By: Jerome Auza
It’s highly likely that you may have heard about cloud computing and how it is improving business processes. If you haven’t heard about it, chances are, you have been using cloud based services already. The popular social network websites extensively use cloud technologies to deploy their services.
If you are an SME in Bohol, would you consider running some of your business processes on the cloud? You probably should. From a cost perspective, it will might sense. For example, to implement an accounting system, the usual solution is to buy a server computer. Server grade hardware can cost upwards of Php60,000.
If you need the services to run 24×7, you need to have a backup battery, a backup generator and of course, you need to pay for the electricity cost. You probably also need to put air conditioning system to keep the server cool. And if you need users to access the server remotely, you need to have an Internet connection service with large upload bandwidth. Lastly, you need to perform backups and deal with hardware failures.
In contrast, deploying a cloud server doesn’t have any large upfront cost. Instead, there is a flat monthly rate for the server and a variable cost for the amount of data transferred from the server to the users. A cloud server with 4 GB RAM, 120GB storage and dual core cpu can cost between Php5,000 to Php10,000/month depending on the hosting company you use.
For SME use, smaller servers may do. I have used 256MB RAM, 10GB servers that cost about $15/month for a simple application that needs to be running 24×7 but doesn’t need to have powerful computing resources.
The data center keeps all the computer hardware running thus the user simply needs to focus on his application.
Many business systems, such as ledger systems, can be deployed on the cloud. I have implemented several cloud based solutions for real-time recording of financial transactions which allowed the business owner to keep track of his business conveniently.
In a multi-branch company, a cloud solution may be the only cost effective solution. By putting the central accounting system on the cloud, branches simply perform transactions on the cloud server. If the Internet connection of the headquarters is down, the branches can still continue to transact on the cloud server.