With the onset of coronavirus restrictions, the main challenge companies faced was how to optimize their spending during this period of turbulence.
However, it is one thing to forecast and optimize in a stable economic situation. It is quite another to respond to sudden events in a crisis. In practice, it turned out that many companies rejected the necessary structural changes that would logically be required in response to the economic crisis. Instead, they settled for drastic steps that only postponed the moment of making important decisions, but did not cancel them.
Now it is 2023. The crisis caused by the coronavirus is almost over. China has recently lifted all restrictions, and many analysts predict an acceleration in global GDP growth this year
Those companies that postponed structural changes, such as cloud migration, are back to square one in 2020. The question again arises of how to adapt to current realities, how to optimize their costs, and how to make the company more flexible.
Many of these steps can be solved by moving workflows to the cloud. Here are just some of the advantages that cloud migration may offer to an organization:
- Financial savings. Most providers offer a tariff model that allows companies to pay only for the resources they consume. This scheme can save a lot of money compared to maintaining your infrastructure, which can be expensive to set up and maintain. Moreover, the cost of equipment, software, and other IT resources, including electricity and cooling costs, can be reduced.
- Scalability. The amount of cloud resources can easily be changed as required, which allows companies to adjust to demand fluctuations. This is particularly useful for organizations that experience seasonal spikes in demand as well as those that are growing rapidly. It can also be scaled up more easily and at a lower cost than expanding on-premises infrastructure.
- Flexibility. Because cloud solutions are available from anywhere with an Internet connection, it is easier for employees to work from home or multiple locations. In this way, companies can attract and retain the best talent, as well as increase productivity and collaboration among staff.
- Enhanced disaster recovery. Providers often offer built-in disaster recovery solutions that can help companies quickly recover from outages or other disruptions. This is especially important for companies that rely heavily on their IT systems to run their business.
- Efficiency gains. Many cloud services offer automation and self-service capabilities that can help companies optimize their operations and increase overall efficiency. Automation can reduce human error, save time, and increase productivity.
The graph above clearly shows how coronavirus restrictions have affected the percentage of corporate data stored in the cloud. Even though this share has been growing steadily since 2015, in 2021, for the first time, there was no growth. Companies scared by the economic crisis in early 2020 postponed all their infrastructure changes.
When it became clear that, despite the virus, economic activity had not disappeared (although it had changed its structure), companies began to massively implement all the innovations that they had postponed last year. The result is a sharp growth that has not been seen since 2017.
There is no doubt that this year we will see an increase in the share of data stored in the cloud. First, not all cloud migrations started in 2022 were completed. Secondly, after positive new signs of a possible end to the recession in 2023, new companies may start their digital transformation.
Therefore, if you have not started your cloud migration by now, you have very little time left to make this decision. After all, everyday it will be harder to catch up with competitors.
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