Speech Blog

Cloud solutions are often viewed from a B2C point of view, but there’s no denying its rise in the B2B world. Business owners or IT decision makers need to consider an investment in the cloud when digital transformation for their organization is on the agenda. In the first part of this blog post, we discuss this transformation and dive into 3 benefits of cloud and SaaS solutions.

In this second part, we’ll investigate a bit further into what other advantages cloud solutions can offer.

No more software updates or compatibility issues

Cloud-based applications automatically refresh and update themselves, instead of forcing an IT department to perform a manual, organization-wide update. This saves valuable time and money and allows employees to continue working instead of waiting for updates to be installed. Cloud computing also eliminates compatibility issues, allowing you to simply work in any browser. This ensures your workloads, processes, and procedures will work the same way consistently, no matter where they run.

Less upfront investment and scalability

There is very little inherent risk in making a move towards cloud computing. The upfront cost is low, as you can get started small and add-on whenever you need. SaaS solutions are mostly subscription based, so they allow you to easily add or reduce users on an as-needed basis. The solution is able to grow as you grow. Pay-as-you-go services allow for upfront cost savings, so money can be used for investments of other critical tasks.

Quick disaster recovery

Cloud services typically offer a secure backup and recovery functionality for a company’s data and infrastructure on a cloud-based platform and redundant data centers. There will always be things that are out of your control, and even a small amount of downtime can have a negative effect. In the event of a disaster, it is critical for a business to have an effective, quick recovery time to restore computer data and functioning infrastructure. Downtime in your services leads to lost productivity, revenue, and brand reputation. While there may be no way to prevent or even anticipate the disasters that could occur and potentially cause damage, you can control how quickly you recover your data, no matter what kind of emergency scenario, from a natural disaster to a power outage.

Loss prevention

Data is probably one of the most valuable assets of organizations today. So the last thing you would want is to have data inseparably tied to local, personal computers. If your local hardware experiences a problem, you might end up permanently losing your data. Computers can malfunction for many reasons, from viral infections, to age-related hardware deterioration, to simple user error. Or, despite the best of intentions, they can be misplaced or stolen, all of which can result in the loss of information that was saved locally. With a cloud-based server, however, all the information you’ve uploaded to the cloud remains safe and easily accessible from any computer with an internet connection, even if the computer you regularly use isn’t working.

Sustainability

Real sustainability requires solutions that address wastefulness at every level of a business. Hosting on the cloud is more environmentally friendly and results in less of a carbon footprint. Cloud infrastructures support environmental proactivity by reducing the need for physical hardware. Research funded by Google and conducted by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in conjunction with Northwestern University revealed that transitioning commonly used software applications to the cloud would cut energy usage by 87%. Notably, by reducing energy usage, businesses can save 60-85% in energy costs.[1] Cloud computing and digitization also cuts down on paper waste and commuter-related emissions. Moving to the cloud offers businesses more than just a way to safely store data, increase efficiency, and reduce costs. It has substantial environmental benefits that are too many to ignore. It presents businesses with the ability to reduce their energy consumption, cut their carbon footprint, and shift to a greener and smarter future.

There is no doubt that the next time your team or organization discusses IT changes, investment in the cloud needs to be the first topic on the agenda!

Have questions about how the Philips SpeechLive cloud can benefit your organization? Leave a comment and let us know!

[1] https://www.agileit.com/news/environmental-benefits-cloud-computing/