10 Benefits of Cloud Computing for Businesses

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Cloud computing is where data is stored, managed and processed on a network of servers hosted remotely on the internet. It has become highly popular with businesses because it offers considerable savings together with high security, enormous capacity and a host of managed services. Cloud hosting provides businesses with many advantages and in this post, we’ll take a look at ten of the most important ones.

1. Cloud hosting saves you money

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The bottom line for any business looking to adopt a new technology is whether it offers value for money and a good return on investment. What’s great about cloud computing is that you don’t need your own hardware as everything is hosted on your providers’ servers. This means savings can be made on the cost of hardware and, in addition, you can dispense with the costs of running your own data centre. You won’t need to pay for space, power, physical security, insurance and air-conditioning or need to cover the costs of ongoing maintenance.

2. Instantly scalable resources and pay as you go pricing

Pricing

If you have your own data centre and need to increase computing resources, you’ll need to buy, install and configure an expensive new server. If you only need that capacity to cover a short-term demand, it leaves you with two problems. Firstly, you’re buying something that may lay redundant for most of the time and, secondly, if that demand comes unexpectedly, you might not get the server up and running in time to deal with it.

With cloud computing, scalability comes built in. If you need extra resources because of an unexpected peak in website traffic, you can increase your computing capacity instantly. If that peak only lasts for a day or two you can scale down as demand decreases. And, as you are charged on a pay as you go basis, you only pay for the extra resources you have used. There is no need to upgrade permanently to a bigger package or hire a new server. In this way, cloud provides increased agility and cost-effective resourcing.

3. Strategic competitive advantage

 

Deployment time in cloud computing is virtually zero and applications that are critical for growth and success can be online almost instantly, giving you a strategic competitive advantage over competitors who have not yet adopted cloud technology.

In addition, the scalability mentioned above means that smaller companies who would normally be at a disadvantage against larger companies with greater in-house capacity, now find themselves on a level playing field without the need to invest heavily in their own data centres.

4. High Availability

As businesses become reliant on applications to run their critical operations, downtime can be disastrous. Server failure can result in companies coming to a complete standstill and getting back online can be a challenging and sometimes long-winded process. Losses can be significant.

Cloud hosting, however, removes the possibility of server failure causing downtime. A cloud environment is engineered to deliver predictable and consistent performance with guaranteed 100% up-time. This is because clients are hosted on virtual machines that, in the event of an issue, can be migrated between the clustered server. The cloud’s hyper-converged design guards against everything from hard disk failure to an entire server failure, enabling mission-critical applications to be available all the time.

5. Lightning fast performance

 

In order to stay competitive, cloud service providers need to continually update their technology to meet the demands of their customers. As a result, cloud computing offers high-performance servers with technology such as powerful CPUs and super fast SSD drives.

In addition, load balancing is used to route client requests in a way that maximises speed and capacity utilisation. In this way, when servers are busy, the load is distributed so that no single server suffers from performance problems – and with so many servers at their disposal, a cloud provider can always ensure that performance is consistently optimised.

6. Get new apps running quicker

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Before the advent of cloud computing, it could take a long time to get new applications running smoothly. Cloud-based applications, however, have significantly reduced the time required for successful execution. Most cloud-based applications can be used instantly after signup.

This offers many advantages to businesses. One, in particular, is that businesses who migrate to the cloud can be benefiting from AI and machine learning applications within hours of signing up.

7. Increased security

With cloud hosting, your business is protected against hacking, infection and internal data theft. Cloud providers are required to comply with a range of stringent security regulations in order to protect their customers’ data. This includes the use of robust firewall technology that features intrusion prevention systems and in-flow virus protection. These detect and isolate threats before they reach your server. You can even extend your office into the cloud with extensive VPN features.

8. More flexible working

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Cloud computing provides greater flexibility in how employees work. As it is internet based, staff can access files both in and out of the workplace, enabling them to work remotely or in the office. Many companies are using this to give employees more flexible working conditions and to cut down on the amount of office space they need. In order to cut costs, many local councils have massively reduced office space expenditure by allowing staff to work from home and by using a hot-desking system on the days they come into the office.

Staff can access the company’s system using web-enabled devices such as smartphones and laptops and can collaborate in real-time with others by sharing synchronised files and using online conferencing. Many businesses now have a ‘bring your own device (BYOD)’ policy which is backed up by the use of a logical access authentication protocol to ensure security.

9. Environmental friendly

Moving your system to the cloud means that you won’t need your own data centre and can reduce your own carbon footprint significantly. You won’t need to power the servers or keep them cool. You won’t even need data centre space which needs to be lit.

However, there are more environmental benefits than simply offloading your carbon footprint to your provider. Once you have migrated to the cloud, you’ll find that economies of scale mean that your provider can use energy in a much more efficient way and that the energy needed to run your systems is much less than it would be on-site. In this way, cloud computing reduces the overall impact on the environment.

