5 Ways Cloud Hosting Is Changing the Business Environment
Cloud hosting has opened up a wide range of opportunities to businesses that would otherwise only be open to large organizations. Companies are rapidly implementing cloud technology, from cloud computing to SaaS, all in a bid to provide and receive the best services on the internet.
For every business owner, putting faith in the most efficient and cost-effective method of getting things done shows good business sense and cloud hosting is set to change the terrain of today’s business environment as we know it.
Here are just a few ways cloud hosting can affect your business operations.
Easily scalable
One of the advantages of cloud hosting over traditional physical servers is that it is easily scalable. As a business grows, so does its hosting needs. The larger a business gets, the more customers it attracts, and the bigger its website needs.
This means that the website infrastructure that worked for a startup may not work for a mid-sized establishment. Cloud hosting makes it possible to scale up, or down, as your website forms around business demands. When you scale up, your website will have enough server resources to accommodate an increase in traffic that would otherwise cause it to crash.
A level playing field
For small businesses, cloud hosting has made it possible for them to compete on an equal footing with big businesses by having access to the same hosting infrastructure they do at an affordable cost. “The competition has now changed from how much you are willing to spend, to how well your products and services appeal to the market”, says Brenden of www.openhost.co.nz.
Small and medium-scale business no longer wonder if they should move their hosting away from traditional physical servers to the cloud, but rather how they can go about doing so. This is because there are so many cloud-hosting providers, and companies are looking to do business only with the most reliable of these partners.
A wider reach
Back when physical web servers were the thing, businesses spent a lot of time and resources trying to make sure that they picked the right hosting provider and had the right SEO package that would help them reach their target market. As a direct limitation of physical servers, your website is to a large extent channeled toward visitors within the geographical location where the servers are. Due of this, businesses may not have access to international customers.
Most businesses are forced to rent a different web space in a different country simply because they want to break into that market. While SEO still plays a very crucial role in a website’s visibility, cloud hosting makes it possible for anyone anywhere to access your website’s content without any restriction.
As a result, businesses, both small and large, open up to new markets that would otherwise have been difficult to break into without having a website on a physical server in that location.
Cost saving
At the end of the day, every business is looking for ways to cut costs and increase savings. Big businesses will think nothing short of buying their own data center to ensure that their web content is up at every minute of the day. This is because they can very well afford to do it. But what if there is an alternative that gives the same or even better results at a far lower cost?
Regardless of the size of the business, large or small, the most cost-efficient method will always be chosen. Cloud hosting makes it possible for any business to have control over their hosting budget – you pay only for what you use.
Businesses that experience fluctuating traffic on their websites will find this very beneficial, as they will not have to pay for those periods the website does not receive any traffic. The excess funds that would have been spent on costly web infrastructure can then be channeled into other aspects of the business.
Improved trust
There is no guarantee that your on-site infrastructure or physical server will constantly be on. When customers cannot access your website, it gives the wrong message. They either feel you are not serious with your business or worry that you have ceased operating (especially for website with paying customers).
If this happens consistently, your business will lose trust in the eye of the public. Cloud hosting guarantees business continuity. Your website is always on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Because of the failsafe features built in this system, there is very little chance of an infrastructure failure.
Even on the off-chance this happens, there are several backups in place that will automatically take over, ensuring that your business is never offline. When customers know that you will always be there no matter what, it improves trust, and this will definitely help your business flourish.
Final thoughts
There is no doubt that cloud hosting is superior to other available forms of hosting. It has brought about significant changes in the business environment, creating access to new markets and offering SMEs the same opportunities as big businesses.
If you are not currently using cloud hosting for your business website, then you need to think about doing so very soon.
Image sources:
Tags: business success, operational performance
