We all keep hearing that the cloud is the wave of the future (and in fact, the present) for business owners. While many business owners already know that a move to the cloud is inevitable at some point, they may tend to resist simply because it's a newer approach to business security (and a number of other applications.)

The thing that finally convinces most people to make the move to the cloud is pretty simple: Money. Although cloud computing may seem incredibly complicated initially, the facts are that it will simplify your business and your life - and save you considerable money. Here are the top five ways to reduce costs by moving to the cloud.

1. Reduced Power Costs

A move to the cloud can equal a dramatic drop in energy consumption. Any company that runs its own data center is probably wasting a considerable amount of energy, since the servers are going to have inevitable periods of idleness.

By moving to the cloud, the costs drop right away. The cloud service provider charges less for power than what a company data center would be charged.

2. Lower Staffing Costs

The staffing costs are typically one of the largest - if not the single largest - cost for most employers. In many cases, employee costs make up more than half of the total computing costs for a company. Top notch IT employees come with a high price tag.

While a move to the cloud will not eliminate the need for IT staffing completely, it will dramatically lower the staffing costs. Companies who want to retain at least some of their existing IT employees can even re-assign them to areas where they can generate more income for the company.

3. No More Backup

Any company that runs its own servers already knows the headaches involved with potential equipment failure. Even if a company is fortunate enough to have never had a server outage, they have to be prepared for the possibility at all times by having extra hardware. Ultimately, this means a great deal of extra hardware that sits idly by, waiting for the outage that may not come for months or years.

A cloud computing service can completely take over all the worries involved with potential equipment failure. There is no need to keep expensive backup hardware around. The cloud computing services normally have multiple data center locations, and will typically store your company's data and applications on a minimum of two of them.

4. No Up-Front Server Costs

Running your own servers is not only expensive, but it requires you to pay a great deal of money up front. Finding the funds to pay for the servers can be extremely challenging - and it's a challenge that the cloud-based business owner doesn't have to deal with.

The money that would otherwise be invested in running your own servers can be better directed into other areas of the business. If you had planned to use a line of credit to finance the servers, that credit can be saved for something else down the road.

5. Faster Results

A move to the cloud allows for much faster deployments. The average cloud deployment can take just a few months, while it normally takes one to three years for on-site deployments.

Cloud deployments are typically so seamless that there is minimal business interruption during launch, which is a sharp contrast to an on-site deployment that would create considerable confusion and could interrupt business completely.

(Company name) is here to be your one-stop shop for IT facing needs. Our job is helping you capitalize on the cutting-edge industry trends that will help you do your job more effectively, more easily, and more successfully. We can help with Big Data in the Cloud, cloud disaster recovery, development and testing in the cloud, and any other needs of a business who is ready to make the move to the cloud.

Jennifer Lord

Cutting Costs By Moving To The Cloud