Anyone running a business in the 21st century has to run into cloud computing at one point or another. Software-as-a-Service technology continues to progress, and as it continues offering greater services and more accessible solutions than ever before, this gives businesses greater incentives to purchase cloud computing services from reputable providers. Most of these providers focus on the benefits to productivity and efficiency that their services offer, but cloud computing also saves money.
Why Cloud Computing Saves Money
When it comes to cloud computing, the key to saving money is through economy—economy of scale, economy of productivity, and the economy of your workforce. Minimizing the amount of administration and technical work your business has to do to keep itself running allows you to maximize the energy and resources you put into your business’s actual function, whether that’s providing services, manufacturing products, or consulting other businesses.
Cloud computing services allow your business to achieve the following results:
- Keep technical and support staff off payroll. The majority of your technical and support needs are handled by outsourced service providers, so there is no need to dedicate resources to software installation, data recovery, cybersecurity, or hardware management—the cloud vendor takes care of these issues.
- Use software without buying it. Your cloud vendor develops or purchases the software necessary to perform business functions you need done so that you don’t have to. The benefit here is that when software is out of date, replacing and updating it is their expense—not yours.
- Integrate application interfaces. Instead of developing separate applications for email, calendar syncing, payroll, and online file storage, a cloud vendor can cover all of your needs through a single user interface. This saves money by reducing waste and increasing employee efficiency.
How to Save Money With Cloud Computing
Knowing all of the benefits that cloud computing offers does not automatically mean you’ll save money by choosing any cloud vendor on the market. You still need to carefully weigh your options and choose one that represents real value for your market. This may mean purchasing cloud services that are more expensive than the competition, but that still save you money in the long run.
One thing you want to be aware of is the possibility of downtime. If you choose a vendor with unstable cloud software, you may find yourself dealing with unexpected outages that can ruin your brand’s credibility. Security is another issue you will want to focus on. Successfully resisting cyberattacks will save you money in the long run.
Another issue to pay attention to is your service subscription. Consider, for instance, whether you have to commit to a predetermined contract independent of how much or how long you actually use the cloud service. Make sure you calculate through the entirety of the contract, whether it’s for two years, five years or ten years in length, and determine whether or not you’re actually saving money over that time frame.
To really save money with cloud computing, you need to find out how much it would actually cost you to develop and deploy your own on-premises solution. Be sure to include implementation times, which are fast for simple-requirement cloud computing services, but can quickly draw on as your needs become more complex.
With an estimate of your on-premises deployment costs at hand, you can compare the costs and benefits of cloud computing on an equal field and discover exactly how cloud computing can save your business money.