As the business world increasingly moves online, many companies are considering switching to cloud hosting solutions (for a good reason, too!).
While there are plenty of advantages to cloud hosting, all these benefits aren’t fully understood. For many business owners, IT infrastructure is somewhat of a blind spot; however, as industry giants migrate their data centers to the cloud in their droves, the willfully ignorant risk sabotaging their own companies.
Below, we’ll delve into four key reasons why switching to a cloud hosting service could prove advantageous for your business.
Scalability
The ability to quickly scale up (or down) is crucial in the lightning-fast world of online business. Shared cloud hosting can increase or decrease computing resources as required. In addition, most cloud hosts operate on a “pay-as-you-go” model, negating the risk of budget mismanagement when selecting your next provider.
If you’re running an e-commerce business, it may be that your store experiences peaks and troughs of traffic, particularly around national holidays or specific times of the year. For example, suppose you’re anticipating a vast increase in customers on Black Friday. In that case, the scalability of cloud hosting will allow you to boost your bandwidth, storage, or other resources to meet these needs.
Aside from the enhanced customer experience, cloud hosting can also benefit your internal business management affairs. For example, any day-to-day maintenance of your servers is handled by your provider’s team of experts, freeing up valuable company time and money in the process.
Cost-Effectiveness
One of the most significant benefits of switching to a cloud hosting solution is the amount of money your business stands to save in doing so. There are very few upfront costs to consider when making the switch — your chosen provider takes care of all your hardware needs. Of course, different providers will offer various payment plans, so comparing providers is best before making your final selection by checking the review on popular websites like TechRadar.
Forget spending thousands on dedicated hardware or planning out complicated installation processes. Moreover, cloud hosting services also negate the need for specialized in-house IT maintenance teams. Most cloud hosting services also offer a free trial, effectively managing any potential buyer’s remorse should you choose to migrate back to your original server configuration. Furthermore, with your data spread across multiple servers employing robust backup systems, the once ever-present threat of hardware failure is effectively eliminated.
It takes this peace of mind a step further with companies like Dataknox cloud data solutions, which offer cutting-edge security and data management tools, so your precious info stays safe and easy to access. It’s a smart choice for businesses of all sizes.
Increased flexibility
Picture the scenario — your website suddenly and inexplicably goes offline — it’s a nightmare situation. Still, sadly, it’s one that many business owners will be forced to confront at one point or another. Downtime isn’t just frustrating; it’s expensive too. If you’re running an e-commerce venture, the last thing you want is your conversions to become disrupted or customers to be left doubtful of your site’s reliability.
Logically speaking, there’s little sense in placing your trust in a single, centralized server. However, regardless of the potential for catastrophic downtime, prospective customers far away will likely experience sub-optimal load times if the server fails.
Thankfully, in contrast to traditional hosting, cloud hosting is remarkably resistant to disruption, thanks to its services being spread across a global network of servers. Moreover, selected providers offer increased fortification by implementing enhanced CDN support, like Cloudways and Kinsta, which includes Cloudflare technology as standard.
Understandably, many business owners may settle for the most familiar server setup when establishing their business, but as time moves on, dedicated hosting configurations will become less viable. Cloud hosting adds an extra layer of flexibility and insurance against many of the pitfalls that have plagued the online business industry since its inception.
Improved performance
Although there are a wide variety of cloud hosting providers, platforms, and services, the strongest advantage of cloud-based servers is their vastly superior performance.
The servers used by cloud hosting providers are powered by hardware that most small or medium-sized businesses could scarcely afford. From lightning-fast RAM to high-powered CPUs, switching to a cloud hosting solution can ensure low latency and guaranteed uptime supported by a dedicated team of experts.
With performance loads shared between a network of sophisticated servers, visitors can enjoy a smoother experience. Of course, the speed of your website is important for SEO purposes, too — Google favors pages that load quickly, ranking them higher on the results it returns.
If you’re considering migrating your website to a cloud-based server, choose a provider that offers industry-accredited hardware, low-density servers, and multiple caching layers. In addition, leading providers will usually guarantee at least 99.999% uptime. To the uninitiated, this may seem excessive, but this amounts to 6 seconds of downtime per week!
By investing in cloud hosting today, you can be sure that your website (and, by extension, your business) is future-proofed. The law of the corporate jungle dictates that business owners must adapt and pivot when necessary — don’t be left behind!
