Moving Small Business to the Cloud
A recent survey of 1,800 small independent businesses revealed that 71% of small business owners had never heard of cloud computing.
The SB Authority Market Sentiment Survey was commissioned by Newtek Business Services as a monthly view into the concerns of independent business owners. It presented four questions covering cloud computing and security. It went on to show that of the 29% of those questioned who had heard of cloud computing, 74% could not describe just what cloud computing is.
The Small Business Authority CEO, Barry Sloane, commented on the results, stating that “Cloud computing will be the next important trend in the U.S. economy for businesses large and small…and (we) discovered that the concept of cloud computing has begun to disseminate into the marketplace.” He named cost control, data security, data protection, accessibility, efficiency and productivity as areas of great proficiency that small business needs to take advantage of in order to profit from this new business model.
In addition to the two questions regarding cloud computing, 78% thought their data was secure and yet 71% said their data was not backed up offsite. So when a disaster strikes, as the proliferation of extreme weather and computer hackers point to as a more likely scenario in the last few years, how are small businesses to recover?
Cloud Business Review points to the need for small business owners to learn more about the various cloud hosting opportunities as more and more companies offer a broad range of services. The business site commented on the results of this survey by pointing out that many small businesses need to do their due diligence when investigating cloud computing options and should be prepared to hire a cloud-savvy tech consultant. Reading up on reviews for cloud solutions you are interested in and discussing them with your IT team were among the suggestions made to small business owners who are looking to grow by moving onto the cloud. The most important point is to be informed.
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