It's Time to Rise to the Cloud. Before it's Too Late

By Rory J. Thompson
Web Editor

It’s kind of amazing to think how much of our business and livelihood is dependent on so many things over which we have no control. Things like weather, traffic, fires and other disasters that can pop up at any time can wreak havoc. So why do we still use landline telephones?

That’s the thought behind a new industry push to seek out a wider breadth of fundamental IT services, not dependent on a vulnerable landline or other system that’s easily hacked or attacked. The cloud is one area being closely eyed for the new level of security and reliability it offers.

Think about it for a moment: If, for example, a runaway truck took down local phone lines that were the primary source of contact for your business:

• Your office location can become inaccessible;
• Your workers wouldn’t be able to access the network services necessary to run your business;
• You couldn’t talk to your customers and your customers couldn’t call your business;
• You would be unable to conduct business and generate money or support your customers and partners.

According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), 40 percent of small businesses go out of business when faced with an unplanned disruption. And even if you do survive, do you know what the cost might be?

According to the Disaster Recovery Preparedness Council, 38.3 percent of businesses lost up to $20,000 due to losing critical IT services (like phones) or data in 2014, with 10 percent losing up to $100,000 and 19.6 percent losing more than $50,000 to over $5 million.

Those are some sobering numbers, but it doesn’t have to happen to you. A cloud-based system can help save the day (as well as money) because:

• It’s simple to set up and manage because you don’t have to worry about server equipment;
• Phones are plug-and-play and can be easily moved from place to place. They only require an Internet connection to work;
• It saves you a lot of up-front money—you pay per user/per month and the only equipment purchased are the desk phones.

It’s something worth considering. A suite of cloud IT services that are fully integrated, secure and mobile can help save your business (and sanity) when older technology suddenly goes down. If you wait until disaster strikes, it’ll probably be too late.