File storage, staff collaboration, and staff onboarding are all functions that businesses perform on a day-by-day basis. In the past, large businesses would spend 1000s of dollars on systems and softwares to manage those daily operations and tap into the productivity and efficiency of file management. Now, not only large businesses but all businesses can benefit from a cloud solution that would provide tremendous benefits to their company infrastructure and ultimately improve their bottom line.
According to Techjury, 85% of businesses worldwide are already making use of cloud technology to store information, and a further 37% of the global IT Budget is geared towards Cloud computing. So why is it that so many companies are moving to cloud computing especially in the field of file management or information storage?
In this article, we go through 5 reasons why companies are moving to cloud file management for their daily operations and why you should too.
The 5 reasons we will be looking at are;
- Cost-saving
- Real-time information sharing
- Easier to scale and improved customer service
- Better security
- Improved scalability and productivity
- Cost Saving
One of the biggest reasons why companies are moving to cloud file management is due to the fact that there are huge saving benefits than traditional storage of information. Usually, a company would have to spend on an in-house document management system, which could involve spending on various equipment, whether IT-based equipment or traditional equipment.
That expenditure would increase even more when they have to consider creating or developing back-up for those systems, like in the case of a traditional paper, printer, cabinet model. One would have to spend on that equipment and then create duplicates as a form of safety against theft of other natural disasters. In the case of IT equipment, one would have to spend on hard drives and other physical storage along with a management system to organize that information.
Cloud file management on the other hand eliminates the initial cost of investment. Having to spend on various equipment to maintain the system while also eliminating the regular maintenance costs as well, since maintenance is done by the company providing the cloud service like Microsoft, or dropbox.
- Real-time information sharing
Collaborating on a document has never been easier than with cloud file management. The cloud allows your entire team to edit, view, and work on any document made available to them, all at the same time, from anywhere in the world. The extent of that feature is powerful, for instance when an edit has to be made on a particular file for a client to be sent out ASAP, then anyone of your team members, with the right permissions, can access this file, make the necessary changes and send it out accordingly.
What about the onboarding of new staff? Then the cloud is the perfect solution. With cloud file management, business owners can place pertinent onboarding information so that the new staff members can get access to that data at any time.
- Easier to Scale and Improved customer service
One of the main reasons why any business exists is that of growth. Naturally, when a company grows, the amount of documentation naturally increases as well. With an in-house file management system, the growth in the system would be a costly and tedious venture. With a cloud file management system, on the other hand, a slight increase in rate can grant you 10x more storage capacity.
Not only is cloud file management easier to scale but with cloud file management your customer’s information is securely stored and accessible from anywhere. This means that your overall customer experience will definitely improve when dealing with your customer. When a customer depends on you to have certain information readily available when called upon, it is not the time to be searching through a file cabinet or trying to access a hard drive that is giving issues.
Cloud storage guarantees accessibility to whatever files stored in it, in spite of disasters, hardware failure, and the like. Your customer information needs to be able to stand the test of time and having it in a traditional model just won’t cut it.
- Better security
As mentioned previously, cloud file management offers better protection for your business needs, both in the sense of natural security and cybersecurity. The risk that comes from natural disasters such as hurricanes and storms doesn’t affect the information that you have stored in the cloud. And risks like hackers and viruses are also counteracted by the firewalls and encryptions built-in through these systems.
Apart from the built-in system checks, there are also security features that you as the file owner can modify and edit to suit your business needs. For instance, most cloud file management softwares have a logging system where they log who, when and what modification was done from its system. Moreover, the cloud software has features that can allow or deny persons from accessing, editing, or modifying files that been uploaded. All this is in the control of the company owner/administrator.
So not only is there better security from the outside i.e malicious applications coming in, but there is also security on the inside i.e one can limit access to certain files depending on various criteria.
- Improved productivity
Cloud file management increases productivity in various ways within an organization. Since the files are stored in the cloud, you can access those files from anywhere in the world. This allows employees to work remotely, from home, or anywhere. No longer would the employee need to wait until they get seated behind their work pc to perform the task. They can now access their files from the comfort of their own home on their personal computers or phones.
Being able to access files from anywhere also allows for faster decision-making. One of the biggest holdbacks of certain works to be executed in any business is getting the go-ahead of the decision-makers. With cloud file storage, everyone can collaborate on documents and decision-makers are able to access and make decisions based on those documents.
Cloud file storage also offers a user-friendly interface which increases the productivity of the users. With a hard drive, searching for and organizing documents may be quite tasking, but with the GUI of a cloud file management system, the user is able to easily search for their documents and organize them in a way most suitable for their needs.
CONCLUSION
Many small businesses are riding the wave of cloud file management and you should too with tremendous cost-saving benefits, being able to share information in real-time, being able to provide a better customer experience, and ultimately being more productive, no wonder why so many companies are choosing a cloud file management solution.
Having difficulties choosing the best cloud file solution for your needs? Well, let act360 show you how our team of experts is able to provide you with effective solutions for your file management needs.
