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One of the few bright spots in the enterprise IT space recently has been cloud computing, which has seen increased spending since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic that, among other things, caused a massive shift to work-from-home schemes across the country.
A confluence of existing factors driving cloud transition has been further accelerated by the COVID-19 crisis: Cloud spending rose 37% to $29 billion during the first quarter of 2020. This trend is likely to persist, as the exodus to virtual work underscores the urgency for scalable, secure, reliable, cost-effective off-premises technology services. In fact, despite the inevitable economic downturn in the wake of the pandemic, cloud spending is estimated to rise 19% for the full year, even as IT spending as a whole is forecast to fall 8%, according to industry analyst Gartner. While many companies are finding it difficult to adapt to the new normal, enterprises that had opted to invest in a robust cloud computing infrastructure ahead of this pandemic are functioning well. Cloud computing helps employees and co-workers collaborate and communicate safely with each other in a remote environment. There are some specific ways that cloud computing is helping manage businesses during Covid19 times. These are:
a) Enabling a remote workforce to stay connected with each other
Since March 2020, governments worldwide started enforcing lockdown orders on the
population of entire cities, counties, and countries. As a result, there has been a surge in the
use of video conferencing tools and virtual meeting software within a short period. In June
2020, Zoom reported a year-on-year increase of 169% in its total revenue due to the
accelerated adoption of its platform globally.
A direct corollary to this has been a massive spike in demand for internet bandwidth
globally. Such spikes in bandwidth demand have never taken place before. In such cases,
cloud computing has proven to be a veritable saviour as it is easier to handle unexpected
spikes in bandwidth usage in a cloud computing scenario.
b) Providing easy access to online data backup solutions
In industry verticals like healthcare, where data is the primary asset, management and
storage of data can be prohibitively expensive if on premise servers are used. In such a
scenario, cloud computing can assist you by providing access to online data backup solutions
that are quickly scalable. However, a direct result of the adoption of online storage solutions
is that large enterprises have started using online services such as Dropbox and Google
Drive.
While such services are convenient to use, there are inherent security risks using such third-
party file sharing solutions. Data is usually taken outside an organization’s IT environment,
which implies that it goes beyond its control. A solution to such a security problem is
provided by Centrestack, which provides a cloud file server that enhances file server
mobility and simplifies remote access to data.
c) Enabling collaboration efficiency among team members
Before the pandemic, business collaboration used to involve face-to-face interaction in a
central office environment. Such collaboration and engagement was critical in ensuring that
business objectives were achieved by large teams. With the pandemic forcing millions of
office workers to work remotely, companies’ leaders struggle to create a similar level of
engagement between team members.
Cloud collaboration applications help in increasing efficiency and enhancing productivity.
Such applications let individuals share or edit projects concurrently in different locations.
Many such applications also have in-built communication tools and access control rules that
allow selective access to information.
Covid-19 has brought about a paradigm shift not only in human behaviour but also in the
way that businesses have accelerated their adoption of cloud computing. Such a trend is
expected to increase over the next few months as more and more organizations see the
inherent benefits of cloud computing.