It’s become common knowledge by now that the cloud is a vital tool for business success. Few companies are operating without at least some involvement in cloud computing. While much of the focus is mostly placed on established organisations finding new ways to use the cloud, the true success stories are coming from startup companies that still have the potential of utilising cloud capabilities.
The number of startups are on the rise around the world, with the UK smashing records for startups launched in 2014. Meanwhile in the U.S., venture funding reached levels that haven’t been seen for a decade-and-a-half. The rise of these promising startups happening at the same time of the massive growth of cloud computing is not a coincidence. The cloud can help startups in a large variety of ways. Knowing just how useful the cloud is can prove beneficial to new businesses that are just getting started and would like to mimic the success of others.
1. Rapid Growth
One of the biggest ways the cloud has been helping startups is through rapid growth and expansion. Using technical infrastructure in any company can be costly, especially so for small businesses that lack the resources and finances of their larger competitors. The cloud, however, gives startups the opportunity to lease computing power that would normally require lots of money to require. By outsourcing these requirements to a cloud vendor, startups don’t have to worry about acquiring the hardware and software for themselves. Instead, cloud providers take up this task, giving startups what they need. By saving on these costs, startups can focus on growing and reaching more customers.
2. Prime-Time Scalability
Of equal importance is how startups only pay for what they actually use when utilising the cloud. If the startup happens to be a small retail company, perhaps they see extra computing demands around the holidays. Instead of investing large sums of money in new infrastructure, they merely have the cloud take care of new demands. This scalability factor essentially means startups are only paying for the power, storage, and capabilities they’re actually using. If business slows down, startups can simply scale back. If there’s a sudden surge, they can scale back up. It makes meeting customer demands easier, leaving startups free to focus on other things.
3. Productivity
The cloud is also extremely useful in helping startups be more productive. With cloud computing, small companies can do more with fewer employees. This factors into the clear versatility of the cloud. With all of its capabilities, cloud computing places many more operations at the fingertips of a handful of workers. These functions can be multiple things, from simple tasks like email and file storage to more complex functions like big data analytics tools and deep learning algorithms. Cloud services come in various types, like platforms, software, and even infrastructure. Put simply, employees are able to do so much more since the cloud makes so many tasks easier to perform. Also worth noting is how workers can see to these tasks from nearly any location, as long as they have an internet connection and a mobile device. With greater productivity, startups can place themselves on the same level as many of their competitors.
4. Security Concerns
Cloud security has long been a concern, but even that issue isn’t as serious as it used to be. Many cloud providers can even offer better protection against theft and cyber attacks than startups would achieve on their own. With a business that relies on a stainless reputation for security, cloud providers have plenty of incentive to ensure their security features are top of the line. Startups can also use the cloud for data backup and disaster recovery, just in case the worst should happen. While startups could have done this before the cloud, the costs associated with it were prohibitive. Now the task is well within reach.
Startups view the cloud as a highly versatile tool, one which levels the playing field and gives them a chance to grow. Without the cloud, these promising companies would normally take years to reach prominence. But with the cloud, the expansion is rapid and the customer base wide. As the cloud continues to mature, more startups will use it in innovative ways, creating better experiences for customers.
About the Author:
This article was written by Rick Delgado, technology commentator and writer.
