Those were the days when businesses looking to set-up their own on-premise data centers that allowed them to physically supervise their data centers. Unquestionably, that model was more secure and private, but the cost attached to building a large IT infrastructure (CapEx) which includes expensive hardware and networking equipment was huge. Additionally, the hardware you bought today, will need an upgrade over the time when your business outgrows. Which means, you not only spend a larger up-front costs for purchasing hardware / network equipment that would depreciate over a time, but you’ll also need to create a corpus which would be required to upgrade your data center on a regular interval. CapEx investment in developing in-premise data center which include expensive office space, electricity, cooling system, and a dedicated team of IT professionals to monitor and manage servers hits big on the budget of businesses, SMEs in particular.

But the Cloud technology has changed the entire hosting industry today. With building-up secure Cloud environments these-days, the mindset of business owners are changing. Most of the business have already switched to the Cloud platform, and many considering to embrace this amazing hosting environment. Since security is not a threat today with the Cloud computing, businesses (especially small and medium-sized) are not reluctant to migrate their mission-critical data to the Cloud. Cloud hosting services providers, in order to offer their clients an enhanced security, now provide their clients an environment which are completely redundant, encrypted and well-protected against malevolent attacks or downtime. Businesses are now relying on Cloud more than ever for achieving their business goals in an economical way.

Edge of the Cloud over the Traditional Model

While building in-premise data center costs huge CapEx investment, the Cloud solutions, on the other hand, are considerably lower in capital expenditure (CapEx). The major costs in this model are operating expenses (OpEx) which is based on “pay-as-you-consume” billing model. OpEx costs usually need lower ongoing operating costs, and they eliminate huge investments in form of CapEx. Moreover, a third-party data center provides its clients uninterrupted connectivity, redundancy and storage, along with freeing-up clients from headache to maintain and run a large IT infrastructure, thus giving a complete-peace-of-mind. Business owners, in this model, can easily predict their business operation costs so as to manage their budget more efficiently. They can also save on expenditure which would have spent on keeping dedicated IT team, along with purchasing other equipment and cooling systems. This model is best suited for small and medium-sized enterprises as they often face lack of budget.

Besides, the Cloud computing offers great a flexibility to the work environment enabling employees to interact with co-employees even more effectively. Anytime, anywhere access to data is the USP of this model that facilitates employees to share files while sitting at home or enjoying holidays.

Cloud is Safe for Your Software as Well

Those were the benefits from data center hardware only, but you’ll also get umpteen benefits from keeping your software in Cloud. Below are some of the prominent benefits of moving your software to the Cloud:

Auto Upgrade of Software in Cloud: Moving your software in Cloud, be it a vertical solution or a departmental solution, they would be automatically updated within a fully managed Cloud environment.

Anytime, Anywhere Access: Via an Internet enabled device, be it smartphone, laptop or PC, you will have flexibility to access your software stored in Cloud. Businesses with multi-location workplaces or telecommuting workforces prefer this model most.

Highly Secure Business: With various protections mechanism placed such as – encryption, Cloud backups and end-to-end security - your Cloud-based software and data are safe.

Complete Peace-of-Mind: Concentrate on your core business and leave headache of managing all of your IT needs - whether it is maintenance or license renewal of your software – on the Cloud hosting service provider.

These aforementioned benefits of the Cloud computing have immensely lured businesses to embrace the OpEx IT solutions, not just because they need lower capital expenditure, but also because they significantly reduce overall maintenance costs that would be spent in the traditional in-premise data center model.