In a digitally connected world, IT availability has become the number one commodity for businesses of all sizes. Even one hour of downtime can dramatically affect your productivity and profitability, affecting both your company’s hard numbers as well as employee morale. In fact, 3 out of 4 Irish IT managers cite downtime of key IT systems as one of their greatest risks. So, how can you ensure downtime only minimally affects your business?
The answer, like for so many other questions, is the Cloud. Cloud computing has revolutionised the modern workplace, enabling productive and secure work anywhere, anytime; and it will also help your business minimise server downtime and boost efficiency. In this month’s blog, we’ll show you how.
How the Cloud reduces downtime
No threat of server crashes
Overheating servers or external issues (like flooding or fire) are nightmares for everyone relying on legacy technology. If you switch to the Cloud, you can sleep peacefully, knowing there are no physical servers that can overheat or be damaged. Outages in the Cloud are highly unusual, meaning that your team will be able to access what they need when they need it.
However, if you’re not ready to make the full switch yet or if you still need to rely on on-premises technology for certain workflows or assets, a hybrid cloud solution might be the best option for you.
Scalability
Unlike physical servers, scaling up or down is no issue in a cloud environment. Whether your business is growing or you need to scale back, you can easily adjust the Cloud for the capacity you require. This easy modification means that you will be able to easily meet demand and your servers will never be overloaded.
Easy recovery
Whether it’s a cyber attack or a power failure—when disaster hits, you need to be prepared. If you’re working with a cloud-based recovery plan, your crucial business data will be stored in the cloud and can be quickly recovered whenever needed. Whereas traditional backups are highly complex and stored on-site, cloud-based backups can be restored within minutes, minimising your downtime.
Top of the range cyber security
It might be counterintuitive to think that a cloud environment is more secure than tradition on-premises solutions, but it’s true. Legacy technology is often no longer up to modern standards, meaning it’s not only harder to fix but also harder to protect from threats. Modern cloud solutions not only have stronger security management and authentication processes, but they also benefit from vigorous vulnerability testing and patch management. In the Cloud, it’s easier for your business to always be up to date on the latest security standards, and the more secure your infrastructure is, the less you will suffer from cyber crime-related downtime.
How BITS can help
If you’re ready to bid adieu to downtime, BITS can help you implement solutions that are uniquely tailored to your individual business needs. We offer consultation on your requirements and are experts in delivering hybrid and private cloud solutions such as Microsoft Azure.
Find out more about how Azure can help you improve your productivity or reach out to our experts to talk about how we can help your business thrive in the Cloud.
