Over the past decade, businesses have slowly shifted from paper to digital media. Rather than keeping customer records and transaction receipts on paper, for instance, most businesses today keep digital records of this information. With this digital revolution, however, comes the need for a new kind of storage solution. While you can always store your business’s data on a local computer or device, you should consider an online storage solution for the following reasons.
Disaster Protection
Even if you store your business’s data locally, backing it up to the cloud provides peace of mind knowing that it’s protected from disaster. According to the Boston Computing Network, 93 percent of companies that experienced a data center outage lasting for 10 days or longer were forced to file bankruptcy within one year of the outage. You can protect your business from similar fate by backing up your data to the cloud.
Remote Access
Perhaps the greatest benefit of online data storage is remote access. By storing your business’s data on the cloud, you and your colleagues can access it from any computer or device that’s connected to the internet. If you’re away on a business trip and need to access a customer’s file, you can log in to the cloud server from an internet-connected laptop or mobile device. Remote access such as this can prove highly useful in streamlining many of your business’s operations.
It’s Scalable
Online data storage is also more scalable. With a local information technology (IT) infrastructure, you must buy and install new equipment to increase your storage capacity. With an online cloud storage solution, you can simply purchase a new storage from the respective vendor. This makes scaling your business’s operations a breeze. You will also have an easier time looking at data and getting remote support.
Cost Savings
You’ll save a lot more money by storing data on the cloud instantly of locally. Purchasing new computers and hard drives can be expensive. What’s even more expensive, however, is maintaining a data center. You must pay for the software, power, maintenance, and other related expenses, all of which can cut into your business’s finances. But cloud storage offers a more cost-effective solution to your business’s data storage needs. The cloud vendor will handle maintenance and overhead while allowing you to purchase only the disk space that your business needs.
As you can see, online storage is an essential tool that all businesses need in today’s digital world. Regardless of what your business sells, you should consider investing in a cloud storage solution.