How often do you use cloud applications? Even if you aren’t aware of it, chances are that you are using quite a few in your business and personal life. The cloud is highly popular and the applications tend to be very easy to use. Hosting a web application in the cloud can offer a wide range of benefits. Once you consider some of the biggest benefits, you’ll see why so many companies are choosing this option. Let’s look at how companies on both sides of the fence – the app makers and the app users – can benefit. The benefits are remarkably similar.
Simpler Management of the Application
When you have all of your cloud applications hosted from a central location, it makes management much easier. The IT team is able to ensure that all of the end users of the app will have the same experience. Consider how difficult it could be previously to attain this in the past. When a large company had dozens, or hundreds of copies of software, all that needed installation and maintenance on physical machines, it meant that the tech department was spending an inordinate amount of time on updates, simple troubleshooting, and the like. By the time they fixed the current issue on all of the machines, they would have another problem facing them.
Having the ability to manage applications in a single location, and have that information push out to all of the end users at the same time, will reduce the amount of waste in terms of man-hours.
Additionally, there is no danger of half of your workers using one version of the software, and half using another, which could cause incompatibility. Even those companies that have remote workers can all work from the same application without worry.
For those companies that actually make and sell cloud applications, it means that your engineers and tech department can push out the updates to everyone at once.
Works for Mobile
Today’s cloud computing applications can work with your desktop, naturally. However, it’s also possible for them to work with mobile devices. In fact, with the large number of people using phones and tablets to help them with a substantial portion of their work, it’s imperative to have web apps that work with mobile devices.
One of the things developers of applications always need to keep in mind when creating a app capable of working with mobile devices is that it may not be able to have quite as many features or as much power as an application for the desktop. However, with the features and quality of mobile tablets and phones improving as quickly as they are, this could well change. In the coming years, it’s highly likely that it will be possible to create high-end mobile applications that rival anything a desktop of today can handle. In fact, with many applications that are not graphic intensive, that day has already arrived.
Cloud Hosting Will Continue to Improve
Right now, the world is at a point where it’s possible to get access to nearly any type of software imaginable around the clock. You can download it to your computer, use it in the cloud, or order it online. The continual evolution of the cloud will ensure that more and more will simply be using a web application rather than installing physical copies on their machines. The quality of service, as well as the security, is getting better. The move toward the cloud as an all-encompassing solution is growing stronger by the day.
They Are Easy
One of the biggest reasons that companies want to use a web application in the cloud is because they tend to be relatively easy to launch. Since it is possible to automate nearly every aspect of the delivery, it’s generally possible for anyone, even those who do not have experience with the tech world, to get up and running with the system quickly. Updates are just as easy. The click of a button is often enough to get things going. Learning how to use the software properly is up to the end user, naturally, but even that should be simple enough in most cases.
Better Costs
One of the biggest reasons that companies today want to use a web application rather than physical installation of programs is the cost, honestly. The cost of maintaining the program and even getting the initial licenses tends to be much lower when using a web application. You will be able to buy licenses on an as-needed basis, so you are not saddled with additional licenses and physical copies that you will not use.
Companies will not need to purchase any additional infrastructure, such as more storage space for the application or new computers capable of running the application. Since everything happens in the browser, there should not be an issue as long as the user as a solid connection to the web. This can be particularly helpful with video and graphics programs.
Easier to Share
Web applications for companies tend to have features that allow for sharing of work and content in real time. This ensures everyone on a team can be working from the most up to date version of the file. It also ensures easy communication between members of the team directly through the application.
More Safety
When you download actual programs from the Internet, there’s always the risk that you could be downloading a virus. This is a danger for businesses and individuals alike. Since you do not have to download anything with the web application, it means you will not have to worry about installing a virus to your machine by mistake.
Better for the Vendors
Those companies with great products that could help the business world or individuals will find that by promoting web applications, it becomes easier to reach a wider audience. There are fewer technical restrictions, and there are no real global restrictions either. Even small companies with a great application can push it out through the cloud for the world to have.
Another way that this is better for large and small software vendors alike is that it cuts down on piracy. There are no physical installations and that reduces piracy. It could eventually eliminate it. The vendors can charge less for the web app and still make more money since they do not have to worry about pirates. One of the reasons that so many people pirated in the past was due to costs. Lower priced applications will make everyone happy.
These are some of the top reasons that software makers, as well as those companies that use these applications, are increasingly turning toward the cloud. With the power and technology increasing all the time, the quality of the services will simply get better, making it the best way to get any application.