Why Indian SMEs are Shifting their IT Infrastructure from On-Premise to Public Cloud?

As the Indian economy moves forward through the Covid times, proactive business decision-makers aim not just for survival but focus on future expansion. The Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) of India are at the forefront of the central government’s growth initiatives. Their role in shaping the nation’s economy is undeniably huge

Being extensive adopters of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) Applications, SMEs have suffered immense losses due to implementation in their on-premise data centres. High initial investments, excessive workforce dependency, and lack of proper planning have slowed their growth.

Transforming the IT Landscape to Cloud

SMEs across the country are starting to realise the fourfold benefits of leveraging public cloud platforms like Amazon Web Services (AWS) to host their critical ERP systems. SMEs are joining the bandwagon of cloud adopters making their operations fully mobile and accessible via smart devices. They are migrating their legacy systems ranging from accounting, inventory management, CRM, HRM, and the list keeps expanding. It shifts their expenditure from capital intensive to an operational model and reaps the vast array of benefits provided by cloud computing, as listed below.

Data Democratization

The ease of accessibility of enterprise data using Cloud makes it available for all relevant stakeholders. This aspect dramatically speeds up operations, enhances collaboration, and simplifies teamwork. Data no longer needs to be manually maintained using a traditional lock and key system, thereby improving operational efficiency.

Minimize Capital Expenditure (CAPEX)

Cloud adoption nullifies the dependency on owning IT infrastructure for SMEs. They only need to pay as per use, i.e., Operational Expenditures. Technical debts can be controlled easily via the Cloud. Availability of SaaS (Software as A Service) Applications on the Cloud that is highly customizable to satisfy SMEs’ unique needs across industries drastically bring down the cost associated with legacy ERP Systems.

Robust Data Security

Data Privacy concerns can be put aside while on Cloud. Multi-level enterprise grade security can be configured using authentication and authorization services available out of the box. User activity can be centrally monitored for accountability. In addition, data encryption and masking features enhance to make your data robust and resistant to cyber-attacks.

Disaster Recovery and High Availability

Maintaining your business-critical data on On-Premise datacentres can be fatal for your enterprise during times of software or hardware failure. Taking backups can be a tedious affair. With in-built configurable data replication and high availability setup on Cloud, it is engineered to handle disasters with zero impact on business continuity.

Scalability

Upgrading or downsizing your on-premise set up to cater to market demand fluctuations is practically impossible for SMEs. With the flexibility to consume computing resources on a need basis on public Cloud, the scalability in terms of memory, computing power, location, speed of access can be chosen as per individual enterprise needs. This aspect makes the public Cloud highly scalable.

Conclusion

Cloud Computing is the proven silver lining for SMEs to maintain and grow their business in a seamless fashion. The barriers imposed on operations, administration and leaking capital expenses of the legacy on-premise IT infrastructure can be put at bay upon adopting the cloud strategy for your business.

The ever-increasing support from the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises of India towards subsidizing Cloud Adoption makes the situation fully favourable for India’s SMEs. Now is the ideal time to march towards revolutionizing business by choosing Cloud Transformation’s path and enjoy exponential growth!