13 Jul Working Remote Without the Cloud During COVID-19
Millions of Americans were forced to work from remote due to COVID-19 in the spring. Thankfully, companies were able to uproot their offices in a matter of hours to their homes because of cloud technology. It makes us wonder, what would have happened if we didn’t have cloud technology during COVID-19? Would there have been a more significant economic impact or not?
Organizations across the globe splashed out a record $107 billion on cloud-computing infrastructure services in 2019, up 37% from the previous year, according to analyst firm Canalys. It is predicted that worldwide spending on cloud services will grow 17% in 2020 to total $266.4 billion, up from $227.8 billion in 2019.
If the outbreak had happened a decade earlier, the technology available at the time would have created a very different situation. Back in 2010, the average company spent just $6,300 a year on cloud computing, or $23.31 per employee, according to a survey of IT executives by Osterman Research.
Software development was one of the main uses of private cloud computing. Still, the basics of remote working, such as video conferencing, document collaboration, and secure networking, were not available ten years ago. In 2010, cloud computing was a newer concept, and most companies haven’t adopted it yet.
This would have left CEOs with much harder decisions to make. No cloud computing would mean no working remote capabilities. Without a viable option to continue working safely, many more companies would have been forced to close their doors and furlough staff.
While the human and economic cost of this crisis is huge, the potential financial damage of coronavirus has been reduced by the ability of many workers to use the cloud to fulfill some operational activities. If it weren’t for the cloud, those employees wouldn’t still be able to work.
Businesses are not only utilizing cloud technologies, but schools around the world are logging on and completing schoolwork from home. Health care providers and researchers are using could solutions to provide critical patient care during the pandemic.
Here is a shortlist of just some of the items that we would have lost without cloud technology.
- Data Files – Email, SharePoint, VPN Capabilities and numerous other file services
- Streaming capabilities – Social Media, Netflix, iTunes, YouTube, ZOOM
- Real-Time – Financial payments, QuickBooks, online transactions
The benefits of the cloud are endless. Some advantages of the cloud:
- Access Data on Any Device
- Work from Anywhere
- Decrease Risk of Data Loss
- Decrease Cost of Infrastructure
- Ease of Scalability of Business
Cloud technology continues to allow connectivity between people and businesses regardless of the disaster. As you can see, there are several advantages to having cloud technologies in place for your business. Managed Service Providers can deploy safety measures for your cloud technology like multi-factor authentication, data encryption, firewalls, and have a dedicated cybersecurity team to monitor every suspicious movement.
Millions of Americans relied on cloud services to work remotely and so many more throughout the pandemic. It allowed companies to stay in business, friends to talk to one another, and more. We at Abacus technologies highly recommend our clients to look at cloud solutions. We partner with one of the best Cloud Technology companies, GreenCloud, to provide the top of the line cloud solutions to our clients. If you are interested in looking to learn more about switching to the cloud, please do not hesitate to let us know!