Small Firms Need Blue-Sky Thinking About Cloud Computing Risks

Grazed from The Huffington Post. Author: Matt Norris.

Many SMEs are asking themselves whether the financial and practical benefits of using cloud computing are negatively outweighed by the associated risks it brings.

Cloud computing is no different from the other risks your business faces. When you opt to put an essential element of your business in the care and control of an outsourced provider you need to have made that decision with due consideration to your business needs and the risks associated. Assessing and mitigating the risks involved, and anticipating problems such as service failure and associated loss, will go some way to providing peace of mind when opting for cloud data storage and management…

Your options – to cloud or not cloud

For a small or startup business there are a number of ways in which using the cloud could make a positive impact on the bottom line. For one, as a new company, you can set up your entire business online without high capital outlays in purchasing new computer infrastructure or licences to run software. Having cloud computing enables you to download and access information as and when you need it, providing you are connected to the internet. This enables cloud users freedom from the traditional desk bound business environment. Freedom can offer flexibility and make you available to partners and customers more readily – and more importantly, before a competitor can get there. It also frees up capital which would have been spent on office rent and utilities, to be invested in other areas of the business that need developing…

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