Cloud computing is the new way to get things done for small businesses.  It's easy, it's secure, and it is great for the environment.  According to a report put on by the Carbon Disclosure Project, cloud computing can potentially reduce the world's carbon emissions by millions of metric tons.  The differences are wildly significant compared to running your own in-house data centers, even if you just have a server or two.

Google ran their own report on their Gmail service which is used by more than 4 million businesses globally.  Their results show that their cloud-based email service is almost 80 times more energy efficient than handling it in house.

Wait, how does that work?  A cloud-based solution requires a pretty impressive data center.  The answer is utilization.  A typical small business' server is running all the time, but it's not doing as much work as it could be doing all the time.  Most of the time the server is idle, but using plenty of electricity to stay powered on.  A good cloud data center will completely utilize servers before letting additional hardware take over and waste more electricity.  Google claims that you can watch 3 days of YouTube videos straight and use the same amount of energy it takes to manufacture, package, and deliver a single DVD.

Are all cloud computing solutions as efficient as Google?  Likely not, but these basic principles are applied to good cloud data centers, and in turn it keeps power consumption low, and makes the costs of running (and thus, reselling) cloud services low.

Besides just cost and environmental advantages, cloud computing has a lot of benefits for Upstate New York small businesses.  Is it time for your business to move into the cloud?  Contact us at 607.433.2200 to discuss how cloud computing can improve your business.