Adapting to the changing times isn’t an option. Entrepreneurs are taking control of the future of their businesses and shifting towards digitisation and connectivity so as to move forward and grow. This is why moving to the cloud should be on their agendas.
We already know that the pandemic has demonstrated the ability of the new technologies to make organisations more resilient. What no one could have imagined ended up occurring. And, in the same way, society adapted to keep on moving.
Large companies with financial muscle, developed infrastructures and a more evolved digital culture adapted quickly, as they were coming from an ongoing or highly advanced technological transition.
However, SMEs had to speed up or even jump into the void, without knowing exactly what was waiting for them below.
Frequent uses and needs
Small and medium-sized enterprises should view the adoption of digital technologies as an opportunity to grow, become more resilient, increase the efficiency of their business processes and and optimise their budgets. It’s not just a matter of acquiring the latest generation of devices.
The major deployment of 5G and the changes in routines are factors that are making this commitment a real need in responding to the mobility of workers, the creation of new multimedia services and the development of new technologies such as the Internet of Things. Connectivity and the use of data are now a reality.
According to Gartner, unstructured data account for 95% of the information which is available. This unstructured information is any not contained in a database that may be found in videos, images, audios, texts generated via mobiles, sensors, medical devices, cameras and so on. Hence the need for the efficient storage of this huge amount of data.
Thus, the hosting of email services, the storage of files and databases and the hosting of software to manage teams and projects were the most frequent uses made by companies in the cloud, based on Eurostat data.
Why be in the cloud?
The cost minimisation brought by cloud services is one of the major (and best) reasons for adopting cloud services. The cloud enables SMEs to reduce their expenditure on large servers that are usually never fully optimised, as it’s estimated that they aren’t used 90% of the time, while companies pay only for what they use with cloud applications and services. And, because they’re flexible services, they can cope with any eventuality caused by a peak in demand.
The hardware at these data centers is also more efficient, as it uses up 60%-70% less energy than a data center installed by an SME. These organisations can thus meet their carbon emission reduction targets. Moreover, the systems and software used in the cloud are always updated, secure and fast, making them easy for companies and their employees to use.
Solutions like these enable small and medium-sized businesses to accelerate growth with a return on investment of more than 200% in just three years, according to an IDC study.
