Half of all companies now have complete confidence in the cloud (according to North Bridge Venture Partner’s recent survey), up from just 13 percent in 2011. In contrast, only three percent of companies surveyed now find cloud computing too risky to use — down from 11 percent last year.
Put simply: Fear of the cloud is fading, fast. So what has changed in the last year to make enterprises so much more willing to move their data and operations to cloud-based solutions?
Three overarching benefits convince enterprise customers that they can confidently move their business operations to the cloud:
- Robust administrative controls within cloud applications
- Ever-improving cloud security measures
- Mobility features that on-premise software could never give the workforce that the cloud applications can
On-premise administrative controls can be relayed to the cloud
Administrative controls within many of the best cloud applications allow IT departments to proactively gain control over their cloud-based documents, emails and data. Full control and independent access to SaaS data in the cloud ensures efficiency in cloud operations at a large scale.
Administrative features including the ability to monitor user data at a high level, review and fix any errors, export necessary data, restore if data loss ever occurs, search across the platform comprise an IT Director’s checklist. At the top of that list, offering different access levels (Administrator vs. Operator, for example) is crucial, and cloud solutions are finally embracing access control in a serious, enterprise-focused way.
At Backupify, we’re continuously improving our own administrative functions to fit these exact needs so administrators and their users can gain the right level of access and capabilities that they need to do their jobs effectively.
Confidence in cloud security is rising
Security in the cloud is still the main roadblock for many companies looking to move to the cloud. Let’s take a second look at the 13 percent to 50 percent rise in cloud confidence. That’s a pretty big deal. In just one year, 37 percent more businesses became confident in the security and reliability of the cloud. Yes, that still leaves the other half to be convinced, but the cloud is becoming more and more a part of our daily lives that the number of cloud-doubters will likely continue to dwindle.
Features enterprises use to verify the security of a given cloud vendor can range from certifications such as the TRUSTe EU Safe Harbor, reliable encryption levels (such as the 256-bit encryption Backupify utilizes) as well as the user access level controls described above.
Mobility of the workforce means mobility of technology
You can likely relate to at least one of the following scenarios:
- Using contractors or hiring employees in another city, state or country
- Traveling employees who need to work on the road
- Supporting employees who relocate away from company offices
- Interacting with customers at long distances, including overseas
Simply put, your business’ technologies need to be mobile. An always-connected workforce will ensure business continuity and keep remote and traveling employees productive and accessible. Many on-premise software solutions simply don’t allow this. Cloud solutions like Google Apps, for example, can be accessed on any internet connection and any mobile device. Employees can access emails, calendars, documents, etc. anywhere and at any time.
Recognizing the needs of enterprises is just the first step in supporting them. Actually building the features and functionalities they need will help them move confidently to the cloud.
At Backupify we support enterprise-grade cloud solutions and as such need our products to have enterprise-grade features. In the coming months, we’ll roll out several new enterprise-focused features addressing the above three points, among many others. Be sure to check back here for further updates.
Pingback: Long-term ROI of Cloud-based Enterprise Applications: Forrester Reports - BTConnect