Cloud Computing Has Value, but May Not Be Right for You

If COVID-19 didn’t already jam up your business’ progress enough after five months, it seems as though the new normal is going to include replacing onsite hardware with cloud-based alternatives. At first glance, the presence of hosted platforms comes as a godsend to the business who doesn’t want to commit large amounts of capital to a hardware refresh. The cost of cloud computing, however, could actually be a major problem for your business. Today, we’ll take a brief look at the hardware choices you have and where the value comes from.

The Benefits of Cloud Computing

Anyone that has used cloud computing over the past few years understands that today’s cloud resource is a secure, reliable platform that suffers less from the security failures that plagued early cloud platforms. In this way, many businesses, looking for cost effective solutions that on launch provide the accessibility and scalability needed for today’s roving workforce, is very attractive. Then, once you get to the financial question, where the cloud doesn’t come up with major upfront costs, it seems like it is too good to be true. After all, who in their right mind wants to spend huge sums of money when they can get the same thing for a small fee that’s billed monthly?

Cloud systems are also typically managed by the provider. This means that a business can gain access to as much computing as it needs, including software and the maintenance of the hardware, for one easy-to-budget sum each month. If you need more resources or you need to add an account onto a piece of software, it's as easy as clicking a couple buttons. This value is why companies are using the cloud for their data storage, their backup, their communications, their operations management, and their security. 

The Downside of Cloud Computing

What could be bad about on-demand computing? 

Cost.

If you thought that cloud computing is less expensive than purchasing hardware and software, deploying resources, and maintaining those systems, you wouldn’t be alone. The truth is that over time, cloud computing is probably going to be more expensive than buying your own hardware and managing it yourself. How can this be? It’s because there are certain costs that need to be addressed when building an IT infrastructure. 

Unfortunately, most cloud platforms aren’t just delivered at a flat rate. Sure, you can pay a monthly rate for your Software as a Service (SaaS) offering and can get cloud storage relatively cheaply, but once you start factoring in all the additional costs of customizing your cloud it’s not unusual to find the costs race by what they would be if you deployed your own infrastructure.

The cloud can be cost-effective. It can also be very expensive. In order to ensure that you aren’t going to break your budget with value-added cloud computing, call the IT professionals at SCW. Our experts can assess your situation and help you find the best solution for your business’ computing needs. Reach out to us at (509) 534-1530 today.