5 Barriers to Understanding Cloud Computing

Cloud is a hot topic – the media can’t seem to get enough of it – yet a surprisingly large number of small businesses owners don’t think it’s for them.

When asked about cloud computing in surveys people know it’s a great idea – they might even know that it could save them money but seem to hesitate when it comes to doing something about getting it!

It’s a gap in confidence and knowledge that we need to address.

What is stopping you from leaping over that gap and doing something concrete about bringing your IT up to date? In this blog post we’ll address 5 of those barriers people find hard to get over.

1. We don’t really know what it is
At its simplest, cloud computing is computing based on the internet. Instead of running applications or programmes from software downloaded onto a physical computer or server located on your premises – cloud computing allows you to access applications over the internet.

2. It’s only for the big guns X WRONG
Lots of small enterprises feel that cloud services are aimed exclusively at the big corporations and yet arguably small businesses have more to gain from the cloud because it is cheaper to run and can expand with you. Many packages like SAP’s Business by Design were created with SMEs in mind.

3. We are fine doing things the way we always have
Small businesses in the early years have fewer employees and less data meaning tasks can be managed relatively easily. But if you aren’t planning for future growth you could come unstuck. As your customer base grows and your turnover increases you are going to need to upgrade to take care of this – cloud applications scale up and grow with you allowing you to keep tabs efficiently on your growing business.

4. Making changes is expensive, disruptive and takes a lot of time
Changes to traditional infrastructure facilities can take months to get going but not cloud – the switch is quick and efficient – we get ours up and running in 24 hours and it saves you money because you pay a subscription as you go and you only pay for what you use.

5. We are too busy running the business to find out about the options
Don’t put your head in the sand! This is where we come in. A short conversation with a reputable cloud provider will quickly reassure you that it is neither as complicated nor as costly as you think in fact quite the opposite. There is nothing to fear from the cloud!

If this blog makes sense to you then take 5 minutes to talk to a provider. We at In Cloud Solutions are a small business ourselves – offering a cloud package called Business By Design to small and medium sized enterprises. It is designed by SAP so it has a name you can trust when it comes to high end design, security and on-going support.

Ed: Article provided by In Cloud Solutions, we have a number of Berkshire Blog members who are in the cloud space… would you like to talk clouds to one or two local experts near to you? The following will appear as code on the email but is an actual form on the blog…