Cloud Computing: the solution that SMEs need to grow

Growing and expanding in a continuous and orderly manner is certainly one of the main goals of most companies, especially SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises). But because they have a lower capacity to meet demand than large companies, they need to rely on technological solutions that allow them to leverage their productivity without drastically increasing expenses .

That is why, in a study carried out by The Economist, 69% of the Brazilian SMEs interviewed considered the use of technologies a priority . Of the companies that participated in the survey, 71% pointed out that the outdated internal IT systems is a barrier to their growth. In today's post, find out how cloud computing can help SMEs to grow and stand out in the market. Look:

4 ways the cloud can leverage an SME's business

1. Increasing workforce productivity

Cloud computing provides a great experience for all employees of the company, regardless of the level of technological knowledge of each one. In the IT department, it allows professionals to develop and deploy business applications simply and quickly and allows them not to waste much of their time troubleshooting hardware and software.

As for employees in other departments, such as marketing and sales, cloud computing eliminates manual and obsolete tasks and allows them to carry out their activities much faster , thanks to mobile business applications, which can be accessed from tablets and smartphones. . All this allows the productivity of the company's workforce to be leveraged and generate more benefits for the business.

2. Reducing IT infrastructure costs

To grow and stand out in the market, SMEs also need to save financial resources. Cloud computing can help them a lot in this task. This is because it does not oblige companies to acquire an IT infrastructure, nor to bear its expenses. In addition, it gives SMEs the chance to hire computing resources on demand. The cloud can save you spending on:

• Hardware: to set up an IT structure, the company needs to invest in servers and other powerful equipment that are very expensive;
• Software: to function, the servers need antivirus and other software, which must be updated frequently and require the payment of licenses;
• Infrastructure: servers need air conditioning and nobreaks running 24 hours a day, which drastically increase energy costs;
• IT staff: to keep the entire IT infrastructure up and running, the company will need to hire many specialized professionals.

3. Providing greater flexibility and scalability

As small and medium-sized companies have a very limited budget, it is not very feasible for them to invest in an IT infrastructure to support planned growth. One of the great advantages of the cloud is that it allows the company to contract the service according to its demand and pay only for what it uses. And if she needs to increase capacity, her managers just contact the supplier.

4. Ensuring information protection

With the cloud, SMBs' data is safe should they suffer a disaster at their headquarters. Furthermore, providers replicate the data on different servers. That way, if the main server has a problem, the second one is automatically triggered. This type of preventive measure is very important for companies that are constantly growing and that do not have enough resources to invest in several servers.

Now that you've seen the different ways the cloud leverages the business of an SME, now take the opportunity to learn about our solutions or leave your questions in the comments!