Cloud computing has revolutionized how businesses operate. Although not exactly new, this technology has helped numerous companies undergo a digital transformation even today. Still, a lot of businesses are reluctant about leveraging cloud computing.
The main reason is that they don’t fully understand the benefits of the cloud and its services. This is especially true for e-commerce stores. It’s no secret that online stores operate in a highly competitive landscape.
To survive in such an environment, e-commerce businesses need to be able to adapt fast to sudden and common changes in the market dynamics. This is where cloud computing comes into play. By moving your entire business operations to the cloud, you can easily and efficiently manage your business.
Moreover, if you decide to opt for a managed cloud solution for your e-commerce store, someone else will do the managing for you. With that in mind, here are a few benefits of managed cloud for e-commerce.
Cost-efficiency
Arguably one of the best benefits of the managed cloud is cost-efficiency. E-commerce stores that can leverage modern technology without overspending are surely going to succeed in the online market.
That said, cloud computing utilizes virtualization to provide various services to online stores over the Internet. It’s purely a subscription-based model where you pay for what you use and for as long as you use it.
This is a great advantage for stores on a tight budget because it allows them to allocate their resources where they are needed the most.
In other words, you can opt for one or two services that you know your business will benefit from and you can pay for those services as long as you’re using them. Once you no longer have use for those services, you can simply unsubscribe and move on.
A plethora of services
Cloud computing offers a wide range of services to any business, not just e-commerce stores. The most common services include models, such as SaaS (Software as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service) and IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service). These services encompass a plethora of other sub-services that you can opt for.
Moreover, the cloud serves the purpose of a large online data storage where all your business data can be stored and safely encrypted. That said, you can basically create your own plan that will include various cloud services your e-commerce store will be using and for how long.
You can even create your own in-house solutions by building upon pre-existing frameworks available through various platforms. Simply put, the possibilities and options available to you are virtually limitless.
Enhanced scalability
One of the best advantages of the managed cloud is enhanced scalability. As mentioned before, IaaS, one of the cloud services, allows you to choose an entire IT infrastructure for your e-commerce store. What that means is that you can opt for any hardware/software solutions your business may need. You can add or remove computing power to scale your business up and down depending on your current needs.
Furthermore, if you decide to go for one of the managed models, such as AWS cloud management services, you’ll have a team of professionals handling the business scalability for you. This allows you to avoid bottlenecks and prolonged recovery times. Your business will be up and running while you manage all of this on a budget.
Being able to scale efficiently in today’s market dynamics is truly beneficial. That way, e-commerce stores can ensure the best performance while reducing costs in the process. This is probably one of the most efficient ways to ensure a competitive advantage for your online store.
Improved accessibility
As mentioned before, the cloud is also one giant storage where you can safely store your business data. However, this data is available to you at any time, anywhere, and from any device. This vastly improves accessibility that can help e-commerce stores in more ways than one.
For example, you can have remote teams that can leverage all the information they need without you having to open an office at that remote location. What’s more, expanding to other regions or even expanding internationally is much more seamless with the help of the cloud. All of your data is in one place, and you can have access to it from anywhere in the world.
Data recovery and backup
Data backup and recovery plans are just two of many improved cybersecurity features that the cloud has to offer. Data loss as a result of a natural disaster, system failure, or a data breach can have catastrophic consequences for e-commerce stores.
Fortunately, the managed cloud has your back should any of these events ever occur. The thing about the cloud is that your data is stored in a remote data center but never in just one place. In other words, there are multiple copies of your data at various geographical locations.
This protects your business information from cyber-attacks, natural disasters, and other hazards seamlessly. Whenever a loss occurs for any reason, your data recovery plan that’s integrated into the cloud services will restore everything back prior to the disaster. This can happen in a matter of minutes, which means your e-commerce store will have great guaranteed uptime.
Managed cloud is a great advantage to e-commerce businesses. The multitude of benefits the cloud can provide for your business simply cannot be neglected. In today’s very competitive market, cloud computing can ensure the success of your business with ease.
