms promising 24*7 technical support and living up to it have a clear edge over those that are still working 9 to 5 or struggling to be available. The cloud comes with high-speed data centers, up-to-date software, upgraded technology, a support team to handle technical glitches, data is always an id-password away and it promotes the idea of being always available, both to your clients as well as your employees. With an around-the-clock online presence, businesses enjoy a competitive edge over those that do not.

8. Promotes Collaborative Working

Traditionally, a business owner would either choose not to take a vacation or would tend to the business needs only after returning from the vacay. But, this is not the case when you have everything on the cloud. Whether you are a business owner, a client, or an employee, you can simply work on-the-go, that too in collaboration with your team and clients, on the same platform, in realtime. The cloud gives entrepreneurs the leverage to break geographical barriers and hire a talented resource who is located remotely. Something which was not possible a few years ago. 

How To Move To The Cloud? 

The most imperative step when moving to the cloud is finding an ideal cloud-hosting provider. When initiatng, you may feel overwhelmed with the number of options available that are available in the market. But, before you make your final decision, keep the following points in mind:

• Find a cloud vendor who comes with experience in your particular industry. 

• Check whether the pricing plans your chosen provider offers are affordable and in your budget.

• Go through their downtime history. It speaks volume about their efficiency. 

• Double-check their security measures in place. 

• Take a free trial. 

Lastly

Cloud hosting is no longer in its infant stage. Although the idea was foreign to small businesses until a few years ago, cloud hosting today is a buzz word for startups and SMBs. For businesses battling with the idea of migrating to the cloud, the benefits discussed above are enough to come to a point of conclusion. The cloud is visibly helping small and mid-sized businesses grow and it is just the time for them to migrate.