Does it make sense to switch to cloud services?

Posted by SharonEvans on January 13th, 2014

Cloud services may be new as far as usage is concerned but the concept dates back to the 1950s. This is when mainframe computers found large scale usage among people. Cloud computing as we know today was not prevalent then but the concept of network sharing that was born during that time expedited further thought processes that finally gave birth to cloud computing. Today when you see a virtual desktop you don’t feel that it’s anything out of the ordinary but for many organization, virtual hosted desktops are still unknown entities.

The biggest question for your organization would be – why opt for virtual desktop when there is enough office space for enough workstations? Why opt for cloud and face potential security threat when data management can be done on the server machine that resides in your office premises? And to think that there is a cost involved in using this service so why go for it at all? These questions are valid and any business would ask them.

A successful entrepreneur is one that can take calculated risks for business expansion. No entrepreneur ever feels that they have achieved everything. They simply want more and more and more. Business expansion could mean expansion of office space and hardware. Business expansion could mean further requirement for data security. Business expansion could mean hiring more employees. With cloud services all these points can be managed efficiently.

The virtual desktop concept is where your server doesn’t lie in your premises but somewhere else. If you opt for cloud services then there will be a virtual server in the cloud. This means you don’t need to spend on expensive server machines. This means you can rest assured that even if your office is completely destroyed due to some natural calamity not a byte of your business data will be lost. This means that your server maintenance will be handled by professionals and you don’t need to hire an in-house maintenance team.

A virtual desktop also means easy scalability. If you want to add or remove users from the list of your employee database you can get it done very easily. If you want more space on the server you can get it done without any hassle. If you want software applications to be added or removed it can be done without any issues or downtime whatsoever. And most importantly none of your existing users will be affected. They can resume working as if nothing happened.

Providers of cloud services are many and they can be easily found online. Since the technology is the same you need to focus on the cost structure and the reputation of the service provider. The beauty of this service is that it is location independent. You can be in the UK or the USA and your service provider can be in Australia. Setting up virtual desktop for your employees is easy. It is the initial discussion that is going to take time. Clarify everything during this stage and you are done.

Organizations use cloud services because they see benefits in the switch. Further benefits can be availed by switching to a virtual desktop environment.