As more and more large companies jump on the ‘cloud bandwagon’, there is still apprehension among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMBs) as to whether the cloud is here to stay or just a fad. SMEs still rely on large companies for the “trial and error” of this new disruptive technology. The argument is that large companies have a lot of money to spend, and only when a technology or system is shown to work in large companies do SMEs feel safe to adopt it.

However, these doubts are quickly being dispelled as more and more success stories about cloud adoption by SMBs come to light. Groupon is a great example of a company that grew rapidly with a minimal asset base by leveraging cloud solutions from providers like Salesforce.com and Amazon—managing a global user base of more than 35 million in less than 5 years since his creation.

In fact, one school of thought is that the core factors of cloud-based platforms—easy scalability, lower operating costs, faster deployment, and faster ROI—are more valuable to SMBs, as they face a tougher competition to survive, compared to their large counterparts.

Here are some of the top drivers for cloud adoption by SMBs:

1. Access to data in real time and ease of scalability

SMBs can’t afford expensive centralized data storage systems, which means their data is scattered across multiple computers and generally may not be accessible remotely. This can represent a significant challenge for SMBs as their business demands flexibility both in terms of staff usage and operations. Cloud-based applications allow you to keep all your data in a single repository where it can be easily and remotely accessed 24/7. Furthermore, since the cloud service provider owns updates and other changes to the application, the SMB can manage its IT operations with a simple physical infrastructure and a skeleton support team.

Second, the easy ramp up or down feature offered by most cloud providers allows SMBs to scale their resources to reflect their growth path.

2. Availability of end-to-end cloud solutions

Business processes, such as data storage and distribution, task creation and assignment, communication and collaboration with colleagues, are valuable to the success of any organization. The increase in the number of business cloud platform solutions that are end-to-end solutions or can be easily integrated with other complementary cloud solutions on the market, gives SMBs the benefit of leveraging the cloud to the fullest for their business needs, at a fraction of the cost of traditional on-premises solutions.

3. Increased data security

Cloud-based applications are believed to keep data more secure than small-scale hardware storage facilities deployed by SMBs, as data confidentiality and security are often critical to a business’s value proposition. cloud provider.

4. Cost Benefits

It is important for SMEs to operate with minimal costs due to the competitive environment in which they find themselves. The pay-as-you-go models offered by cloud applications mean they have negligible upfront costs and can take advantage of the latest technology solutions with reasonable operating costs. This enables SMEs to offer enterprise-class solutions for their business needs.

Still, cloud applications are here to stay, and while it’s still early days, it’s clear that SMBs will need to embrace cloud technology in the future if they want to stay ahead of challenges and competition.