If you have a small business, you know that any advantage, like cloud computing is welcome. Anything that can help your business move forward and prosper is a good thing, and could mean the difference between a profitable business and one that’s barely breaking even. Cloud computing like the services offered by nScaled, benefits small and medium businesses by offering state of the art data processing resources, thereby taking away the responsibility and costs of handling data security, backups, maintenance, and updating applications. When searching for tools to help achieve the dream of long-term success, consider turning to the virtual world. Businesses big and small are turning increasingly to cloud technology as a means of managing and analyzing their data. Perhaps it’s time to put your business up in the clouds as well.

What’s Cloud Computing?

Simply put, it’s the practice of storing, processing, and managing data offsite via a network of remote servers. This replaces data processing performed in-house on internal systems and desktop computers. Sometimes, cloud computing is also called “Software-as-a-Service(Saas)”,”Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)” and “Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)”.

How Can Cloud Computing Help An SMB?

Cloud computing benefits small and medium businesses by offering state of the art data processing resources, thereby taking away the responsibility and costs of handling data security, backups, maintenance, and updating applications. A leaner, meaner IT staff armed with some data integration tools is all a business would need in order to reap the benefits of cloud computing. The money saved from not having to hire a large dedicated staff and setting aside space for infrastructure can be used instead for crucial areas such as marketing and personnel compensation. By offering an abundance of technological advantages usually only found in larger corporations, cloud computing provides a level playing field that benefits smaller companies. The cloud provides world-class data processing to even the smallest company budget. Cloud features are delivered on demand, with flexible levels of usage, and companies only pay for what they use; no more paying for a software bundle in which only two-thirds of the applications get any use!

Deployment Models

There are four different cloud deployment models out there. There’s Private, which is situated within a corporate firewall, Public, which is open to anyone on the Internet, Community, which links several organizations, and Hybrid, a combination of all three. The Public cloud is the best one for small to medium businesses. It provides these companies with access to enterprise-level applications, and information technology, without having to spend any money on excessively complex tech that the really big corporations use.

A Variety Of Uses

Thanks to cloud computing, a small business can enjoy the benefits of offsite development and running of their website, utilize word processing, e-mail, online file sharing, and data storage. Basically, just about every function of data management and processing can be handled in the cloud. And another advantage is the ability to collaborate with similar businesses, or perhaps businesses who don’t compete directly with you but provide goods and services that compliment yours. Imagine a Community cloud made up of a handful of businesses whose products all go together!

The Future Is In The Clouds

Parallels, a leader in hosting and cloud service enablement, reported in early 2013 that the cloud service industry grew by $45 billion over the last year. The report also projects an annual growth rate of 28% through 2015. Small businesses who want to run with the big dogs should seriously consider the cloud.