There are many ways in which cloud infrastructure and cloud software resolve the pressing issues facing business and IT leaders looking to make remote working a more permanent approach across some or all of their workforce. Technology and infrastructure flexibility are prerequisites in dealing with the challenges facing businesses today. From security and business continuity to speed and efficiency – we take a look at some of the key characteristics below.
Business continuity management in cloud computing
For many companies, relying on traditional on-premise servers and systems risks data security breaches and productivity problems – particularly with remote workers - which harm business continuity and incur substantial cost to rectify or try to prevent. Cloud-based solutions enable organisations to adapt quickly as required whilst still controlling their costs effectively. And all of this is vital at a time when keeping your business functioning is a challenge and the demands placed on you and your staff continue to change, sometimes with little notice.
Also key to business continuity is ensuring effective back-ups of your data, including the data produced or updated by remote staff. Where do you currently back-up to? A local back-up was always the cheapest option for most companies but it has limitations, not least the fact that a disaster which impacts on-site systems can potentially also impact your back-up when that’s held on site too. Some businesses opt to back up manually on site and then periodically store a copy securely elsewhere. This is also a cost-effective approach but severely limited in terms of how up to date the data held would be if it had to be called upon to get systems back up and running again after a major outage. Moving to the cloud solves all of this as there is always a verified back-up available. And there’s the added benefit that data is updated in real-time by all you staff at once, including those working remotely.
Benefits of remote access via the cloud
Remote computing technologies
Moving to the cloud makes it possible to introduce remote monitoring tools which help to protect both the business and its staff. For example, IT can monitor email traffic and raise alerts for particular behaviours such as sending accounts data or bank details. Similarly, a cloud-based asset management platform enables IT to see who logs on, when, and what activity is undertaken. For example, if remote workers are struggling with bandwidth to access business applications because of competing traffic, then there are ways to resolve this – but only when the problem has been identified first.
Analytics also offer insight into how staff are performing remotely and allows IT to demonstrate how investment in remote working tools are paying dividends. It can be a useful way to evidence that employees are working their contracted hours from home and reveals working patterns and trends. It is important to ensure monitoring is done in a transparent way, and that employees understand and are on board with what is happening. And staff who are less busy than usual can of course be reassigned to other projects or activities.
How cloud computing can benefit staff while remote working
Companies planning to migrate to the cloud will obviously consider the numerous business benefits including improved efficiency, better value for money, increased demand, robust disaster recovery capabilities and the need to support new application implementation without adding to infrastructure. But from an individual remote working employee perspective, there are a variety of attractive benefits too including:
- Ease of access to familiar applications via the internet
- Makes working remotely more streamlined
- Improved speed of connection to company systems and data
- More security with automatic back-ups which is good for peace of mind
- IT can offer support remotely as it’s needed
There is increasing acceptance and growing demand for more flexible working and remote working for the longer term – however that will be so much harder to provide if your business continues to be predominantly reliant on office-based systems and hardware. Moving to the cloud will enable your company to adapt and flex to the changing business landscape – and build a robust platform for the future.
If you are ready to begin your cloud migration strategy, start the process with a partner with plenty proven experience. Access are specialists in cloud migration and are the trusted provider for 100s of businesses. Take a look at our cloud-based IT infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and let us show you how it works. We provide ISO27001 compliance plus end-to-end data encryption protects against cyber-security risks. We’re GDPR-compliant too.
Get in touch to find out how cloud hosting can make your IT more accessible - and secure - for your remote workers.