Why Cloud Storage is Important for Startups
When starting a new business, it’s always a challenge working out where to spend the few financial resources you have. Should you put money into computer hardware, more desks, bigger floor space or a dazzling website to impress visitors? The business’s priorities and where to allocate the money that the business starts with to avoid hitting a financial wall before becoming profitable is one of the most challenging aspects of business startups.
With cloud storage that helps keep files off-site (or both on-site and off-site), there are benefits to its use for companies that care about their data. Let’s examine why cloud storage is important for new businesses.
Save on Financial Resources
When deciding where to spend the money, it’s difficult to settle on what is the right decision. In terms of storage, buying external or internal hard drives to create a NAS that will store all the company data on-site is an expensive proposition. While the cost of hard drives continues to come down as storage capacities increase, the company will require a RAID drive setup to mirror drive data and avoid losses due to file corruption. There’s also the requirement for round-the-clock technical support from network engineers and support personnel, which small companies just aren’t equipped to handle.
The better option is to use a business-oriented cloud service from a major supplier like Google, Amazon, Box, MozyPro or Dropbox with data centers that are managed 24/7, without any of the usual headaches or direct costs associated with trying to do it all yourself.
Better Security
Keeping a copy of files off-site in a secure storage facility is important because losing those files will cause the business irreparable harm. It doesn’t matter whether that is the blueprints for a new idea, financial spreadsheets, copies of Word documents sent to key personnel, or something else just as important; having a secure place for a backup copy is paramount.
Make sure the security is taken care of too. You should look for providers that conform to security ISO standards and HIPAA too; these standards relate to compliance with best practices for data management and security. To keep up with changes in security policy, take a look at Cloud Storage Buzz.
Group File Access
There are folder controls with cloud storage for businesses that let administrators setup which departments and personnel can access files within the folder and those who cannot. While this can be done on a local area network within the business, it’s often easier with cloud services because they have mobile apps to make changes when outside the office without needing to use a VPN to access the corporate intranet, which poses security risks.
Cloud storage is thought of as a single service, but it varies considerably from provider to provider. Many enterprise-level features are only offered on the upper-priced service tiers. It’s a good idea for startups to decide what features are must-haves and then shop around for the most suitable cloud provider to create a shortlist of services.
