What cloud really means for entrepreneurs

We all have heard about this phenomena that is taking over the world, growing at an incredible speed, and taking a lot of attention, especially from big companies; moving all their data to the cloud, having all processing done on the cloud, managing virtual servers instead of having some storing data locally. I am sure all this rings a few bells when mentioned, but what do we have to do with this, it is not of our concern, is it?

I have been always attracted to the new technologies, and cloud was not the exception. I would like to give an overview of what cloud can offer to small companies and new ventures.

To start, there are some misconceptions about what a cloud is. A cloud is not space somewhere in the internet, floating around the “web”, a cloud has kind of the same structure as company networks, there are physical servers holding the data and computing those tons of instructions. They are just well backed up and have been cloned so many times that if they start failing, our information will always be available and safe.

There are a few benefits in overall we can take advantage from, as entrepreneurs.

1. Availability: I would consider this almost the main one. The fact of our data being cloned and routed through several servers online, give us the ability to access them, anytime and anywhere. This is important taking into consideration that the industry is moving to the mobile side, more work done on the go, instead of sitting on an office.

2. Security: Tying up first place with availability. One of our concern as entrepreneurs, is that our data, or business data; is stored on a safe place and only available to the people that has been granted access to it. With cloud you no longer need to look for security flaws, or issues with how your network is set up, all data in cloud is certified to be safe. Big cloud companies have enforced tons of security measures that will prevent any unauthorized access to our files, and better yet, if you feel that your data has been compromised they provide a lot of support, sometimes even refund you in many ways.

3. Cost reduction: Yes, the fact that you don’t have to continue to maintenance your own network, having a company providing you the services and support will insanely reduce your operating costs. Saving money by still covering and sometimes exceeding your needs is a great way to keep your business on the right track.

4. Productivity: Cloud gives you the benefit of not having to give a lot of thought to configurations, you can focus on your work while others work on having the service up 100% of the time, after all you are usually the one leading, and should not be wasting time trying to figure out how to share files within your colleagues. Also if others within your organization are invited to join the cloud, they will start using it right away as they will be amazed by the fact they do not need their computers the whole time, especially those who are smartphone savvy.

I would totally recommend leaders, entrepreneurs and everyone who has decision-making positions to switch to cloud. The advantages this will give you against the competition are huge. Using cloud will take yet another preoccupation off the list, so you can continue focus on what really matters.