Features & Capabilities
Typically, the capabilities of a cloud-based solution are limited only by the provider offering the solution. For example, if a cloud-based storage provider only had 10 GB of storage on the cloud, that capacity limits the amount of storage the provider can offer to its customers.
While there are many types of cloud-based solutions with many types of capabilities, the nature of cloud-based offerings gives them a few common features:
- Cost Efficiency: With a cloud solution, you don't have to spend money on supporting, maintaining, or upgrading the infrastructure needed to provide the solution. Instead, you are simply paying a monthly fee for access to a needed service.
- Flexibility: Many cloud solutions can be customized to meet your business needs. You can add or remove features and customize feature levels for different users.
- Scalability: When purchasing a localized solution, your capacity is set at the time of your purchase. You will likely be paying too much for unneeded capacity initially so you have room for fluctuations in your business needs or added growth in future years. With a cloud-based solution, you can easily scale up or down to fit your business needs, and you can quickly purchase additional services when needed.
- Productivity: Since these solutions are accessed through the internet, your employees can use cloud-based company resources from any location, even while working remotely. Employees in different physical locations are also able to collaborate in real time, improving productivity.
On-Demand Services
Cloud-based solutions are usually categorized into the type of service being offered to customers. Thanks to enhanced technology and improved network efficiency, your company can now benefit from a variety of cloud-based solutions, including:
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): These solutions provide access to vital network infrastructure, which can include virtual machines, cybersecurity resources, servers, and data lines.
- Platform as a Service (PaaS): These solutions provide access to a hosting environment that serves as the underlying platform used to run various software applications. This can include the languages, libraries, and tools required to ensure smooth and successful running of applications.
- Software as a Service (SaaS): These solutions provide access to a single application program, like Salesforce, or a suite of related application programs, like Microsoft Office 365
In some cases, cloud-based service providers may offer solutions with multiple services tied together. A cloud-based phone solution, for example, may provide IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS. As a customer, you could benefit from voicemail systems and customer management system (SaaS) that are integrated together through a connected platform (PaaS) that operates on a cloud-based framework (IaaS).
Storage
Since many of the required resources to run a cloud-based solution are held in the cloud, these solutions require little, if any, local storage or capacity from your organization. When a cloud-based solution requires a variable amount of data storage, you can often select how much data your organization needs. For example, if you choose a cloud-based VoIP phone solution, you will likely need storage for internal company notes and customer history data. Your provider will offer service packages that include data storage in increments, potentially up to unlimited data storage.
Applications
While good customer support is a valuable part of any cloud-based solution, you will likely need the ability to make some changes to settings or user accounts on your own without contacting your provider each time. Quality cloud-based solutions will provide not only the solution itself, but also an effective and efficient way to self-manage your solution through a web application.
For many businesses, the variety of services offered through cloud-based formats combined with the flexibility, scalability, ease-of-maintenance, and other benefits make cloud-based solutions a logical choice to meet changing business needs.