Working in the cloud has become more and more popular over the past couple of years thanks to advances in not only computer technology but also thanks to faster internet speeds that have been making it easier for us to connect to the world on a global scale. In the past, it was almost unimaginable to recruit people without a formal interviewing process, but now we’re able to add members of staff to our team that not only work remotely but work in an entirely different country.

There are dozens of advantages that your business can take advantage of if you utilise cloud computing, but they’re not exactly clear because many business owners aren’t tech-savvy enough to understand how it works. So to break it down for you, here is exactly how cloud computing works and why you’ll never want to turn back to traditional computing.

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How does it work?

Cloud computing basically offloads all of the complex computational tasks that your computer usually performs to an external server. In other words, you can use a cheap computer or laptop to perform the same tasks as an extremely expensive workstation computer. It’s not that simple, but that is the theory behind it and what is being provided by top mobile application development companies.

Currently, the technology doesn’t extend that far. However, the current uses of cloud computing include web applications such as Google Docs and numerous cloud accounting applications such as FreshBooks and Kashflow. These services allow you to offload your accounting work to another server, keeping it safe on another server where all of your information is safe, secure and easily accessible from a variety of different devices. In short, cloud computing right now enables you to work seamlessly from a number of different platforms.

Advantage #1 - Speed

Cloud computing services are available on demand during any hour of the day. This means there is no downloading required, no packaging necessary, and no long setup times. As soon as you’ve paid your fee or signed up an account, it’s provided as a service and you can instantly start using all of the features the cloud software advertises. Within just a few clicks of your mouse, you’ll be able to be more productive, work efficiently and access your work from anywhere in the world assuming you have an internet connection.

With such speed comes a massive advantage over traditional software. There are no updates that you have to download, no installation periods and no risk of crashes or bad installations that need to be fixed by an IT professional. You simply log on to a website and you can access the data straight away.

Advantage #2 - Reliability

Cloud computing is hosted on reliable data centre servers in areas of the world which have access to extremely fast internet connections and a stable power grid. In other words, if a cloud service fails, it’s usually due to a massive denial of service attack which is targeting the host company, or a natural disaster that is physically affecting the hardware. This means that you don’t have to worry about your data being lost or stolen and you don’t need to worry about office accidents from destroying your data.

Even if the hardware at these server locations fails, there are plenty of redundancy measures in place to prevent your data from being lost due to a hardware defect.

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Advantage #3 - Rapid Development

Thanks to the speed and ease that cloud computing offers, you can rapidly develop programs and test the on the fly while also monitoring performance metrics. If you have software engineers on your team, this enables them to deploy new software at an extremely efficient pace. This article titled “New Relic alternatives… and why developers pick Retrace instead” shows just how advanced application performance monitoring software has come over the past couple of years and how it can improve your business’s productivity.

Advantage #4 - Global Reach

One of the most prominent advantages of cloud computing is the ability to reach a wide audience. If you’re a small business, you could potentially open your recruitment doors to the entire world because, thanks to cloud computing, you no longer need a physical office. Because cloud computing works entirely online, you can use a combination of cloud storage and applications to complete all of your work. You can keep in touch with web conferencing or an application such as Slack, and you can keep up to date with people all over the world and provide services to people that are on the other side of the earth.