How Cloud Is Ever More Important For Businesses Amidst COVID-19

The workplace after COVID-19 will be different, however one thing that will be helping things remain as normal as possible is cloud computing. Business after Coronavirus will be altered permanently but cloud computing has enabled companies to continue operating effectively throughout this crisis that otherwise would have brought processes and productivity to a screeching halt.

Understanding how Coronavirus impacts the future of work is crucial as governments all over the world are still having to implement forms of lockdowns and community quarantines. For people and businesses to continue with their everyday lives, technology needs to play a big role in combating this virus. People have been deprived of their ability to physically travel and with many places only just starting to open again, the internet and various web tools are vital to continue to work, conduct business, or entertain which is why the cloud is more vital than ever. 

The ongoing nature of the pandemic demonstrates how cloud computing has become a fundamental necessity of the modern world. Many of the online services currently available online are made entirely possible by cloud computing. From games and apps to business software and programming, cloud computing is at the heart of what is being achieved during these difficult times.

Enabling people to work from home and keep business-critical services going has been crucial to the survival of many businesses with the likes of Zoom and Microsoft Teams helping create the future workplace after COVID-19.  In fact, the reason that millions of people can use this tech simultaneously is mainly because of cloud computing. So just what will business after Coronavirus look like? And how will cloud computing become a more important part of the new normal for businesses?

The Benefits of the Cloud For Businesses During COVID-19

Cloud technology enables staff to work effectively and efficiently in a remote setting, something will become a more prevalent part of the workplace after COVID-19. The cloud has enabled businesses to continue to operate with employees located in many different places and in some cases has even allowed for greater and faster expansion while others are struggling. 

Almost all online retailers have relied on the cloud to operate, especially as there has been a sharp rise in the use of online transactions and eCommerce in general. Stores that are still using traditional web hosting are likely to have experienced downtimes as they run out of network resources needed to handle these large increases in online traffic. As well as this, cloud hosting solutions are highly scalable meaning a sharp rise in traffic is unlikely to affect or limit business practices. 

Additionally, cloud hosting providers are more equipped to offer greater security from potential cyber-attacks. Servers can be protected from DDoS attacks, hacking, and other threats better than organizations that are still using on-site servers. This means that cloud solutions help minimize instances of downtimes brought about by cyber-attacks while also ensuring networks remain malware-free and that anomalous activities are detected quickly.

How the Cloud is Being Aggressively Adopted

Among providers, it is expected that the COVID-19 pandemic will bring about a much greater usage of cloud computing across all industries and sectors. The current potential for greater opportunities in cloud services are needed in the new business landscape, despite there still being a great level of uncertainty regarding customer spending throughout the rest of the year. As consumer behavior and business operations change the workplace after COVID-19, the demands for continuing existing applications already running in the cloud will likely increase too. 

This level of adoption is difficult to predict though because of the fluctuating nature of organizations due to the virus. Some industries have seen sharp spikes in demand, such as online retail, video conferencing, telemedicine, and many SaaS applications. Meanwhile, industries such as airlines, hotels, and hospitality based companies have observed demand severely dropping. With revenues falling, it becomes even more important that companies utilize cloud resources effectively.

Stats on Recent Cloud Adoption

The stats and figures surrounding recent cloud adoption reinforce this notion that it’s growing even despite the current global situation:

● According to recent studies, it is expected that more than 90% of organizations will be using some form of cloud computing or off-premises deployment in the next few years.

● The global cloud computing market is expected to reach $623.3 billion by 2023 with the US projected to be the biggest spender.

● Cloud computing trends show year-over-year growth, ever since it was introduced with data centers set to be processing 94% of total workloads next year.

● With so many industries and companies adopting cloud services, experts predict that a total of 83% of workloads done by various enterprises will end up on the cloud by the end of this year alone.

How Cloud Has Become The Go-To For Applications

There are many reasons that cloud computing has seen such prevalent usage recently and why it is expected to stay in the workplace after COVID-19 has passed. These include:

Flexibility: As it’s an outside organization taking care of all IT hosting and infrastructure matters, this gives you greater flexibility to spend time on other aspects of your business that directly impact your bottom line. Basically, cloud computing offers businesses more flexibility compared to hosting on a local server with extra bandwidth available instantly to meet increased demand. This avoids the cumbersome and expensive updates to your IT infrastructure needed for local servers whereby this improved flexibility can improve overall organizational efficiency.

Mobility: Another benefit is that cloud computing allows mobility as a service. Mobile access to corporate data, either on smartphones or other devices, ensures that no employee is left behind and that workers can access what they need, wherever they might be. This feature means everyone can keep instantly up to date with clients or co-workers, something that has been incredibly important given the large rise in remote working recently.

Security: A cloud host's full-time job is to carefully monitor security. This is a much more efficient approach than instilling a conventional in-house system, where workers will typically divide their efforts between a variety of different IT concerns, of which security is one. Due to the very nature of cloud computing, it can actually be safer to keep sensitive information off site as opposed to in physical locations related to your business.

Final Thoughts

The world is growing accustomed to cloud computing and the workplace after COVID-19 will be heavily reliant on it to function smoothly. For businesses not looking to implement this in the near future, it can result in interruptions in commercial activities that can create serious ramifications which will be difficult to recover from in the current climate. The cloud has brought stability and flexibility for web-based platforms and services since the Coronavirus outbreak allowing people to continue to be productive even with the drastic rise in people going online to shop.

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