The Ascension of Cloud Computing

The world is progressing at an exponential pace today with new discoveries being made every once in a while. The hunt for these discoveries is fuelled by convenience and efficiency which are regarded as cardinal principles today. An example of such a discovery would be cloud computing.

Cloud computing is defined as the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Believed to be coined back in vintage 1996, it was rumoured to have been mentioned in a Compaq internal document. However, it was discreet in nature at the time. The concept finally gained traction in 2006 when the then Google CEO Eric Schmidt mentioned the term in an industry conference. Numerous companies have been increasingly adopting the usage of cloud computing ever since and it’s not hard to see why. It has a plethora of benefits of which I will be covering a handful in this article.

1. Cost Savings

Cloud computing can bring about innumerable cost savings in many different ways. Firstly, cloud service providers let you pay per usage of the cloud infrastructure. In other words, you will only be charged for what you use and that space can be adjusted according to your fluctuating business requirements. 

Secondly, the adoption of cloud computing would mean the reduction of maintenance costs. This is because the cloud service provider will assume these costs and you won’t have to go through the trouble of scouring for IT support to salvage your issue(s). 

Thirdly, there will be cost savings through security. There is no need to invest in expensive hardware to secure your cloud data as encryption is provided by the cloud service providers themselves.

2. Security

Businesses are often hesitant to employ cloud computing based highly on one reason – security breaches. It is however a myth that the cloud is highly susceptible to cyber attacks which result in data breaches. This is because cloud service providers follow several guidelines and encryption methods to ensure that their servers are secure. Many times the data breaches are caused through no fault of the service providers but rather the users themselves. 

For example, AWS always highlights the risks associated with the steps a user takes. Sometimes these risks do not pay off resulting in a data breach. The cloud service providers meanwhile employ measures such as: 

1. Using additional encryption measures when uploading data onto their system
2. Review default cloud settings and making changes (if needed)
3. Set access control based on roles such that everyone only has access to data in accordance to their scope of work

3. Mobility

Believe it or not, many of us today are accustomed to the conventional way of storing our files and data on our desktops. However, with the advent of cloud computing we now have the possibility to upload everything onto a remote server online. This makes it possible for one to access relevant data on any platform – be it a smartphone, tablet or desktop. All it requires is an internet connection.

This has become increasingly vital now given the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has forced businesses to adapt to a new normal – Working From Home (WFH). Storing data on a cloud server allows employees to access relevant material from the comfort of their homes, enabling them to carry on doing their work. Moreover, business files and other data are more accessible and can be shared easily.

4. Data Insights

Data insights can help to significantly boost your business through many different methods as covered in my previous blog. Cloud computing provides exactly that. 

Customised reports can be generated for all the different types of data – filtered and sorted just the way you want it. Moreover, these reports can in turn be accessed by the relevant employees for a deeper dive into insights. Data insights are also generated faster than ever before thus delivering convenience and efficiency.

Moreover, there are a myriad of API solutions available that can integrate with your cloud-based application. These help to run data insights that in turn help you to understand a customer’s journey. You can then customise your products and services to better suit customers’ constantly fluctuating needs and wants. This could also help to boost customer satisfaction levels.

Conclusion

Cloud computing has been garnering a lot of acclaim due to the multitude of benefits – namely efficiency and convenience that it brings about. Cloud storage is seen as a superior alternative compared to local servers and desktop storage. The reason being, it has a customisable sizing plan ranging up to nearly unlimited storage, it is rather affordable and much more convenient. A research by Gartner in 2019 stated that by 2022, up to 60% of businesses will be reliant on cloud for hosting their data. It is said that numbers do not lie and hence they speak for themselves. Seize the opportunity and adopt cloud computing as soon as possible!

How EPOS Can Help You

EPOS is recognised as Singapore’s top POS vendor by IMDA and we have served over 4000 clients till date! Our POS system is cloud – based which means your data is stored on a remote server. This thus allows you to access real-time data of your business anytime and anywhere! Lost your internet connection? No problem, simply hit the sync button once your connection is back on and you can continue carrying on with your work as per normal. Do consider our POS system if you are in the market for one. Contact us at 8482 1888 to book your complimentary demo today or explore our website for more information. We hope to see YOU adding on to our long list of satisfied clients!

Interested to see what EPOS POS system can do for your business? Fill in your contact details and we’ll reach out to you to schedule a demo.