Considering the Cloud? Four Things to Think About

If you are running an organization, chances are you have heard about cloud computing and you may be struggling with the decision of whether or not you should use cloud computing as a business solution.  A few weeks ago, J. Peter Bruzzese shared an article at InfoWorld, How I Decided to go to the Cloud. In this article, Mr. Bruzzese shares some interesting insights about his thought process related to moving an organization to the cloud. Today, we would like to share his ideas with our readers as well.  If you are thinking about using cloud computing with your business, these four points provide a great starting place for your consideration.

Scalability

Scalability is one of the great things about cloud-based infrastructure. If you need to scale quickly, you can do so without shopping for more hardware, deciding on virtualization products, and worrying about finding the right people to support your conventional IT infrastructure.

Availability

Take a look at your organization and determine what level of urgency you users place on the availability of data.  All solutions can experience technical disruptions, but a cloud based solution does have benefit of widespread availability due to the fact that cloud based systems can be accessed anywhere an Internet connection is available. 

Security

Security is always a topic when an organization is researching a cloud platform.  There is much debate over the security of data in a cloud-computing environment, but this is likely because off-site data storage is still relatively new and organizations are still getting comfortable with the idea.  You can do the research for yourself, but you will find that the general consensus is that cloud computing is just as secure as on-premises storage; and in the case of small to medium sized business that may not always have the resources available to dedicate to security, cloud computing is often found to be more secure.

Cost

Cost is always a consideration with any big business decision, and this is another popularly debated area of cloud computing as well. While you will need to do your own cost analysis that considers all factors unique to your company, do not let the cloud computing cost model be a deterrent.  Many companies find that the lack of the huge financial investment that an on premises infrastructure requires is a great financial benefit, especially for small to medium sized businesses that are just getting off the ground.

If you are considering moving your organization to the cloud, contact The Vested Group.  The Vested Group is a consulting firm located near Dallas, TX that specializes in NetSuite, Cloud Computing, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions specific to small to medium sized businesses.  Get in touch with us today to set up a demo!