We’re all in – are you?

All of us have probably gazed up at the sky on a summer day and discovered forms of animals or people in the clouds. We marveled at millions of tiny water droplets banding together to create familiar shapes. 

Today, however, the cloud represents something much more tangible that can actually alter the shape of your business. Microsoft cloud services provide businesses customizable and flexible options for conducting business; meaning, business decision makers (BDMs) are empowered to choose which of their services will be run on-premise on company servers, and which will be managed over the Internet. The benefits of cloud computing are vast – they offer businesses increased agility and efficiency for a much lower cost than on-premise software.

What do you think? Since we wanted to know, we asked.

Recently Microsoft surveyed BDMs in 10 major cities, including Boston, to measure their perceptions of cloud computing (services). In Boston, we found that nearly half of all respondents (47 percent) knew a fair amount about cloud computing and 25 percent of those respondents were ready to move all of their applications to the cloud. Boston businesses understand that subscription-based costs equal an opportunity to save money. In fact, Boston BDMs particularly see lower up-front capital costs, as well as increased security, as drivers of cloud adoption and greater use.  Other benefits include consistent data backup which means time saved from manually backing up servers or running security checks.

Bottom line? Businesses can focus on providing the best products and services for their customers.

So the next time you are looking for meaning in the clouds, think about your IT infrastructure. What is it telling you?