In the beginning, the cloud was scary, uncharted territory. Businesses had concerns about how safe information was in the cloud and whether cloud systems were reliable. However, in recent years, the cloud has become less of a buzz word and more of a standard practice. Stringent security measures and flexible features that appeal to today’s workforce make cloud computing a preferred option to many organizations.
The cloud provides the tools and resources needed to retain top talent, eliminate workforce redundancy, and help an increasingly mobile staff manage more projects more effectively. With 68 percent of Millennials desiring a flexible, remote work environment, employers should pay heed since Millennials now dominate the workforce.
4 Benefits to the Cloud
1. Offer remote work options. Providing a remote work option creates new possibilities for small- and medium-sized businesses and countless benefits that are often overlooked. For one, allowing your staff to work from a location of their choice can enhance productivity by cutting down on travel time and commuting problems.
2. More productivity and collaboration. Employees can work on the go by making use of the many cloud-based business applications available today like Office 365, which includes a number of productivity tools that can help your team collaborate more effectively. Employees can share, edit and sync documents from anywhere, and at any time.
3. Secure, anywhere access to data. Access to information has never been easier when your files are stored As long as you have access to the internet, your most important mission-critical files are just a few clicks away whether your employees are at home or in the field. Say goodbye to flash drives and VPN.Even everyday activities like checking email and taking notes are enhanced by the cloud’s accessibility and internet-based apps.
4. Access to more productivity tools and innovation. Common applications like Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative Suite moved to the cloud several generations ago and only innovate in the cloud now. We recently covered some of the latest Office 365 innovations on our blog. Here are some highlights:
- Write with voice in Microsoft Word
- Chat with colleagues inside Office 365 apps like Word and Excel
- “Ideas” in Microsoft Excel that use artificial intelligence to come up with the best graphs for your needs
- Quickly create tasks and to-do lists in Outlook
Unless your organization can successfully provide services on an isolated island that is locked in time, it’s probably time to move to the cloud. Physical software packages are increasingly hard to come by and are not compatible with many vendors you and your employees do business with.
The transition to the cloud is happening. The best approach is to work with a Managed IT provider like Integris to make a plan that ensures an easy and cost-effective transition.
Find out what Office 365 and other cloud applications would mean for your business. Let Integris’s expert IT team evaluate your network and provide a cloud migration timeline. Contact us by phone at 404-551-5492 or online.
