If you run a small business, you should consider using hybrid cloud solutions. The hybrid cloud combines on-premises private and off-premises public cloud services to gain the benefits of multiple deployment models. Typically, there is a mix between internal servers set up in your office and servers located elsewhere and accessed by remote users.
Small business owners can benefit from hybrid cloud solutions to meet their needs as they grow, which is especially beneficial when looking for a cost-effective way to expand their capabilities. Here’s how small and medium businesses can benefit from switching to hybrid cloud solutions.
Cost Savings
A big reason to use a hybrid cloud solution is the cost savings. Small businesses can use this type of solution to save money on their IT infrastructure, which can be anywhere from 20-90% cheaper than traditional data centers.
One way small businesses can save money with hybrid cloud solutions is by paying only for what they need at any time. It means there’s no need for significant upfront investments or commitments when buying hardware or software licenses. Instead, companies only pay for what they need when they need it and nothing more.
Scalability and Flexibility
Scalability is the ability to grow or shrink to meet business needs. Flexibility is the ability to adapt to changing business needs. Hybrid cloud solutions can scale and adapt, meaning that small businesses don’t need to worry about their cloud services becoming obsolete or unable to support their growing business.
For example, suppose your company grows from needing ten servers onsite at one location up to 200 servers across multiple locations in a year. In that case, you won’t have to think twice about scaling up with hybrid cloud solutions. You’ll also be able to scale down when you no longer need as many resources available at certain times of day or week (such as during off-peak hours), which is an added benefit.
Better Security
Hybrid cloud solutions are more secure than traditional on-premise and public cloud solutions. They provide the best of both worlds, allowing you to store your data in a private environment while still accessing it from anywhere via the internet.
Because hybrid clouds are operated by you and not by a third party (like Amazon Web Services), they’re less likely to be hacked than other cloud storage services (like Dropbox or Google Drive). You don’t have to worry about any data breaches because your data is kept only on your control systems. It means that hackers won’t be able to access it at all, and even if they do get into one of your systems, there’s still nothing for them to steal because everything is encrypted.
Enhanced Productivity
One of the top benefits of using a hybrid cloud solution is increased productivity. It is because you’ll have access to more resources, including servers, computing power, storage capacity, and bandwidth. You can also expect reduced downtime due to your business being able to withstand outages in both private and public clouds without impacting service availability or quality.
Additionally, you will have improved security and disaster recovery because hybrid cloud solutions enable organizations to use multiple architectures. It allows them to use dedicated hardware within their data center environments while leveraging third-party providers for additional services like backup or disaster recovery capabilities.
Increased Efficiency
As the usage of hybrid clouds increases, small businesses are likely to experience increased efficiency. It can be achieved through automation, which may reduce the need for human intervention and improve efficiency by reducing costs and time taken to complete tasks. Hybrid cloud solutions also reduce the need for a dedicated IT team, which facilitates cost savings in the long run.
If you are looking for a way to streamline your business processes, there is no better way than using automation software such as Intelligent Dashboards. Manual systems can often lead to errors and data collection inconsistencies, resulting in lower quality outputs. By using automated tools like intelligent dashboards that have been developed with small business needs in mind, you can ensure that you will receive accurate information while saving money on staffing costs.
Avoiding Outages Through Redundancy
One of the more apparent benefits of using hybrid cloud solutions is that it makes your business more resilient. Redundancy is the ability to continue operating when part of the system fails. You can achieve it through various methods like backup power, backup servers, and cloud computing.
Using this method also improves uptime, which is how much time your system spends for use rather than downtime for maintenance or repair work. It gives you better control over costs because you don’t have to buy all new hardware every time there’s an increase in demand.
Lowering Carbon Footprint
To reduce your carbon footprint, you must ensure that the data centers that house your cloud resources use green technologies.
Some businesses have gone so far as to create renewable energy sources, like wind turbines or solar panels, but these can be costly and sometimes unreliable. For example, suppose there’s a long period of bad weather during which it’s difficult for these devices to perform at maximum capacity. In that case, this could result in decreased profits and even complete shutdowns for certain businesses.
Hybrid clouds offer an excellent solution to avoid this kind of situation altogether (and save money). They allow you to rent space from a third-party provider instead of building your infrastructure from scratch. It means there won’t be any downtime when bad weather occurs, you’ll still be able to access all your files or applications just fine, and it also means that if something goes wrong, there won’t be any financial loss.
Easier Collaboration
One of the most significant advantages of hybrid cloud solutions is the ability to collaborate with partners and customers easily. It can be advantageous if your business relies on other companies or if you have a large remote team that needs access to different resources. In this case, a hybrid cloud solution provides faster access to information across multiple platforms.
Suppose you’re working with clients and suppliers who are also using hybrid clouds. In that case, sharing information between teams is easy and even more accessible when they aren’t required to adopt any new systems or technologies. With a single platform everyone uses, there’s no need for complicated sharing protocols or lengthy onboarding processes. Share what you need when you need it by logging in and accessing the files directly from anywhere at any time.
Pay As You Go
The pay-as-you-go model is the perfect way to use a hybrid cloud solution. This method allows you to pay for only the resources you need rather than purchasing more than your business needs. Additionally, this model will enable you to avoid paying for unused resources, a common problem faced by businesses that purchase their physical servers or use dedicated hosting services from third parties.
For example, if your business isn’t using all its virtual machines at once, they don’t need to be powered on and running. However, if these virtual machines were being hosted internally on your company’s hardware (or by someone else), in that case, those servers would still be consuming electricity—and costing money—even though they aren’t being used.
Disaster Recovery Focus
As you might have guessed, disaster recovery (DR) is integral to a hybrid cloud solution. DR is the process by which a company can recover from a disaster and continue doing business as usual. It’s often used when there has been some damage onsite, and it’s no longer possible to operate normally.
For example, if there’s a natural catastrophe like fire or flood, you might lose all your data if they are stored on site. But with a hybrid cloud model, you can access all your data and continue operating normally since it’s stored in a third-party location.
Final Thoughts
Hybrid cloud solutions can help your business save money by providing enterprise-level infrastructure from within a budget that is more affordable than the cost of setting up an in-house data center. It allows small businesses to scale up (or down) quickly as needed without having to invest large sums of money upfront or wait for equipment purchases that you may not require for months or years.
If you are looking for an alternative to traditional on-premise servers, or if your company needs instant access to scalable resources such as databases, network storage, or redundant servers. Consider moving some of your applications into the public cloud, where they will run on virtualized hardware instead of physical machines running only software packages installed directly onto the server itself.
Your company will benefit from a fully customizable cloud solution that offers extreme scalability and supports your growth as you scale. Hence, hybrid clouds are the perfect solution. While there are many advantages to using hybrid clouds for small businesses, these five benefits should be your top reasons for choosing this technology.