Cloud computing is an innovative technology that has shaken ownership and control of data among businesses and companies. Cloud computing as the name suggests refers to the provision of various services over the internet commonly known as “the cloud”. Organizations can outsource some of their needs like data storage, computing power, and applications and software through the cloud without building the entire infrastructure within their organizations.
It can be concluded that small business entities have got the most to benefit from the cloud computing revolution. Such enterprises tend to have limited investment, have a restricted budget, and require the issue of business scaling while its productivity and security levels are still very high. Hence, usage of cloud computing provide small businesses with major benefits such as cost reduction, flexibility, availability, security and backup as well as communication improvement. The above advantages will be discussed elaborately in the subsequent sections of this paper.
Challenges Experienced By Small Business
However, it can be helpful to review some of the main issues that small business may face first. These are the high initial costs of investing in hardware and software, few funds available for managing the IT assets, and inability to increase the resource capacity as the ñbusiness expands. Also, small business organizations are experiencing cybersecurity risk, and there is a shortage of qualified IT personnel to handle such elaborate technologies.
Cloud Computing to small businesses
Cost Savings
Despite there being so many benefits that cloud computing brings to small businesses, the most outstanding of them is the cost factor. Through the cloud, companies are relieved of the major expenses involved in procuring or putting into place hardware such as servers, applications and other related components. For instance, most cloud service providers work on a monthly subscription basis where companies pay for precisely they employ in a certain month, thus the financial management is improved.
Scalability
First, cloud computing gives small businesses something they cannot usually afford – scalability. In terms of storage, data processing and network bandwidth, these requirements are proportional to the size of the business, which is expanding. Cloud computing enables dynamic allocation of resources for business and organizational use, allowing them to grow at their own pace without the additional costs of obtaining new structures and equipment to support enhanced growth.
Accessibility
Cloud computing is incredibly flexible when it comes to access. This enhances the functionality of how we use business applications and data no matter what device or physical location is in use. This makes it possible for personnel to work from a distance and efficiently, hence helping small enterprises to be more flexible.
Security and Backup
This is especially due to the fact that cloud service providers allocate sufficient capital budgets to implement highly secure layers to the data belonging to their clients. Some of these steps are, use of encryption, access control, and data backup to the latest it. In addition, most of the cloud service providers in the industry provide disaster recovery services to guarantee business continuity in cases of calamities.
Collaboration
With cloud computing, there is efficient working of a group of people in a team. On the use of cloud applications, many employees can collaborate in projects without a hitch, in accessing the same files and even convey messages regularly without physical presence.
Cloud Services and Solutions that Suit Small Businesses
Cloud services and solutions can be broadly categorized into four primary types:
- IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service): This service provides application hosting and platform resources, such computing, storage, and network infrastructure over the web. For small businesses, IaaS provides these businesses with on-demand access to computing resources while they avoid the company’s investment on the assets.
- PaaS (Platform as a Service): PaaS delivers an operating platform and tools for application development, deployment and hosting. This service can be effectively used by small businesses for developing their owned applications with no concerns for the existing framework.
- SaaS (Software as a Service): This service refers to the deployment of applications on the web by which small business can leverage on advanced application without much infrastructure.
- Function as a Service (FaaS) and Serverless Computing: These services allow small business to use individual functions of an application without concern for the infrastructure. It also leads to less waste of resources and brings about costs savings in the end.
Selection of the Appropriate Cloud Services for Business
There are several steps to choosing the best cloud service, these include, understanding your business need, comparing various cloud services, identifying key security features, making correct budget, vendor support and customer service criteria. Through a proper evaluation of these factors, the small businesses will be in a position of having made the right decision of having selected the right cloud service that should be able to meet the needs of the firm at an affordable price.
Lessons from Successful Implementation of Cloud Computing
The use of cloud computing entails a number of standards have to be followed, including data shifting and conduits, securing data, educating the staff, measuring performance and reviewing the technology and enhancing the system. Implementing the above best practices will help the small businesses to achieve a positive cloud migration experience.
Some Successful Ventures of Cloud Computing among Small Business
An example or two of how cloud computing is currently being applied in the real world will be presented below on how cloud computing can be applied by small business organizations. By employing the explored scenarios, it is observed that the cloud helps small businesses deal with certain issues and meet their growth goals.
Benefits, Strengths and Opportunities of Scenario Planning
Of course cloud computing has many advantages but at the same time they have several disadvantages small business has to consider including dependence on Internet connection, concern for security, ‘lock-in’ to a particular vendor and performance. Solving these issues has different implications and deep understanding of the risks which are connected with using of cloud services.
Global Cloud Computing Market and Its Future Directions
The cloud computing is evolving from year to year and has new trends and improved infrastructure frequently. These are some of the ones that have been implemented in its operation include edge computing, blockchain technology, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and technologies such as 5G and IoT. These are important trends that deserve attention of small businesses that would like to incorporate the new advancements within their operations.
Conclusion
For small businesses, cloud computing is an innovative solution through which it is possible to experience and solve such problems, as well as achieve company’s development goals. With awareness of the opportunities of cloud computing and adherence to best practices of solutions implementation, small business can avoid pitfalls and make the best of new opportunities for their companies.
As a result, cloud computing is very essential to execute business processes among small business organisations that seek to increase productivity, scalability as well as security systems. With the right choice of cloud service and compliance to the recommended cloud principles, success of small business can be greatly enhanced in the growing era of cloud computing.
