Data Backup Digest

Cloud storage has become a very popular solution over the recent years when it comes to helping companies store their data. The biggest benefit is that you can access your data from wherever you are, making it great for those who are always on the move. However, there is another huge bonus that a lot of people may not consider: reduced cost. Using cloud storage could potentially save a lot of money through a variety of factors. Employing staff, buying drives, maintaining them… all of these extraneous expenses can be reduced when it comes to using cloud storage.
Manchester University’s Business School conducted a study (commissioned by Rackspace, a hosting company based in San Antonio) which shows that American businesses can cut their technology costs by around 26% if they were to use cloud storage. Also, 62% of these companies said that their bottom line revenue was turned around through it.
The great thing is that cloud storage companies are becoming increasingly competitive and keep slashing their prices. Also, cloud companies are now more established, meaning that as they increase in size and scale they can take advantage of economies of scale and pass the saving on. This is brilliant for the consumer; their fight for your custom means you get the same service at a reduced rate. For instance, in March 2013 Amazon cut their EC2 cloud computing services by around a quarter. It is the twenty-sixth time that they have reduced their rates and it certainly won’t be the last.
So, how can cloud storage help you save money over conventional storage? The first factor is that you don’t have to pay for any hardware. Whereas before you invested in tapes or hard drives, if you are storing in the cloud then all you need is a decent internet connection (which all good businesses should have anyway). Although this might matter to less to those who don’t need much capacity, businesses who have vast amounts of data will find that having one cost that can be incrementally upgraded when needed is a prime saver.
Another financial saving is when it comes to staff. Previously you may have had to have hired employees to handle your data storage and all the technical jumbo that comes with it. If using cloud storage then you only pay for the capacity and the support comes with it. Granted, you are going to need to get it off the ground, but you won’t require drive maintenance or anything like that.
The aforementioned Manchester study found that 68% of the firms are using the money they saved to invest back into their business. Half of the start-up companies questioned said that they wouldn’t have been able to afford the standard costs associated with data centres when launching.
If you are a business looking to cut costs then consider analysing your data storage. Do you really need all those drives? Is a data centre necessary? Cloud storage comes with all its own benefits – cost saving is just one of them.