The cloud has a silver lining

New Zealand businesses are still nervous about outsourcing their IT infrastructure, security and services to the cloud according to Vodafone's Cloud Storage 2015 research through Colmar Brunton. But despite its fluffy name, the cloud really does have substance.

The sky's the limit

Cloud services give businesses the freedom to work without fixed resources, as well as the ability to quickly and automatically scale APIs (the Application Program Interface lets software programs interact with each other) and infrastructure. Plus employees can work from anywhere and on any device. "That flexibility is fantastic for business," says Ken Tunnicliffe, Enterprise Director at Vodafone New Zealand. "It can boost productivity and increase team collaboration - all while keeping your employees happy."

Cloud security concerns may be common among IT people, but the fact is whether on site or in the cloud, there is no such thing as complete security. And because their business depends on it, reliable cloud providers know what they're doing.

As Ken explains, "They use physical protection, advanced encryption, multi-factor authentication, automatic backups as well as identity and access management controls.

They must also comply with the highest industry standards. That's more comprehensive than an in-house IT team."

Surprisingly, outsourcing to the cloud can be really good news for your IT people. With system administration tasks professionally handled by cloud hosts they'll have more time to focus on increasing security and big network challenges.

"The biggest fear a business should have is failing to take advantage of the cloud's value," argues Ken. "It's more than simply a change in how you pay for disk space and a reduction in infrastructure costs; it's about transforming the way you, your people and your business works."

To find out how Vodafone can help you become a Ready Business, visit vodafone.co.nz/readybusiness