Businesses are moving to the cloud with hopes of improved efficiency, increased agility, and cost savings. The decision to move your organization’s IT to the cloud can be overwhelming. After all, this means an all-out change in the delivery of one’s IT products and services. For companies who already have an established IT department equipped with a full staff and equipment, the thought of moving to a cloud platform may sound unnecessary and overall inconvenient. However, in the long run the cloud can provide endless benefits, including reduced costs. Here are 6 ways this takes affect:

1.     Hardware

The costs of in-house IT hardware can easily start to add up. One server alone could cost upwards of $2,000. With cloud services, the hardware needs are left to the vendor. Whether you are a start-up or a well-established organization, hardware doesn’t get any cheaper. For a start-up, rapid growth means money needs to be allocated to hardware, but cloud services allow for your hardware to grow with your organization. For larger, well-established organizations, this means extra space taken up by additional hardware and large server rooms, as well as maintaining such hardware. Larger organizations that choose to invest in a cloud provider no longer carry the burden of purchasing hardware or staying consistent with its life-cycle.

2.     Labor and Maintenance

Time is money. In-house infrastructure demands the heavy attention from your IT department. If servers or other hardware need repairs or upgrades, you must purchase equipment and pay your staff to fix or implement the upgrades. With cloud services, maintenance and upgrades are left up to the vendor, allowing your IT department to focus on more important initiatives and development. 

3.     Productivity

When it comes to software, a company-wide software adoption could take weeks, even months to implement. Cloud computing could offer the development in hours, which allows for more time working and less time waiting. Software as a Service (SaaS) are typically accessible through a web browser and can be learned quickly and easily.

4.     Capital Investments and Pay Models

With cloud providers, it is common to pay per user. For start-ups or companies that are expanding their IT department, this could mean savings and less financial risk. By utilizing a cloud platform, you won’t have to pay for software that you are not using, and pay-as-you-go software is easily canceled. Your organization will have access to top-tier products without making a large capital investment. Even if you have an existing IT department equipped with its own infrastructure and server room, a trustworthy cloud provider works with your current system to provide you with a unique solution.

5.     Tax Benefits

Investing in your organization’s technology will offer tax benefits either way. With a cloud solution, you are adding it to your expenses and then deducting it at a certain point during the year, depending on your circumstances. This is opposed to providing your own infrastructure which would be deducted over time, as a depreciated asset.

6.     Energy Usage

Having an on premise infrastructure, whether it is single or multiple uses energy. The power that your servers are pulling is showing up on your electric bill, which adds to your organization's utility bill. A single server could be costing your company around $29 a month just in energy costs. If you have a multi-server infrastructure the room, temperature must be regulated to an optimal level for the units. By utilizing cloud services there is no need to use the added heating and cooling, nor are you using the power to run your servers.

These are just some of the cost-saving benefits that a cloud provider could offer your company. Other advantages include greater reliability and productivity. Think the cloud is right for you? If you are unsure, or do not know which cloud structure you think would be a fit for your organization, click here to check out our blog on the advantages and disadvantages of the three different types of cloud structures. The cloud has its place in every business, you just need to decide where.