10. The cloud is future enabled

We’ve already mentioned that cloud’s scalability puts smaller companies on a level playing field with bigger ones. In the future, this is going to be even more important. With the growth of the Internet of Things, the amount of big data that businesses are collecting and processing is going to increase exponentially.

Big data analytics provides vital information for driving business development and those companies who have the resources to carry it out are the ones who will gain most. Cloud computing is by far the most cost-effective option for storing and processing enormous quantities of data. In addition, it provides the easy deployment of the applications needed to carry out this processing.

Conclusion

As you can see from this post, cloud hosting provides many benefits to businesses. It’s cost-effective, can save you money, it’s highly reliable and it provides the scalability, flexibility, agility, high performance and security businesses need from their IT systems.

Cloud computing in construction industry: Benefits

What does cloud computing do? - CompuVisionThe cloud is already widely adopted within the construction industry; however, for companies that are still considering it and for those whose use is limited, here, we look at seven important benefits it provides.

1. Cost savings

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Every penny matters in the construction industry, so the cloud’s ability to help companies work more efficiently and effectively is one of its chief attractions. Savings come in multiple forms. From an IT perspective, the move to the cloud and to a vendor’s infrastructure reduces the company’s need to run in-house datacentres that require expensive cap-ex investment in hardware and the ongoing datacentre costs. The scalability of the cloud, together with its pay-as-you-go charging model provides further opportunities for efficient usage.

Additional savings also come from using the cloud to monitor operations. Combining data analytics with artificial intelligence yields insights into business processes that invariably throw up more efficient ways to run businesses and thus reduce costs without affecting quality.

2. Access information from anywhere at anytime

Access your work device anytime, anywhere

In the cloud, all your data is stored centrally and is available online, regardless of where your teams are or what time. This makes it incredibly easy for employees to collaborate and access the most up-to-date, synchronised files.

This is highly beneficial for construction companies as the very nature of their projects means they are working on sites away from the office. It also makes it much easier for employees working on large sites or projects with multiple sites to get hold of the information they need.

3. More competitive bidding

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While cost savings help improve the bottom line, they also help construction companies to be more competitive when bidding for new projects. By using cloud-based business intelligence, they will have a more detailed prediction of the project’s costs, a better understanding of component availability and can give a more accurate indication of other influential factors, such as the environmental impact of their work or how energy efficient the completed project will be. All these can help make the bid more attractive to potential customers.

4. Manage growth better

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Opportunities are everywhere in the construction industry, but the nature of the sector means companies need to be clear about those which are right for their business. Today, when researching new market segments or territories, organisations are increasingly making use of cloud-based analytics to evaluate a wide range of internal and external indicators that give them a clearer picture of the challenges and advantages of these potential expansions.

5. Building Information Modelling (BIM)

BIM - Building Information Modelling in the construction industry

Today, the construction industry is making far greater use of Building Information Modelling – a process that results in the development of a centrally stored project model that can be accessed, shared and updated by all parties. Based in the cloud, the BIM enables the company to collaborate with all stakeholders, including planners, designers, suppliers, those from other disciplines and other construction companies taking part in the project. By clarifying the exact project for everyone, this removes uncertainty and thus helps overcome budget, timescale and supply challenges while reducing the potential for conflict between the different parties.

6. Improve employee safety

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Construction sites and the materials and machines used can be inherently hazardous and this makes employee safety one of the chief concerns of any company. Increasingly, organisations are looking at how cloud-based solutions can help minimise risk even further. Using the cloud enables companies to simplify and centralise the reporting of incidents over the internet, share data with collaborators and suppliers and then analyse that data to provide safety insights and develop new safety procedures and equipment more speedily for use on sites.

When predictive tools are used, this can then help companies better understand the safety risks of each new project, enabling them to put improved measures into place during the planning stage rather than as a reaction to an incident that happens once construction work has begun. It also helps factor safety into the price and timescale of the project.

7. More effective communications

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The number of people involved in a construction project can be vast and includes not just the company but the customer, architects and planners, suppliers, sub-contractors and other construction companies. Keeping everyone in the loop and up to speed is vital to keep the project on schedule and budget, and to ensure that issues are dealt with swiftly and effectively.

Cloud-based communication systems make this far easier and quicker to do and ensure that communications can be accessed and traced more effectively. What’s more, rather than having to send copies of files in email attachments that can quickly go out of date, attaching links to files stored centrally in the cloud means information accessed will always be synchronised and up to date.

Conclusion

Construction companies have a lot to gain from using the cloud and there are many ways in which it can benefit. The biggest advantage, however, for those who have yet to adopt, is that doing so will put you on par with the majority that have already begun to make the leap as part of their digital transformation.

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