Cloud hosted services are growing in popularity. In fact, leading tech analysts at IDC predict the cloud services industry will grow by at least 80 percent by the end of this decade. Researchers at Gartner estimate the worldwide market for cloud services will grow to more than $109 billion this year.

The cloud hosted services market is booming for one simple reason: The cloud helps businesses stay efficient while saving money. This article will address the benefits of cloud computing, which include:

• Flexibility
• Lower costs
• More capacity
• Security

Flexibility of Cloud Hosted Services

Today’s workforce is more mobile than ever. Whether on vacation at the beach, in the office or working at home, the cloud enables professionals to access the applications and documents they need from any computer or mobile device, not just the computer in their office. This improves productivity and efficiency. This also means that businesses can more easily go global, as a tech infrastructure does not need to be built in each location. Instead, employees and partners can access what they need virtually in the cloud.

Lower Costs of Cloud Computing

Typically, it is less expensive to have employees access software through the cloud than to purchase individual licenses and host software internally. Also, new software and services can be rolled out in minutes as opposed to days or weeks with a traditional infrastructure. In addition, businesses can avoid hardware costs when having to incrementally add more storage capacity.

Increased Capacity of Cloud Computing

Cloud storage has a much greater capacity than traditional in-house storage approaches, making it ideal for many data-intensive businesses. As businesses need additional storage capacity, it is easy and quick to scale using the cloud. So, businesses can pay as they grow, rather than purchasing more capacity than they need and hoping to grow in to it.

Security

Often, the secureness of cloud computing causes much apprehension. However, if you work with the right provider, this does not have to be an issue. Cloud providers should be able to address security concerns and work with you and your company to ensure a proper security framework is in place to ensure your data is safe. With a little due diligence and shopping around, you should be able to find a provider that meets the needs of your business.

No matter what business you are in, cloud hosted services will surely make a positive impact on your efficiency while saving you money.

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Lauren Biddle is a part of an elite team of writers who have contributed to hundreds of blogs and news sites. Follow him @Biddle23 to see what else he has to say!