What is the cloud and what does it mean for your business?

With so much technical and confusing messaging around the latest IT services and how Cloud can save you money and keep you secure, it’s hardly surprising many businesses are reluctant to make big decisions around areas of their business they do not fully understand.

What is it?

The cloud is just somewhere else to store your data other than on your own server, in your own office environment. The physical location is called a data centre and there are many situated across the UK and beyond. Companies have traditionally spent a significant amount of money and effort in storing their business data on-site. This alone can have its own challenges such as temperature control, securing data against fraud and reducing the amount of risk to downtime.

Who is benefiting currently?

This is where new start-ups are taking advantage of the cloud. New businesses have no concerns about ageing hardware, costly IT overheads and risks to downtime, as they simply don’t exist in their business world. Data is stored safely and securely using a number of different cloud-based options and depending on your business needs, solutions are tailored to your business.

How does it fit with your business?

It is no longer a case of buying a product and adapting your business to fit. Reverse that thought – Your IT infrastructure is designed to exactly fit your needs and will grow and evolve as you do. You only pay for what you use and have access to all hardware stored in the data centres if required.

Don’t lose your head in the cloud!