In today’s challenging economy, businesses that don’t use the Cloud can quickly find themselves in trouble. If your business isn’t already using the Cloud, you’re in for a tough time. The Cloud is changing how we do business and it will only get more popular—so it’s important that your business takes advantage of its many benefits. Let’s take a look at some of the biggest reasons why using the Cloud is essential for your business:
What is cloud storage?
A cloud service provider or a cloud hosting company provides a fixed-size server space to clients, who use it to store data. While the client owns the stored data, the hosting company owns and maintains the required hardware. The cloud host offers non-stop accessibility to client data, while providing secure access as designated by the clients. The data, in turn, may be stored across one or many servers, configured by the cloud hosting company in their data centers.
Although this concept dates back to the 1960s, it has gained popularity in the last few years due to improved Internet infrastructure allowing faster access to remotely-hosted data. Businesses are rapidly moving to cloud hosting, as it does away with the hassles of local server maintenance, associated costs and certain security concerns. The growing market of cloud hosting includes big names like Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT) and giants like Intel are reportedly investing heavily in supporting technologies.
How the Cloud is changing the way businesses operate
In the cloud era, everything is accessible from anywhere. This means businesses can now access their customer data, literature, and accounting software from any device or computer. The cloud also makes it easier for companies to share data and manage information more effectively.
How the Cloud Can Help Your Business
The cloud can help your business in a number of ways. For example, you can access customer data wherever you are, whether that’s at home or work. You can also use the cloud to store files, such as catalogs or photographs, so that they’re easy to access and view anytime and anywhere. Finally, the cloud can help with communication and collaboration between teams of employees.
What Options are Available to You to Use the Cloud
There are a variety of ways that you can use the cloud to improve your business operations. For example, you could store your customer data in the cloud so that it’s easy to access and view at any time. You could also use the cloud to communicate with your customers more easily than ever before. And finally, you could use the cloud to store files so that they’re easy to access and view anytime and anywhere).
To put all these together, using the clouds in combination with other technologies may give your business a boost in performance and efficiency Increased overall usability
Increased ability for users to find what they need
Improved security
Increased speed of response when needed
Improved customer service
How the Cloud Could Impact Your Business
Subsection 2.1 What the Cloud Could Mean for Your Business if You Use It.
If you’re using the cloud to store your customer data, you could lose some of your customers. For example, if you use the cloud to communicate with your customers, you might not be able to receive responses from some customers because their devices are in another country or they’re on vacation. In addition, if you use the cloud to store files, your business might not be able to access them as quickly as it used to. Finally, if you use the cloud for a significant amount of your business operations, there could be a impact on your company’s performance and efficiency.
Subsection 2.2 How the Cloud Could Mean for Your Business if You Use It.
If you use the cloud to store files, your business might not be able to access them as quickly as it used to. In addition, if you use the cloud for a significant amount of your business operations, there could be a impact on your company’s performance and efficiency.
What Options are Available to You to Use the Cloud
There are a variety of ways that you can use the cloud to improve your business operations. For example, you could store your customer data in the cloud so that it’s easy to access and view at any time. You could also use the cloud to communicate with your customers more easily than ever before. And finally, you could use the cloud to store files so that they’re easy to access and view anytime and anywhere).
Best Cloud Hosting Solutions for Small Business
1. Google Cloud Platform
Google Cloud Hosting is an excellent option for a small business cloud server. Known as AWS’s main competition, Google Cloud has millions of users and has many outstanding features for small businesses. Some features include its excellent support team, security, and continued network expansion.
The Google Cloud support team is reachable 24/7. Similarly, users with the Premium support plan can expect responses within 15 minutes, year-round.
As a result, this platform is constantly growing and offers encryption, independent verification, and more to make you feel safe and secure.
2. Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Amazon’s AWS offers a wide range of cloud hosting services. Plans include Pay as you go, Pay less when you reserve, Pay even less per unit by using more, Pay even less as AWS grows, and Custom pricing. “Pay as you go” allows one to pay only for the resources actually used, without any long term commitments or upfront costs. The “Pay less when you reserve” plan allows one to invest in reserved capacity, and later get discounts and savings. “Pay even less per unit by using more” allows one to get benefits of reduced costs with increased storage space and data transfer. “Pay even less as AWS grows” plan allows one to receive benefits when AWS optimizations result in reduced operational costs. Custom pricing, as you might expect, is for clients needing customized solutions.1 AWS claims its unique selling proposition (USP) in computation and dedicated application services, including website hosting, mobile data backup, business apps hosting and gaming. Pricing details vary widely across multiple product offerings, and one can start with AWS free tier to get a firsthand experience of services and expected costs.
