Cloud helps small, medium businesses compete

The use of cloud computing — essentially software delivered over the Internet — is growing rapidly. In fact, a recent report by analyst firm Analysys Mason, suggested that the small- and medium-sized cloud services market in the U.S. will grow from about $2 billion last year to more than $5 billion in 2016.
With cloud computing, companies essentially rent vs. buy software, which reduces the amount of time and expense needed to run and maintain software on their own computers. Many of them use the cloud to host productivity applications, such as email, calendars, document creation and sharing. But cloud computing can be much more sophisticated, providing companies access to a host of software and equipment without the expense of having to buy or maintain it.
Cloud computing gives smaller, smarter players the opportunity to level the playing field with their larger competitors. It offers significant financial savings, because it mitigates the need for capital expenditures on software and equipment, which can run as much as much as $2,000 to $6,000 per machine. In addition, it reduces the demand on IT staff and it allows companies to funnel funds to other vital projects. Cloud computing also:
• Reduces administrative costs: IT solutions can be deployed extremely quickly and managed, maintained and upgraded remotely by a service provider — without the need for in-house IT staff.
• Improves the utilization of resources: Moving more and more applications, infrastructure and even support into the cloud can free up time, effort and budgets, allowing companies to leverage technology to achieve their business goals.
• Offers scalability and flexibility: These are valuable advantages offered by cloud computing, because they allow customers to react quickly to changing IT needs, add and subtract capacity and users when required and respond to real rather than projected requirements. And because cloud computing follows a utility model in which service costs are based on actual consumption, companies pay only for what they use.
As companies move more and more data, applications and mission-critical digital assets to the cloud, they’re “doubling down” on their last mile network connection to ensure fast, reliable access to the cloud and the information they need 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
But just how significant an impact network connectivity has on access to the cloud and other business operations was not fully understood until recently. To this end, Comcast Business Services, which provides advanced communication solutions to organizations to help them meet their business objectives, commissioned a survey of IT and other small- and medium-sized business leaders. The survey found that seven in 10 businesses view network connectivity as having evolved from a tactical cost of doing business to a strategic or transformational asset — a 67 percent increase compared to two years prior. This suggests network connectivity is becoming more than just infrastructure “plumbing” — it’s now a critical connection needed to operate effectively. More and more businesses are realizing that moving to the cloud isn’t enough — it’s how quickly and reliably they access the cloud and the applications in it that determines their success.
As businesses realize this, they’re finding that Ethernet is a connectivity solution that can meet their needs. This is evidenced in a recent Vertical Systems Group report that found businesses are now investing in Ethernet over T1 lines or other legacy technologies for network connectivity. Comcast’s own survey results suggest this as well. According to the survey, Ethernet is the most common technology used by organizations today (65 percent) and overwhelmingly the solution that organizations plan to invest in over the next 12 to 24 months (57 percent).