The Benefits of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is growing fast, and legacy software businesses are migrating to the clouds before they’re swallowed by competitors. Consumers were the first to desert their desktop, followed by smaller businesses and then larger businesses and governments. One thing is clear about cloud computing: the only direction is up.

Efficiency

Things used to be really inefficient. Let’s take a simple task such as checking email. You can’t check your work email at home or at the office, unless you download and configure the software. And if you decide to set up your email in lots of locations, the same email has to be downloaded in each location. It’s much simpler to have a central location where your email is stored, so it can be accessed from any device with an internet connection.

Integration

The cloud improves integration. In the past, businesses had many applications that did a bad job of sharing information, so you needed to copy and paste information between applications or pay lots of money to have a software developer make them work together. Now many applications are set to automatically work with each other. For example, you can create an invoice using data already in your CRM. Then when a payment is made, the information is shared with your invoicing application and your accountancy software.

Save money

Cloud-based applications are more likely to be free. If someone is checking email in the browser, for example, it’s easier to click on adverts and therefore there’s a viable business model for companies that want to offer free email. Even paid applications can be more accessible, because the provider will be more likely to charge a small monthly fee than a large one-off or yearly license fee. Also, when you pay a monthly fee, you don’t have to worry about paying for updates and you’ll always have access to the latest software. Businesses also spend less money on IT support because this is effectively outsourced to the service provider.

Security and backups

Businesses were initially reluctant to move to the cloud for security reasons. They feared their data would be more vulnerable on another company’s system than it would be on their own. But, in most cases, your data will be more secure in the cloud because you’ll get access to the best security, your software will automatically update and your provider will, in some cases, take regular backups of your data in case something goes wrong.

CloudShare offers both a virtual environment for software developers and consultants who need to build, share and manage multiple copies of an environment plus an environment for large teams and enterprises who need to develop, demo and collaborate on multiple large-scale enterprise applications at the same time.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2011, taking place Sept. 13-15, 2011, in Austin, Texas. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. To register, click here.