3. OpenDrive
OpenDrive provides various features for small businesses, from workflow management to data storage and backups. Compatible with Windows, Apple, and Android devices, OpenDrive is great for companies where employees use various tech products.
This cloud computing service has many features, including file-sharing, encryption, versioning, hotlinking, and syncing.
With various plans, OpenDrive is the perfect solution for a small business looking to grow in the future.
4. Box
Box for business offers features such as secure file sharing, enterprise-level security, file sync, cross platforms, IT and admin controls, reporting and dedicated technical support. Their personal plan is free, offering 10GB of storage, and the personal pro plan costs $10 per month for 100 GB storage.3 Business plans include a starter plan costing $5 per user per month with 100GB of storage; for $15 per user per month, and with at least three users, businesses can get unlimited storage. Clients can request customization under the enterprise plan. Features, such as Microsoft Office 365, active directory, and maximum allowed file size, vary across business plans and users can choose what best meets their needs.
5. Microsoft Azure
Microsoft Azure most commonly assists businesses with Paas, SaaS, and IaaS needs. One of the reasons so many users choose Azure is its speed. Azure makes creating and deploying applications, recovery data, and scaling a quick process. The number of premade tools, templates, and guides is readily available to users.
Another considerable benefit of this cloud server is that it provides flexibility in coding languages, locations, and service levels. As a result, having freedom and flexibility to choose your service level allows you to select the features you need without paying for the things you don’t.
To sum up, Azure’s security is also solid and comes with excellent disaster recovery capabilities.
6. Dropbox
Dropbox claims to serve more than 300,000 teams through their Dropbox for business cloud-hosting solutions. Expedia, Under Armour, Spotify and National Geographic Channel are a few of the well-known brands in Dropbox’s esteemed clients list.5 Beyond the cross-platform sharing, storage, sync, backup and seamless integration features, Dropbox allows file sharing even with users who don’t have a Dropbox account. The basic plan for individuals is free, offers 2GB of storage and comes with Microsoft 365 integration, allowing one to edit files directly through Dropbox. The Plus plan for individuals offers 2TB of free storage.6 The Standard Business plan offers 5TB of storage, with a standard charge of $15 per user per month for at least three users. It also offers full audit records of user activities, sharing, and controls. Business users get priority dedicated support.
7. DigitalOcean
A popular IaaS platform, DigitalOcean is known for supporting manager Kubernetes clusters. Some of the pros of DigitalOcean include its scalability, deployment, security, and storage abilities.
DigitalOcean is available globally. Therefore, it can be scaled up or down and move between virtual machines called Droplets. Consequently, users can also use Droplets to distribute traffic and can redirect network traffic easily.
This platform is considered incredibly secure because it uses a centralized billing system, private networking, firewalls, and two-factor authentication.
8. Microsoft OneDrive
The tech giant Microsoft offers its cloud hosting services through OneDrive. Individual users can opt for 5 GB storage for free, while higher capacities such as 100GB, 1TB, and 6TB cost $1.99, $6.99, and $9.99 per month, respectively.10 The business plans start at 1TB per user for $5 per month, and come with a free trial. Beyond the storage, cross-platform syncing and powerful searching are the key features of OneDrive. It has its own downloadable software to keep remote and local data in sync, and also supports many third-party apps to seamlessly work with cloud data. It also offers hybrid options that integrate your on-premises solutions with the cloud services offered by Microsoft.
Free Website Hosting For Small Business
1. Wix
Wix is a drag-and-drop website builder – similar to tools like Weebly or Squarespace; and yup, you don’t need the knowledge of PHP like you do with solutions like Joomla.
