Due to an increasing environmental awareness, companies are continuously pressured into investing money towards greener manufacturing processes; which ultimately cost more than most are willing to spend. Using a utility pricing model cloud computing eliminates the bulk of your company's hardware whilst supplying your data and software as an online service. Specialized data centers provide you with server space and applications to fit your business needs, eliminating the costs of providing your own server system. This also means that any data or software is available anywhere in the world through password driven gateways; the only limitation being an Internet access point.
Cutting Costs
Businesses often have to go through a process of usage prediction and over purchasing of software and hardware to meet the demands of peak periods. This inevitably results in wasted resources during calmer, more common periods of the year. Cloud computing addresses this problem by presenting software as a service; supplying your business with modular applications and 'on demand' server power which is customized to fit your needs.
Relying on a data center doesn't limit itself to reducing hardware costs, your company will also be freed from maintenance fees and issues, erasing the need of technician employment or commissioning. It is also safe to assume that data centers will always provide you with a better server implementation than you can provide on your own, simply because they are specialized to do so.
With servers operating on a 24 hour basis temperature control becomes a major power consumer, requiring considerable space and specialized equipment. Adding up the power consumption from both cooling and running servers results in significant recurrent expenses. Once again, the cloud computing model is more efficient due to its shared resource architecture, saving money which can be invested in actual profit generating practices.
On a wider scale, cloud computing offers virtually unlimited accessibility which enables your employees to work from anywhere they please. Running through an online based system also allows software applications to be updated regularly without having to purchase and install newer versions. Providing flexible working modes to staff at the office, home or on the road can be a key factor in making your business more agile and win new opportunities.
Going Green
Profit generation and eco-friendly results rarely go hand in hand, however cloud computing can be part of the solution. We have seen how you can cut costs by 'delegating' data and software management to online data centers, so how does it improve your ecological impact?
Carbon footprint is a term used to describe the amount of emissions an entity releases in the atmosphere, directly and indirectly. Recent studies from Netsuite have revealed that reduction in pollution from businesses that have adopted the cloud model have reached an estimate 423,000 tonnes metric tonnes of CO² per year. In simpler terms; this would match the electric consumption of 56,000 homes or 1,000,000 barrels of oil annually.
While data centers still require large power consumptions, resorting to cloud computing can effectively help the environment; when making use of personal server systems there is a significant waste of resources. While servers need to run on a daily basis they undergo off-peak hours which use up little to no server capacity. On the other hand, data centers make a more efficient use of server power since each server will manage more than one data system at different times of the day, sharing the load and reducing the total carbon footprint.
A similar concept to public vs. personal transport, data centers have the ability to cater for multiple clients at once resulting in fewer emissions. As a result the emission and power consumption from dedicated cooling systems is also greatly reduced since these are concentrated in one area.
Cloud computing also offers web based software applications which do not require any delivery medium other than an Internet connection. This can greatly decrease waste material in forms of CD/DVD and product packaging which, is most likely to be thrown away only hours after purchase. Many software applications today become outdated just into their first year of release if not quicker. Consequently newer software is purchased generating even more waste. This is not the case with cloud computing where software updates, fixes and patches can be done automatically online, with minimum disruption to your organisation.
Conclusion
Cutting costs, whilst increasing profit and implementing an eco-friendly strategy where an unlikely goal until cloud computing. While it may not be the solution to all our environmental problems it can be a step forward towards more efficient businesses that are not only successful but also less of a threat to the planet.
Contact Webcraft to learn more about cloud computing solutions and how you can help your environment.