Cloud has made our lives more convenient. And rightfully so for multiple reasons. It is more cost-efficient, reliable, scalable, easy to deploy and requires the least IT/infrastructure support. Earlier, companies were expected to budget for huge infrastructure overhaul and support teams to get things going. With cloud, all these strategies have undergone a sea change. Data storage is no longer an issue and security worries can be bid goodbye too. Utilities especially stand to gain as a cloud based utility billing software can help them run their business more efficiently. Read on to know how a cloud-based software product can help you.
Lower costs:
With a cloud-based software product, companies are no longer expected to invest in in-house resources, hardware, software, upgrades or look to build an IT team. No separate costs will be expected to be borne for ensuring high-level security for assets and data. Costs which can otherwise go into developing remote data centers can also be saved as nowadays good cloud based softwares offer pay-as-you-go services which can take into consideration usage requirements and bill a customer only for the services they are using, thereby leading to a decrease in the total cost of ownership (TCO). They also come with their own reliable services which means companies need not spend their energy, time and money on fixing downtime or outage issues.
Greater scalability:
Every business undergoes changes over a period of time. What seems adequate today may no longer be sufficient tomorrow. A cloud-based software product understands this well and enables users to scale their operations and requirements up or down without having to invest in upgrading or downgrading their infrastructure. Fluctuating bandwidths and demands can thus be managed seamlessly with the least risk or downtime. No up-front investment is required, and more servers can be added dynamically as per the need. Flexible database services can also be looked at if needed.
Faster, swifter deployments/upgrades:
An on-premise application would require months of planning and loads of resources to get started. With a cloud-based software product, a project can be deployed much faster. Add the ability to integrate with multiple products, and you can be sure to hear a sigh of relief by your team. Software updates can also be tested and deployed swiftly by the vendors, leading to loads of savings in time, resources, and money. In fact, upgrades are managed automatically for a slew of customers, thereby ensuring industry standards and best practices.
Enhanced security and disaster recovery:
Security is an important area that just cannot be overlooked. When companies go for cloud-based software products, they can be rest assured about security as vendors take extra effort to take care of their clients’ data with many even providing custom security settings and access rules. Likewise, if any issues occur or any hacks take place, companies can be confident about getting their data back safe and secure, as vendors also take utmost care to implement robust disaster recovery mechanisms. Companies need not worry about investing in a separate data center or backup tools. According to an IBM study, the average cost of a data breach in 2021 was $4Mn annually. With features like single sign-on, role-based access, authorization rules, strong encryption methods etc., cloud can help companies stay safe.
Better insights:
As decision makers work on digitizing their business, cloud helps them make better decisions based on rich insights. Real-time data is available at the teams’ fingertips, thereby providing chances for further enhancements and improvements across various parameters and data points. This also helps companies gain a competitive advantage as these insights could enable them to take more informed decisions and come up with better ideas to improve their processes.
Improved collaboration and teamwork:
With cloud, teams can collaborate on files and data together. Cloud-based software products are thus beneficial to all teams as they all get one view of the data which acts as a single source of truth. Teams of varying nature, dispersed across the globe, can collaborate, and help each other improve their processes. They can share data and relevant information, leading to better communication and visibility across the board. Conflicts and confusion are thus avoided, and, in fact, access controls can also be defined. Thus, everybody is happy and gets to access information that is relevant and important to them, anytime and anywhere.
Final thoughts:
Gartner predicts that the global public cloud spending will reach $482Bn in 2022, registering an impressive 21.7% increase over the previous year. Cloud-based software products help companies get an edge and are a clear path to digitizing their infrastructure at a fraction of the costs and effort. Companies can leverage industry best practices while also focusing on their core business. Managing vast amounts of data becomes a lot easier. Companies can use their resources for enhancing their business while reaping the myriad benefits that cloud has to offer. As a utility company, you too can benefit immensely from the cloud. We would be happy to tell you how easy, seamless, cost-efficient and secure a cloud based utility billing software can be for you.
