How the cloud can benefit smaller enterprises

Moving systems to the cloud is increasingly popular, but it can seem daunting for smaller and medium businesses with the added worry that it may not prove cost effective.

In an effort to make the move easier, Irish telephony and VoIP provider Speechpath has produced an infographic setting out the benefits that smaller companies can gain from a switch to the cloud.

It seems that smaller businesses are turning to the cloud, 43 percent in 2013 compared to only five percent in 2010. But still it's estimated that four out of five could cut costs with a move to cloud technology.

The key benefits of moving to the cloud are streamlining work processes, reducing technology infrastructure spend, allowing employees to work from anywhere, reducing capital costs and gaining flexibility.

The graphic also looks at the merits of public, private and hybrid cloud models as well as identifying the cloud apps that businesses may already be using without realising it. For those that decide to take the plunge there's a five step guide to ensuring migration runs smoothly.

You can view the full infographic below.

Photo Credit: Roland IJdema/Shutterstock