Cloud computing has been kicking around for several years now, and many business experts are calling for increased movement to the cloud for cost savings, organizational improvements, increased environmental friendliness and more. Storage, email and enterprise resource planning remain the most commonly used aspects of the cloud, but the benefits of this relatively new technology are substantial. Here are the top seven ways cloud technology has changed business.

1. Easier to Start a Business

It used to be that you couldn’t start a business without visiting your local bank for a loan, hitting up your friends and family for money, and devising a perfect business plan that would impress angel investors. The Internet alone removed many of these barriers for a whole generation of startup companies, but cloud computing has brought startup costs down even further. By avoiding dedicated IT infrastructure, new companies can put their initial capital toward product investment and marketing rather than back-end development.

2. A Shrinking World

Cloud computing is the natural next step in the innovations of the Internet and how they relate to business. Going national or worldwide with your startup used to be a pipe dream. With the advantages of the cloud, however, most online startups can access a worldwide talent pool as well as a worldwide customer base as soon as they publish their site. The days of marketing exclusively to local customers may soon be over.

3. Inspiring Competition and Increased Innovation

Innovation and competition lie at the heart of what makes business work. When technology is used as a tool in that quest, the sky is the limit as far as what can be done. Because entrepreneurs can now afford to spend more of their capital on research and development, they are free to experiment in ways that would have been impossible even 10 years ago.

4. Wider Choices

Many businesses have benefited from the many options the cloud has brought to their doorstep. It wasn’t long ago that a business felt pressure to stay within one vendor’s range of products to maintain efficient compatibility. With data floating in an open cloud, however, these businesses can feel free to experiment outside of their usual vendors without fear of locking themselves in.

5. Bring Your Own Device

Increasingly responsive telecommunication options have eliminated the need for many American employees to spend each day chained to their desks. The cloud has made it easier to take the office with you. A few years ago, every employee would need a specific laptop or smartphone to interact with their company’s corporate systems without incident. The cloud allows employees greater freedom when it comes to using their personal devices for work.

6. Taking Business to the Customer

The days of having set retail hours are quickly coming to an end. Customers are now getting accustomed to being able to shop for shoes, electronics and even food whenever they feel like it. Recent estimates predict that end-user investment in cloud services could reach $180 billion by the end of 2015. The cloud gives companies more flexibility when it comes to interacting with customers. By outsourcing data to a cloud platform, a company no longer needs to waste manpower and resources monitoring sales that occur after business hours are over.

7. The Freedom of Unlimited Scalability

The underpinning of gigantic success in business is scalability. McDonald’s could have easily continued to sell hamburgers to a handful of customers in San Bernardino, but the genius of the corporation was its ability to scale that model to become one of the most successful franchises in history. Cloud computing introduces that promise of scalability to even the smallest startups. With increased IT benefits as they are needed, the cloud platform allows businesses to grow to new levels without substantial ongoing investment.

David Eisner is the President & CEO of Dataprise Cloud Services, an IT Services company based in Maryland.