Many of the conversations about cloud computing in the past were about modern infrastructure for quicker innovation, faster time to market and cost savings.
But 2020 was the year the world realised the importance of the cloud and how the pandemic has brought new factors into focus.
Flexible remote workforce management, lower cost for backup and disaster recovery, legacy skill risk, safe return to the workplace and business agility. The value of the cloud and the need to embrace digital business models have been clear for years, but the realities of the pandemic have made this shift a key business priority.
2021/22 and beyond will see organisations building upon this momentum, moving to mature their cloud adoption strategies, kick-off their migration and modernise their technical platforms.
Here is a reminder why moving to the cloud is so important for your business, whatever the size.
 1. Cloud computing is flexible
Cloud-based services are ideal for businesses with growing or fluctuating bandwidth demands as it’s easy to scale up or down your cloud capacity. This level of agility can give businesses using cloud computing a real advantage over competitors – it’s not surprising that businesses identify operational agility as a key reason for cloud adoption.
 2. Disaster recovery keeps data safe
Businesses of all sizes should be investing in robust disaster recovery, but for smaller businesses that lack the required cash and expertise, this is often more an ideal than the reality. Cloud is now helping more organisations shirk that trend. In fact, cloud-based recovery solutions are now available in a variety of formats that save time, avoid large up-front investment and roll up third-party expertise as part of the deal.
 3. Maintenance free
The beauty of cloud computing is that the servers are off-premise, out of sight and out of your hair. Here at CT, we take care of them for you and roll out regular software updates – including patches and security updates – so you don’t have to worry about wasting time maintaining the system yourself. Leaving you free to focus on the things that matter, like growing your business.
 4. Cloud services minimise capital expenditure
Cloud computing cuts out the high cost of hardware. You simply pay as you go and enjoy a subscription-based model. Add to that the ease of setup and management and suddenly it’s never been easier to take the first step to cloud adoption.
 5. The cloud promotes collaboration
When your teams can access, edit and share documents anytime, from anywhere, they’re able to do more together, and do it better. Cloud based workflow and file sharing apps help them make updates in real time and give them full visibility of their collaborations. The more employees and partners collaborate on documents, the greater the need for watertight document control. Before the cloud, workers had to send files back and forth as email attachments to be worked on by one user at a time.
 6. Cloud computing offers security
Lost laptops are an expensive and very real business problem, but the loss of a costly piece of kit often fades in significance compared to the loss of the sensitive data inside it. Cloud computing gives you greater security when this happens. Because your data is stored in the cloud, you can access it no matter what happens to your machine.
To find out how CT can help your business with your cloud journey, get in contact with one of our team on 01246 266 130.
