The Pros and Cons of Using the Cloud for Productivity

These days, businesses across all verticals are converting their computing resources to the cloud. In fact, recent research indicates end-users might spend as much as $180 billion on cloud services by next year.

As technology evolves, businesses are enabled to leverage modern tools in order to optimize their business processes, thereby increasing efficiency and bolstering productivity. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some reasons as to why businesses are drawn to the cloud while also looking at why they may choose to keep some of their mission-critical infrastructure on-premises.

Pros of Cloud Migration

Obviously, $180 billion is not a sum of money to be laughed at. There are many reasons why businesses choose to transfer their computing resources into the cloud.

Cost savings

When you buy a car, odds are you are stuck with that car for its entire useful life. When you lease a car, you have it for a few years and then you get a new one.

While it might make sense to buy a car for personal reasons, it might not make sense to buy technological infrastructure for business reasons. You don’t want to be stuck feeling as though you need to use archaic technology for the duration of its useful life. After all, Moore’s law tells us computing power doubles every two years.

Most cloud vendors don’t make you sign long contracts. That means you can shop around for lower prices while always making sure you’re using the latest technologies.

Increased access

These days, business is no longer confined within the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Thanks to cloud computing, employees are able to access the tools they need to do their jobs from wherever they happen to find themselves—so long as an Internet connection is available.

In other words, cloud computing enhances productivity, encourages innovation and accelerates time-to-market.

Scalability

From time to time, you might need more resources. If you run an ecommerce platform, for example, you might notice spikes in traffic around the holidays. In the past, you might have had to buy your own infrastructure to accommodate those spikes to ensure an optimal experience for your customers.

By making use of the cloud, however, you can accommodate those spikes with ease, using the resources only when you need them. That way, you don’t have to buy your own infrastructure and your customers will still enjoy smooth shopping experiences.

Cons of Cloud Migration

Nothing in life is wholly good. There can be some drawbacks to migrating computing resources to the cloud as well.

Loss of control over your infrastructure

Imagine you’re a clothing manufacturer, and toward the end of June you realize a certain kids school uniform prototype needs some modifications. You’ve only got a few days to change it before it goes into production.

You’ve moved your computing infrastructure to the cloud to realize all the aforementioned benefits. But right now, that technology is acting wonky. Systems are down, and you’re not able to access your master documents and change them according to your recent discoveries. Because the equipment is managed by a third-party vendor, you decide to call them up to ask them what the problem is.

Unfortunately, the chief technician is gone for vacation, and the employees in place aren’t as adept as you’d hope. They say they won’t be able to get your systems back online for a few days.

On the other hand, if your infrastructure was on-premises, you’d be able to tweak it accordingly yourself and bring your systems back online much more quickly.

Security concerns

Additionally, in public cloud instances, you share resources with other users. Some business owners have expressed reservations and concerns about the security and privacy of the data they store in the cloud. After all, intellectual property is integral to any business’s success. Should that property be compromised, there could be grievous consequences.

The decision as to whether to use the cloud will depend on each business’s unique situation. Your business could likely benefit from migrating at least some resources there, but you might very well be better off keeping some things on-premises.