Is enterprise cloud computing the right solution for you? Enterprise cloud adoption is rapidly growing and it is thought that an overwhelming majority of enterprises will adopt cloud computing by 2020 (as many as 90%, in fact). But why are so many businesses flocking towards cloud computing? And should you join the cloud computing adoption craze?
In this blog post, we’ll be discussing who and how to set up enterprise cloud computing solutions.
A few interesting enterprise cloud computing statistics
How many have already adopted enterprise cloud computing? What are the predictions regarding the future of cloud computing?
Here are some interesting facts and predictions about enterprise cloud computing:
- Cloud computing was a $67 billion business in 2015 and that number is expected to grow by an average of 19% every year, reaching $162 billion in 2020
- What makes enterprises adopt cloud computing? The main factors – at 63% – are the digitally transforming enterprises
- But Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are also believed to drive more cloud computing adoption over the next couple of years
- One study made by LogicMonitor found that 83% of enterprise workloads will be in the cloud by 2020 (in 2014, for example, only 19% of enterprises from the European Union used cloud computing services)
So why are so many enterprises moving towards cloud computing solutions? And is it the right decision for you too?
The challenges and benefits of adopting enterprise cloud computing solutions
Enterprise cloud computing has a big share of benefits – but it also has its fair share of issues that might scare away some businesses from jumping on this train.
The case for cloud security
There are two huge benefits to enterprise cloud computing: security and cost. Ironically, security is also one of the biggest reason why companies aren’t adopting enterprise cloud computing.
However, like any new technology, it takes a while to build up enough trust amongst audiences before going mainstream; just think back to online buying a few years ago. Amazon, for example, had to constantly reassure users that the entire process is safe and nothing untoward will happen with their money. Now though, Amazon users (and not only) can buy a product just by clicking a button – literally, one click and your shopping is ready to ship.
While cloud computing is not new technology, per se, and services like Dropbox are extremely popular with regular users and businesses, that doesn’t mean that there is a lot of trust in cloud computing. That’s because we hear buzzwords like hackers, ransomware, attacks, all the time. We hear about celebrities’ clouds being hacked and their photos, videos, and messages shared with the world.
So some reticence is more than understandable; but there’s a reason why experts predict huge growth in enterprise cloud computing over the next couple of years: it’s arguably a better solution for your enterprise and businesses are starting to understand that and see that there’s another side to the discussion.
And in fact, many are arguing that there are a lot of security benefits to using cloud computing. Like, for example, losing important business data, which can be hard to recover from hardware failure.
Plus, cloud computing has evolved a lot; security has beefed up with most cloud computing solutions because people are scared of this perceived side-effect. Not to mention, you can build your cloud exactly like you want it and create a combination of on-premise storage, private cloud, and public clouds – aka a hybrid cloud – to suit your exact needs.
By implementing this type of cloud solution you have a huge level of control over your data. Not to mention, just because something is in the cloud that means that anyone can access it – there are plenty of solutions to help you protect your most important data, the one that should only be available to a few pairs of eyes.
The case for productivity
While cloud security is one of those subjects that can inspire numerous debates and conversations, there’s no denying the flexibility that cloud computing brings to the table.
That’s because with cloud computing, data is so much easier to access and it really doesn’t matter where you are in the world or what devices you’re using so long as you have the bandwidth.
Your employees can easily access any information they need which helps them be more productive with their time; and what’s more, it also means that they won’t take up other colleagues’ time with questions about where they can find something or questions that they can find the answer to themselves: they just need to search the cloud.
This increases productivity across the board and allows you to work more effectively with people from all over the world.
The case for cost-effectiveness
The bigger the enterprise, the larger their costs are in terms of storage and buying hardware. The storage and hardware you need can be extremely expensive (as well as the installation, for that matter) and what’s worse is that you might not even need them for long.
With cloud computing, you don’t need the hardware; or, at the very least, you can massively reduce your hardware needs if you’re building a hybrid cloud.
Another way cloud computing helps enterprises save money and resources is that your IT teams can focus on other tasks beyond managing your network or your software; instead, cloud computing services can handle that for your enterprise. They take care of your cloud’s security, they ensure that you’re getting your upgrades, and so on – and that frees up a lot of time and saves a lot of money in the long run.
To calculate your potential AWS (Amazon Web Services for cloud computing) costs, you can use a TCO calculator (total cost of ownership) to help:
Conclusion
So, is enterprise cloud computing the right solution for you? The answer is a resounding yes; there’s a reason why so many enterprises are joining in and implementing cloud computing to various degrees and why these numbers are growing at such a fast rate.
Well, actually, there are multiple reasons:
- You can improve your enterprise security and make sure you don’t lose any important data
- Your entire company will be more productive if they have easy access to the information they need
- Enterprise cloud computing is more cost-effective in the long run than only using hardware to store your data
What are your thoughts on enterprise cloud computing? Is it the right solution or are enterprises rushing to join the cloud computing craze?