According to Accenture data, Only 44% of businesses have adopted the cloud globally. This means that there are still 56% of businesses who have not adopted the cloud. There is a huge opportunity to capitalize on when it comes to digital transformation. Even the businesses who have already jumped on the cloud bandwagon are struggling.

Some are complaining about skyrocketing cloud costs while others are finding it difficult to scale their cloud initiative. Finding the right talent and configuring the cloud correctly are also some of the challenges that are preventing small businesses from making the most of their cloud infrastructure.

If you are one of those small or midsize businesses whose cloud initiatives are static and going nowhere then this article is for you. In this article, you will learn about how small and mid-size businesses can make the most of cloud without making mistakes.

How Small and Mid-size Businesses Can Make The Most of the Cloud Without Getting Stuck?

Here are some of the ways small and mid size businesses can make the most of the cloud without getting stuck.

Read more: 7 Cloud Trends That Will Impact IT Industry In 2024

1.  Only Acquire Resources You Need

One of the biggest mistakes businesses make when it comes to the cloud is that they acquire more resources than they actually need. As a result, the majority of their cloud budget goes to waste. They end up buying more resources than they need which stays idle most of the time.

You can easily assess your needs and downsize your cloud package. When you let go of cloud resources you don’t use, you will only have to pay for cloud resources that you actually need, which will keep your cloud bill under control. Ensure optimal utilization of cloud resources to get the best ROI from your cloud investment.

2.  Stay Away From Technology You Don’t Need

Just like with cloud resources, most small and mid size businesses tend to chase every new technology that bursts onto the scene. They don’t even consider whether the technology is right fit for their business use case or not. That is why these businesses end up paying a hefty price for choosing the wrong technology.

The easiest way to make the right choice when it comes to technology is align your technology choices with your business needs. If it fulfills a particular business need, you must adopt that technology but if it does not, you should look at other options.

3.  Prioritize Security

Most small businesses not only have understaffed security teams but even those team members lack the pre requisite skills and experience required to ensure foolproof cloud security. To overcome this challenge, they can hire cloud protection services who can fill in the void. Opt for a service provider that offers 24/7 security monitoring and protection against threats. Some providers even package it as a separate add on while others offer it as a package. This is crucial for keeping all the data safe and giving you peace of mind.

4.  Focus on Value Maximization

Most businesses have already migrated their data to the cloud but only 35% of those businesses leverage cloud analytics, according to the latest survey. This means that almost two-third (66%) are not extracting useful insights from data stored in the cloud. That is why they are not able to make data driven decisions and anticipate market trends and forecast demand. They are leaving a lot of value on the table that could potentially give them a competitive advantage.

Small and mid-size businesses should invest in integrated analytics stack to right size their data strategy and fulfill their specific needs. These analytics tools can allow them to minimize wastage and capitalize on every opportunity that comes their way.

5.  Innovate and Scale

Small and mid size businesses are nimble and agile and can adapt and respond to emerging trends in a more efficient way as compared to large scale enterprises. When you combine that with cloud, which brings the benefit of scalability, small and mid size businesses can not only innovate quickly and add new features faster. This can give them an edge over large scale enterprises who take a long time to release new features.

6.  Leverage Artificial Intelligence To Enhance Customer Experience

Small and mid-size businesses can harness the power of artificial intelligence, machine learning and predictive analytics to enhance the customer experience especially in an era where customer preferences are evolving at a rapid pace. You can deliver a highly personalized customer experience with personalized product and content recommendations. Similarly, they can use AI powered chatbots to respond to customer queries. This will help you automate the customer journey and provide tailor made responses to customers in different stages of the buyer’s journey.

7.  Your Data Will Influence Your Insights

If your business is still using legacy systems, chances are you might encounter a host of problems. From data silos to incomplete data sets, manual data entry to poor quality data, the list goes on and on. When you are using data marred by these issues, you might end up with wrong recommendations and predictions.

Switching to a cloud can help with data quality, data transformation, data analysis and data governance.

Not only that, there are cloud services that can eliminate data duplication, normalize and structure your data. Some can even arrange them in categories to make it easier to use and comprehend. All this can streamline your data management and processing workflows and improve efficiency.

Did this article help you in taking full advantage of cloud as a small and midsize business? Share your feedback with us in the comments section below.