Cisco predicts that by 2021, 94 per cent of workloads will be processed by cloud data centers and 95 per cent of global data center traffic will come from cloud services and applications. There's no doubt that the cloud has become a critical element of business infrastructure, yet some companies are still hesitant to commit to placing their valuable data in a location they can't see and may not fully understand. 

This article explains three key reasons you should move your company's data to the cloud.

1. Cost

One of the most appealing draws of the cloud over traditional data centers is cost savings.

“The reality is the highest cost you're going to pay for hosting data is going to be on premises," says Dean Iacovelli, Director for Secure Enterprise at Microsoft. On-premises hosting requires companies to not only pay for servers, but also in-house IT staff to maintain data security and address issues.

"Go to the other complete end of the spectrum . . . because of the commodity hardware purchasing and . . . the scale that they're operating at the lowest cost is going to be in a public cloud with a hyperscale vendor," Iacovelli explains. A hyperscale vendor operates thousands of servers that can accommodate millions of users, lowering per-user cost. "There are cost efficiencies," explains Iacovelli, "if you are willing to live in a public cloud where you have shared infrastructure."

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2. Accessibility

Another reason many companies move to the cloud is its accessibility. Using traditional storage methods, all of your businesses are "behind your firewall, in silos, behind VPNs, and stuff like that. All of those things impede access and make things more complicated," Iacovelli says. "Whereas in the cloud, you can access everything from anywhere.”

As the number of remote workers continues to grow, the ubiquity of the cloud is becoming even more appealing to many companies. You can hire employees anywhere in the world, offer local employees more flexible schedules and allow employees to work while on a business trip or vacation, all without sacrificing data security.

The ubiquity of the cloud gives employees more freedom because they aren't tied to the office. At the same time, companies don't have to set up a VPN or worry about an employee accessing sensitive data on an unsecured device.

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3. Security

Finally, despite what some people may think, hosting data in the cloud is often more secure than hosting in traditional data centers.

The same shared infrastructure that makes the cloud cost effective also gives companies access to better data security. "You get the full umbrella of the 1 billion [dollars spent on security] and the 3500 employees, but you only pay for a slice. Just like you don't pay for the entire electrical grid infrastructure, you pay a monthly fee," Iacovelli says.

In other words, your company pays to access a data security program backed by the best tools and staff without having to build and maintain that level of security in-house.

In addition, hosting in the cloud offers a level of business continuity that many companies can't achieve on premises. "You'll almost never have a situation where one site gets hit and another of our sites get hit because they're all 500, 1000, 2000 miles apart," says Iacovelli. If you only store your data in one place or in multiple sites near to each other, you risk a single disaster wiping out all of your data.

If you do experience a cybersecurity incident, having good documentation ensures you start your investigation strong and can implement appropriate corrective and preventive actions later. Download our free, editable security incident report template to streamline your approach to record-keeping.

Why Use the Cloud?

Moving your company's data to the cloud saves money, time and stress while still providing top-notch security. Letting go of your data can be intimidating, but the benefits of the cloud outweigh the loss of control for most organizations.