Small- and medium-sized businesses are continually striving to reach the forefront of emerging technology. These days, that means deploying the cloud to leverage its many capabilities and myriad benefits.
This year should be dubbed "the Year of the Cloud" for SMBs, as a recent Techaisle report pointed out overt enthusiasm for the technology among this market.
By the research firm's estimate, about 138 million cloud users will hail from SMBs by the end of 2011. That's mainly due to massive spending on the technology, which Techaisle predicted would reach $11 billion among small companies.
Furthermore, global SMB spending on cloud computing will increase 12 percent annually through 2015, Techaisle forecasted. This will be especially true in developed countries, as the U.S. will already have 25 percent of SMB employees working in the cloud by the end of this year.
"Techaisle expects SMBs … to use cloud services along with their on-site solutions until they become more comfortable with 24/7 availability of the cloud in a reliable and secure manner and are able to serve their mobile employees," the report stated.
When deploying the cloud, SMBs will want to take data security into account. Implementing a cloud security solution alongside a hosted app will ensure that data remains protected. Already, storage and security lead deployments among such organizations, according to Techaisle.
A recent report from Data Center Knowledge identified a number of reasons why companies of all sizes should implement the cloud, the least of which isn't cost. According to the report, the cloud doesn't require the tedious on-premise deployment of hardware and software associated with traditional technology, leading to a cost reduction for IT infrastructure.
Other key drivers are agility, efficiency and elasticity, among others, according to Data Center Knowledge.
