If you’re a small business owner near Lancaster, PA, you may be unaware of a significant threat to your company: in-house data storage. Just imagine if a natural or manufactured disaster struck your business. All your proprietary and confidential data is at risk of being lost forever. You need business cloud storage to ensure your data is securely backed up.
Your business files are the gears that keep your organization moving. For your business to run smoothly, you need easy and organized access to all your files—whenever and wherever you require. Don’t jeopardize your business’s success by having all your data storage space on in-house servers. Instead, our IT experts can help you get the reliable data backup and cloud storage you need to keep running and growing your business.
How Do Companies Store Data in the Cloud?
Cloud storage is when your data is stored on remote servers at a data center and accessed through the internet (or “cloud”) rather than on physical servers in your building. Instead of your own IT team, external cloud storage providers operate and maintain these remote servers.
So, why is cloud storage necessary, and what is the advantage for your business? We will explore five reasons why business cloud storage is a smart move for Lancaster, York, and Harrisburg business owners like you.
1. Access Your Files Anytime, Anywhere
“Business” is no longer confined to the four walls of your Lancaster-area office building or the hours between nine and five. Today, work can happen nearly anyplace and at any time. Gallup’s September 2021 update of monthly employment trends found that 45% of full-time American employees worked from home for either all or part of the time.
Meanwhile, more and more businesses are offering flexible work hours. It’s becoming such a trend that according to a survey, 63% of workers think the typical 8-hour workday will vanish.
Business cloud storage enables organizations to survive in today’s fast-paced, hyper-connected world. Because you access cloud storage through the internet, you can reach and share files and folders anywhere you have an internet connection (which is just about everywhere).
Suddenly, your on-the-go salesperson can send out that client proposal while traveling, all on their mobile phone. And when your employees need to work from home, they can be just as efficient as in the office because they don’t have to worry about transferring files or working through a slow VPN connection.
They can even access Microsoft 365, a subscription service that provides Microsoft Office, cloud-based productivity tools, and collaboration features. Employees love it because flexible work options give them a better work/life balance. And happy, productive employees are great for you too.
2. Prevent Data Loss
Your business can’t survive without your data. A sobering study from The Ponemon Institute revealed that the average cost of a data breach globally was $3.86 million, with an average price per lost and stolen record in 2018 of $148.
Every business should have a remote backup of its files. On-site backups alone won’t cut it, and that’s why business cloud storage is an absolute necessity for savvy business owners like you in Lancaster, Harrisburg, and York. By backing up your data to the cloud, you’re eliminating the risk of losing everything to natural disasters like hurricanes, fires, tornadoes, and more.
Just take a look at this story about a Texas-based accounting firm that survived Hurricane Harvey. By using cloud storage for business, they could remain operational through a terrible natural disaster.
Even on a more mundane level, physical backups like tape drives will fail at some point, often without warning. Cloud storage puts the burden of maintaining hardware on the service provider, who typically has multiple forms of redundancy to be confident your data is protected.
Furthermore, employees themselves are often a primary culprit for data loss. Maybe they accidentally deleted a file or downloaded a virus that infected your network. Or perhaps they copied data to their personal device that you can’t access.
A good business cloud storage provider will offer centralized data management, so all your files are in one place and easily accessible. They’ll also probably have version control, so you can roll back to earlier versions of files if something accidentally gets deleted or corrupted.
And getting started with data backups is a breeze when you work with an experienced IT provider like EZComputer Solutions. All you have to do is:
- Request a quote
- Have a conversation with our IT experts
- Breathe easy knowing your data is safe and secure
3. Save Money
Every company loves saving money, and business cloud storage can offer cost savings in ways that you just can’t achieve with physical servers.
Utilizing cloud storage will avoid the significant capital expenditure of buying servers and physical hard drives. Cloud service providers typically charge a monthly fee and usually cost only a couple of cents per gigabyte of data storage. You also don’t have to worry about the time and energy to maintain physical hardware with cloud storage. Your service provider is responsible for ongoing maintenance and upkeep.
However, keep in mind that cloud services’ price varies, depending on how much space you need and what other service offerings you want. Business plans for secure, encrypted storage to protect your sensitive data will cost more than a consumer-level solution. Talk to an IT professional to find a solution at the right price for your business.
4. Collaborate Better
Many business cloud storage services–like Microsoft 365–include collaboration tools to help your business operate more efficiently.
- File syncing: If you’re backing up information to the cloud, you have a copy of the file on your local device. File syncing makes sure that you’re always working on the most current file, regardless of what device you’re using.
- Live collaboration: An increasingly common feature, live collaboration lets multiple users access the same file simultaneously. Especially if you have a large remote workforce, this real-time collaboration allows your team to work together as if they were in the same room.
- Easy attachments: Have you ever needed to send a file to a client, only to discover that it was too big to email? Cloud storage can solve that problem. They let you send files directly to clients in an easy-to-use link, so you don’t explode their inboxes with enormous attachments.
So not only does business cloud storage allow you to safeguard your data, access it anywhere, and save money, but you can also easily collaborate with your team—whether they’re in the office or on the go.
5. Improve Security
Storing your files on the cloud can make some businesses a little hesitant. After all, you’re sending your data to another company, often very far away, and relying on them to keep your critical business files safe. But while business cloud service providers aren’t infallible, they are generally more secure than most small businesses you’ll find in Lancaster, York, and Harrisburg.
A reputable cloud storage provider will have multiple copies of your data for redundancy, often in different geographic locations. So, it’s doubtful that they will lose your data. Furthermore, a large provider will invest heavily to secure and guard their server farm against physical and cyber intrusion. Certain providers have advanced encryption and two-factor authentication protocols that offer better protection than consumer-level solutions for businesses with more stringent security requirements or compliance needs.
Bear in mind that no matter how good their security is, they can’t protect against poor security on your part. Ensure that you’re using secure passwords, browsing safely, and keeping your software and virus protection up-to-date.
Ready to Talk Business Cloud Storage? Let EZComputer Solutions Help!
There’s no doubt that business cloud storage is a responsible and wise decision for business owners in Lancaster, York, Harrisburg, and beyond. With all the essential benefits, like on-the-go access to files, saving money, and better collaboration tools, cloud storage ensures that you’re safeguarding your data and your business.
Partnering with an IT company like us is a no-brainer when moving your data to the cloud. We’ve helped many small businesses throughout Central PA find suitable business cloud storage solutions that work best for them. If you’re interested in cloud storage solutions for your business, reach us today, and our team of experts would be happy to sit down with you for a free consultation.