However, we’re featuring Wix on this list because it’s kind of an all-in-one solution for both a website platform and server space to host that website. Since Wix does come with a free plan, this makes it a free website hosting service as well. This free website builder is a unique way to enjoy awesome site-building features backed by enterprise-grade reliability. On that free plan, you get:
- Wix.com subdomain
- Beautiful templates
- 500 MB disk space
- 500 MB bandwidth
- Global content delivery network
- Free SSL and security monitoring
- Knowledge base and customer support
- Decent load time
Unfortunately, if you’re expecting no ads, you will be disappointed. Just like most of the free web hosting providers, Wix places their own ads on free plan sites. You can only connect a Wix subdomain and would have to move to a paid plan for connecting a custom domain.
The eCommerce functionality is also unavailable in the free version, but you can still set up things like bookings, events, forums, and fill in your site with SEO-friendly content with just a few clicks. There’s a free SSL certificate as well.
2. Bluehost
Bluehost is one of the largest hosting companies in the world. They are an officially recommended WordPress hosting provider.
They have agreed to offer WPBeginner users a free domain name, free SSL certificate, and 63% discount on web hosting. Basically, you can get started for $2.75 per month.
Their hosting plans include free branded email addresses, unlimited disk space, free SSL certificate, one-click WordPress install, and more.
From their control panel, you can enable additional add-ons like site builder, Cloudflare CDN, SEO tools, and other powerful website features.
Bluehost is perfect for building personal websites, small business websites, and blogs.
3. 000WebHost
000WebHost is a free hosting option from Hostinger. Some of its features include:
- One website
- No subdomains
- 300 MB disk space
- 3 GB of bandwidth
- One MySQL database
- Community forum, no live support
000WebHost comes with the Zyro website builder, which should make designing your site less intimidating. Like InfinityFree, visitors to your website won’t see ads, but there will be ads in your WordPress dashboard.
Free hosting from 000WebHost doesn’t even require a credit card to set up, and you can use it as long as you like. Also, if you outgrow your free plan, you can easily upgrade to a cheap plan from Hostinger. Hostinger plans start at $1.99 / month for your first billing cycle.
4. SiteGround
Siteground is another great alternative to free website hosting. They are known for their awesome support and blazingly fast performance. SiteGround is also an officially recommended WordPress hosting provider.
They are offering WPBeginner users up to 73% discount on hosting. Basically, you’ll be able to get started for $3.99 per month.
SiteGround’s hosting plans come with a website builder, 1-click installer for WordPress and Joomla, SSD storage, unlimited email accounts, superior customer support, and more.
They have also built advanced website performance features such as Ultra-fast PHP and MySQL databases, site optimization, and security plugins.
SiteGround has data centers all across the world (4 continents), and they offer a 99.99% uptime guarantee.
SiteGround is perfect for creating your own website for your small business or store. As your website grows, you can switch to their VPS web hosting plan to get faster speed and scalability.
How to Use the Cloud to Improve Your Business
One of the best ways to use the cloud for your business is by using it for better efficiency. By using the cloud, you can streamline and improve your business processes. For example, you can store customer data in the cloud and then access it easily when needed.
Additionally, using the cloud for customer service can be a great way to improve your relationship with customers. By having an online customer service center, you can provide quick and easy support to your customers from anywhere in the world.
Use the Cloud for Improved Customer Service
Another great way to improve your business process with the cloud is by using it for improved customer service. Not only can you save time by having a live chat orphone support line available 24/7, but you can also make use of online tools like ChatOps to automate customer support tasks.
Finally, if you want to increase productivity in your business, you may want to consider using the cloud for storage purposes. This can include storing important files like photos and videos in the cloud so that they’re always accessible and easy to access from any device or computer.
Use the Cloud for Increased Productivity
Another great way to increase productivity is by using the cloud as a storage medium for important company documents like memos and reports. By keeping these materials on-premises, you avoid any potential conflicts or delays caused by taking them down off-site.
Use the Cloud for Increased Efficiency and Output
Lastly, another great way to increase efficiency and output is by using the cloud for increased productivity. By automating processes and saving time, you can achieve higher levels of productivity in your business. For example, you can use the cloud to automate emailing and faxing operations, or to create a central information management system that manages all your company data.
Conclusion
The Cloud is changing the way businesses operate and it has the potential to improve efficiency, customer service, productivity, and organization. By using the Cloud in different ways to improve your business, you can forever improve your organization and achieve greater efficiencies.