How Well Could Cloud Storage Perform for Your Business?

Globally, cloud computing is being embraced by businesses at a rapid pace. Cloud computing uses a network of remote servers hosted on the internet to store, manage and process data instead of a local server. The growth in the cloud computing vertical has gained traction because it provides on-demand computer system resources – such as data storage and computing power – without the bother of active maintenance and management by the user.

In addition to cloud drives, data analytics helps businesses become more effective by allowing them to store, interpret and process big data to help understand the needs of their customers. Businesses that use data analytics don’t have to resort to guesswork, because data patterns can systematically be analyzed to plan effective business strategies.

Why would your business consider cloud storage?

Data analysis helps businesses because it allows them to recognize patterns in a set and predict what to expect in the future. Referred to as data mining, it helps businesses discover patterns in data sets, allowing them to understand trends in a better way. But employees are unable to reap all the benefits of data analysis and big data due to lack of quick and reliable access to this information.

According to Gartner, around 85% of Fortune 500 companies are unable to leverage big data analytics due to lack of accessibility to data, resulting in missed opportunities to improve the customer experience.

But with cloud storage in place, employees can access company data remotely from wherever they want. It helps employees to serve their customers better, ultimately resulting in improved profit margins.

Apart from increasing accessibility and utility, cloud-powered big data analysis also allows your business to export all of your IT needs – such as hosting and maintaining servers – to the cloud service provider. Instead of investing in servers and other IT infrastructure, you can hire more staff and improve your product. In this way, cloud storage helps create a more competitive playing field for small companies.

TechnologyAdvice has published a comprehensive study – “Data Analytics in Cloud Computing” – which covers this important topic in detail. It’s well worth the time to read in its entirety.

What are the best ways to track performances?

TechnologyAdvice’s study covers four best uses of data analytics, provided verbatim:

Social Media – A popular use for cloud data analytics is compounding and interpreting social media activity. Before cloud drives became practical, it was difficult processing activity across various social media sites, especially if the data was stored on different servers. Cloud drives allow for the simultaneous examination of social media site data so results can be quickly quantified and time and attention allocated accordingly.

Tracking Products – Long thought of as one of the kings of efficiency and forethought, it is no surprise Amazon.com uses data analytics on cloud drives to track products across their series warehouses and ship items anywhere as needed, regardless of items proximity to customers. Alongside Amazon’s use of cloud drives and remote analysis, they are also a leader in big data analysis services thanks to their Redshift initiative. Redshift gives smaller organizations many of the same analysis tools and storage capabilities as Amazon and acts as an information warehouse, preventing smaller businesses from having to spend money on extensive hardware.

Tracking Preference – Over the last decade or so, Netflix has received a lot of attention for its DVD deliver service and the collection of movies hosted on their website. One of the highlights of their website is its movie recommendations, which tracks the movies users watch and recommends others they might enjoy, providing a service to clients while supporting the use of their product. All user information is remotely stored on cloud drives so users’ preferences do not change from computer to computer.

Because Netflix retained all their users’ preferences and tastes in movies and television, they were able to create a television show that statistically appealed to a large portion of their audience based on their demonstrated taste. Thus in 2013, Netflix’s House of Cards became the most successful internet-television series ever, all thanks to their data analysis and information stored on clouds.

Keeping Records – Cloud analytics allows for the simultaneous recording and processing of data regardless of proximity to local servers. Companies can track the sales of an item from all their branches or franchises across the United States and adjust their production and shipments as necessary. If a product does not sell well, they do not need to wait for inventory reports from area stores and can instead remotely manage inventories from data automatically uploaded to cloud drives. The data stored to clouds helps make business run more efficiently and gives companies a better understanding of their customers’ behavior.

Cloud computing doesn’t have to be risky

Security concerns were common in cloud computing’s early days. However, ongoing improvements in security technology and protocols have earned user confidence. Today’s measures – combined with exercising proper due diligence – can provide the necessary data security. Here are some matters to consider in evaluating a cloud storage solution.

• An excellent reputation for physical and network security.
• Make sure that the cloud storage service offers multiple redundancies, as well as redundancy across several geographic locations to permit disaster recovery.
• Learn how long it takes to delete a file across the redundant servers, and if it will ever be deleted from the cloud storage banks.

Also, mobile security is a concern, especially for those who don’t take adequate precautions to protect their digital content. With the trend toward bring your own device (BYOD) picking up, it is essential to keep your content safe. Our blog post – “What You Need to Know Before Your Company Adopts BYOD” – covers BYOD security best practices in detail.

Standard encryption cannot protect your data from internal theft, loss of devices or insecure personal devices that are used for business purposes. A cloud-based content security solution applicable for use on multiple types of devices is your best protection in case of theft or loss.

That is where DocuServe’s cloud-based content security solution comes into the picture. It is a document-centric cloud-based content security solution that can be used to secure a wide range of data, including:

• Sales documents and marketing material
• Internal training manuals and videos
• Retail and wholesale pricing sheets
• On-site and off-site inventory information
• HR data and other internal documents
• Executive-level communications

DocuServe provides automatic encryption of your documents and other rich media files. Your files and data stay in the cloud and not on the recipient’s device, making mobile security much safer for your business.

Contact us to learn more about what we can offer.