4 Ways a Cloud Environment Improves Employee Productivity

No matter the size and scale of your business, you will need cloud services to adapt to the future of doing business.

While tech leaders and CIOs have long emphasized the importance of cloud computing, the pandemic has made clear that companies pursuing the cloud aggressively have been better equipped to withstand disruption through increased agility and resilience.

Fortunately, more businesses are taking notice. Devo Technology reports that the COVID-19 crisis has prompted 81% of organizations to accelerate their journey to the cloud.

But what exactly makes cloud computing environments special?

Agility and enhanced productivity

The high availability (some would call it “always-on”) and location-agnostic features of cloud computing environments enable businesses to maintain the smooth provision of services, even during periods of instability — such as a global pandemic.

Early adopters have known this for years. A 2017 survey commissioned by Microsoft found that 79% of cloud computing users could save money, improve their security and enhance their productivity after implementing cloud solutions in their companies.

But how exactly do cloud-based solutions do this? Below is a closer look at the ways cloud computing environments enhance employee productivity in organizations.

1. Improved data security

Working in a safe and secure computing environment makes it easier for workers to focus on core service delivery. Despite what many people think, storing data, workloads and resources in the cloud is safer (or just as safe, at the very least) as storing them in local, on-premise servers.

While no system is completely safe against cyber-attacks, confidence in the security of cloud infrastructure has never been higher. According to research by Google and IDG, 85% of global IT leaders believe that cloud computing is just as safe or safer than on-premises infrastructure.

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Cloud infrastructure also comes with the added benefit of having an additional layer of security protecting your tools and data. For example, in the unlikely event that an employee’s work phone or laptop computer ends up stolen, any data on that device can be wiped remotely through the organization’s cloud services provider.

Depending on your cloud provider, your cloud systems could also have extra security features, such as advanced firewall protection and real-time data breach alerts.

2. Less maintenance (and lower IT costs!)

According to an OpsRamp survey of IT professionals, 94% said that cloud computing was the key to lowering IT setup and maintenance costs. Nearly half said their IT spending would fall by up to 50% by migrating to cloud apps and infrastructure.

This can be a game-changer for many businesses, whose IT teams can spend less time on maintenance and support tasks and focus more on using information systems to improve their company’s value-add.

A fast-growing organization can also depend on its cloud infrastructure to scale alongside its rising demand for CPU power, memory and storage — all without spending days procuring and setting up traditional hardware.

3. Real-time data and infrastructure visibility

Cloud-based applications and services generally come with administrator dashboards that provide real-time visibility of processes and tasks.

For instance, imagine that your procurement department produces a purchase order (PO) using a cloud application. The moment the PO is drafted, it becomes instantly visible to authorized users and stakeholders. The process of approving the PO and turning it into a contract is also faster and can even be done on a mobile, eliminating the traditional back-and-forth process to get signatures on the document.

Cloud-based applications also come with built-in analytics data that give authorized employees access to insights and business intelligence that they can use to improve their work and productivity.

4. Automation of routine, time-sapping tasks

Many cloud-based applications and services also come with tools and configurations that can automate routine tasks, freeing employees from repetitive and time-consuming work.

Today’s cloud platforms enable users to create workflows that automate tasks, such as invoice generation and approving business travel receipts, without requiring human intervention. This also reduces the risk of human error corrupting your data — a common occurrence when manually inputting information using an application like Excel.

These kinds of errors are usually easy to spot and fix. But sometimes, they can lead to costly problems. For example, TransAlta, a power generation company in Canada, discovered that a simple cut-and-paste mistake had led to the purchase of contracts at higher-than-normal rates. The clerical error had cost the company $24 million.

Help your teams stay productive with cloud solutions

Combined, the cloud computing benefits listed above can push any organization’s workforce towards higher levels of efficiency and productivity. As digital technologies seep into more business processes, cloud computing offers a way to free workers from routine tasks, allowing them to focus on more strategic, value-generating work.