When you run your apps and data in the cloud, you will find that they are always available, they are available from anywhere and the cost is usually less than trying to run the same services under your own roof. The Cloud is as reliable as the dial tone.

While cloud has been taken up more by larger businesses rather than small and medium enterprises, you do not have to be a large corporation to benefit. There are a number of reasons why SME’s can particularly benefit from cloud usage. They will be able to pay for service as and when they need them without the upfront costs that they would otherwise need to invest in. There are numerous examples of services that small and medium enterprises can make use of that are more cost efficient in the cloud. This includes software where companies would be unable to invest in the IT infrastructure to support it were it not for the cloud. There are many software packages that are now available on a pay-as-you-use basis and the smaller the business the more beneficial these can be. They allow businesses to use software they would otherwise be unable to afford.

Businesses that are Concerned about the Environment
Over the last few years there has been much in the media about human’s impact on the environment. Many businesses take their carbon footprint very seriously and are interested in green methods of doing things where possible.  It is inevitable that hosting has an impact on the environment but cloud hosting can lessen this impact. Cloud providers are able to serve large numbers of users on one shared infrastructure therefore limiting the processing power required. This is beneficial to the environment.

Growing Businesses
Businesses that are growing or are expected to grow can benefit from cloud. The resource they require will be increasing, and at times increasing quickly, meaning they can benefit from the scalability of cloud. One area where this is the case is by opting for cloud Software as a Service (SaaS). Field Data may increase over time and businesses may wish to include additional functionality as they grow. The bandwidth required will also increase as user numbers go up. Companies that store data for a project may also require additional storage space as the number of customers they have increases. Every business wants to grow but growth, especially sudden growth, can be problematic is certain aspects. The speed of growth can be difficult to judge but cloud makes it much simpler, with extra resource being available on an ad-hoc basis.

Seasonal Businesses
Seasonal businesses can certainly benefit from paying for what they use. A good example of this is a tower company business that is particularly busy through spring and summer but slow down in the winter months. They will need a large amount of  bandwidth and other resource through October but significantly less throughout the rest of the year. They are much better off paying for resource as they require it than paying for something they don't need.