A lot of business owners nowadays have realized how important Information Technology really is to their company. Technology is now, more than ever, at the forefront of a company’s operations, and this is evident when looking at the Internet, e-mail, remote access, applications that improve office productivity applications, smartphone integration technology, and customer relationship management systems, just to name a few. The aforementioned are important for companies big or small, but it’s a reality that the overall cost of acquiring and keeping up with these necessary technologies is challenging especially for small to medium businesses.

Majority of companies understand that IT management is often based on a very traditional process. And this process can be simplified as thus: a company buys technology equipment, acquires consulting services, pays for the installation of the technology, and signs on the dotted line of a service maintenance contract, which often lasts for years. Sounds simple enough, right? Yes, but this traditional technology-acquisition model, more often than not, means that the company will need to shell out large upfront costs that go hand in hand with expensive on-going IT maintenance costs.

Thankfully, there is now something commonly referred to as “cloud computing”. And the good thing about cloud computing is that it can specifically target the reduction of IT costs and can benefit any company, regardless of the size, that decides to take advantage of it.
So what exactly is cloud computing? In a nutshell, cloud computing involves delivering a specific, standardized set of ready-to-use technology services over a high-speed broadband network and be able to increase or decrease capacity and utilization on demand–but in a metered fashion. To simplify it even further, companies that decide to use cloud computing for their business can enjoy cost savings and productivity gains.
Want to learn more? Here are six ways your business can save money on IT costs by using cloud services.

You Save Money Right Off the Bat

When you decide to adopt business-class cloud-computing services for your company, you enjoy huge savings right off the bat–without sacrificing the quality of the technology. Based on the experience of businesses that have turned to cloud computing, you can enjoy a reduced total cost of ownership by as high as 50 percent or more when jumping from traditional IT solutions to cloud-based solutions.

You Enjoy a Lower Cost of Entry

Unlike traditional IT solutions where you have to shell out huge upfront costs, cloud services don’t require huge entry costs, making advanced technology accessible and extremely affordable even to small and medium businesses and startup companies.

You Can Eliminate Software Licensing Costs That Are Painfully Complex

With cloud computing services, you won’t find yourself purchasing software, which in turn reduces the complexity of licensing and annual renewals. The beauty of cloud services is that they have no software licensing that needs to be purchased and no annual licenses requiring renewal.

You Can Eliminate Expensive IT Pros and Expensive Installation and Consulting Fees

This is one of the most interesting ways your business can save money on IT costs by using cloud services. With cloud services, you can stop paying expensive hourly rates for consulting and installation services common that is common with traditional IT solutions. With Cloud services, there are no expensive upfront consulting fees, and services are activated and ready-to-use within hours and days instead of months and years.

Eliminate Costly Support and IT Maintenance Costs

With cloud computing, you don’t need to worry about costly support and maintenance contracts anymore. While traditional IT forces you to keep up to speed and updated on technology that goes obsolete practically every few months, cloud services, through the service provider or vendor you choose, will do the maintenance of the core technology and infrastructure themselves, ensuring you of around-the-clock accessibility to the up-to-the-second cloud services updates.

You Won’t Need Much Technical Know-How–Really!

If you’re running a tech company and actually enjoy focusing on technology and all of the IT stuff, then good for you. But if you’re a businessperson who just wants to focus on your core business and growing your company, then cloud computing is the way to go. With cloud computing, you can stop focusing on IT technology and start driving business value to your company. While traditional IT forces your business to become involved in the IT business, even if it’s not, cloud services give you the flexibility to access and leverage advanced technology on demand without having to immerse yourself into it. The increased focus that this affords you helps you build and strengthen your company’s competitive advantage.

Conclusion:

We just discussed the six ways your business can save money on IT costs by using cloud services. Your IT department obviously plays an important role in the operation of your company, more so today than ever before. But you don’t have to stick with the traditional when there’s a solution that can help save your business money, eliminate running costs, and give you more laser-like focus to growing the bottom line. And this solution is cloud services. Cloud services can help any organization that is looking to do away with traditional IT and has decided to leverage and maximize the benefits of advanced technology with the lowest total cost of ownership.

Now that you know the six ways your business can save money on IT costs by using cloud services, what are you waiting for?