In an era where digital transformation dictates the pace of business operations, savvy small businesses are increasingly looking towards managed cloud services. They provide an excellent way to enhance competitiveness, streamline operations, and secure data.
Over the course of the past decade, the cloud has ultimately become a foundational pillar of digital transformation across all industries. Why? Because the cloud has liberated organizations from expensive legacy software licenses and hardware.
Additionally, it helps reduce the time from capability ideation to delivery and provides scale to accommodate unprecedented levels of traffic. Finally, it facilitates the contemporary age of artificial intelligence and data-driven insights. In fact, in 2023, cloud data centers processed 96% of small business workloads.
This guide serves as an essential primer for small businesses in 2024. In it, we dive deep into the what, how, and why of cloud computing. Ultimately, it provides a roadmap to help you navigate the vast cloudscape for your organization.
What is the Cloud?
First things, first – what is it exactly? At its core, the cloud is a network of remote servers hosted on the internet to store, manage, and process data. It does not utilize local servers or personal computers to store data. This paradigm shift offers several major advantages.
First, it offers unprecedented flexibility. Secondly, it can scale with you as your operations expand or contract, which naturally improves efficiency. Lastly, it allows businesses to access their data and applications from anywhere, at any time. Better yet, it eliminates the upfront costs and complexity of managing physical servers.
Cloud providers offer numerous benefits to suit different business needs. These range from basic data storage to more advanced offerings like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities.
Here’s How AWS Describes Cloud Computing Solutions:
Cloud computing is the on-demand delivery of IT resources over the internet with pay-as-you-go pricing. Instead of buying, owning, and maintaining physical data centers and servers, you can access technology services, such as computing power, storage, and databases, on an as-needed basis from a cloud provider like Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Understanding Your Business Needs Helps You Better Leverage Cloud Technology
Cloud solutions are broadly categorized into public, private, hybrid, and community clouds. But before finalizing the right fit for your organization, you must first identify your business’s needs.
Each business has its own set of challenges, data types, regulatory compliances, and growth expectations. For example, healthcare companies are turning to the cloud to provide more personalized clinical treatments for patients. Financial services companies are using the cloud to power real-time fraud detection and prevention.
Furthermore, companies needing vast computing power and storage, such as filmmakers and game designers, use the cloud. They deliver advanced products globally.
So, to determine the right cloud solution for you, answer these important questions:
- What is the nature of your data and its sensitivity?
- What level of scalability and flexibility do you need?
- What are your budget constraints for Cloud solutions?
- Do you need specific industry certifications for regulatory compliance?
Once you define the answers to these questions, you should keep them in mind when reading this guide. 
What are Cloud Solutions?
Cloud solutions refer to a wide array of services delivered on-demand to companies and customers over the internet. These services are designed to provide easy, affordable access to applications and resources. There’s no need for internal infrastructure or hardware. Let’s break down the types of cloud solutions.
Email:
Cloud-based email services provide robust, scalable, and secure email capabilities without the need for managing in-house email servers. They offer enhanced security features and easy integration with other cloud solutions. Equally important, they are accessible from any device, promoting collaboration and flexibility.
Applications:
Cloud applications, or Software as a Service (SaaS), are applications hosted in the cloud, accessible via the web or APIs (Application Programming Interface). They eliminate the need for internal infrastructure and reduce software maintenance and compliance burdens. Because they offer a pay-as-you-go pricing model, they make enterprise-level software more available to small businesses.
Storage:
Cloud storage solutions offer secure and cost-effective options for storing files and data online, and can expand or contract capacity as needed. They offer features like data redundancy, anywhere access, and disaster recovery. Plus, cloud storage is an essential component of a small business’s IT strategy.
Servers:
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) provides virtualized computing resources over the internet. With cloud servers, businesses can deploy and scale their server infrastructure on demand, paying only for what they use. This significantly reduces the costs and complexities associated with physical servers.
Backups:
Cloud backup solutions provide a secure and efficient way to store copies of data in a remote location. This ensures business continuity and protection against data loss due to disasters, cyber attacks, or hardware failure.
Virtual Machines:
Virtual Machines (VMs) in the cloud allow businesses to run multiple operating systems on a single physical server. This optimizes resource usage, enhances security, and facilitates development and testing environments.
Network:
Cloud network solutions offer a way to connect cloud applications and services to users and other applications across the internet or private networks, providing enhanced performance, reliability, and security.
Security:
Security in the cloud is paramount. Providers offering enhanced encryption, threat detection, and compliance services to protect sensitive data and applications from cyber attacks. 
Who are the Top Cloud Solutions Providers?
The leading public cloud solutions providers offer a comprehensive suite of services covering storage, servers, backups, and security. Major players like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform dominate, each offering unique advantages.
Storage:
For storage, AWS’s S3, Google Cloud Storage, and Azure Blog Storage are top choices, offering robust, scalable, and secure cloud storage solutions.
Servers:
In the realm of servers and computing resources, AWS EC2, Azure Virtual Machines, and Google Compute Engine lead the market. They provide expandable, flexible, and budget-friendly options.
Backups:
For backups, AWS Backup, Azure Backup, and Google’s Back and Recovery services offer comprehensive, automated, and secure backup solutions.
Security:
When it comes to security, AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud each offer a toolbox of advanced security and services designed to protect businesses’ data and applications in the cloud. 
Cloud Service Providers Beyond the “Big Three” of Azure, AWS, and Google
Just like small business itself, the cloud solutions environment is diverse. It features a variety of providers each with unique strengths and specializations. For example, here are some notable companies offering cloud solutions that cater to different needs and market niches.
IBM Cloud
IBM Cloud offers a wide range of services including IaaS, PaaS (Platform as a Service), and SaaS solutions. It’s particularly strong in AI and machine learning capabilities with Watson and blockchain technologies and for businesses looking for hybrid cloud solutions. IBM Cloud is favored by those enterprises seeking strong data and analytics services.
Oracle Cloud
Oracle Cloud excels in database services, offering IaaS and PaaS solutions. It’s a go-to for businesses heavily reliant on database management and applications, providing comprehensive Cloud solutions for application development, data management, integration, and business analytics. Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) is designed for organizations that require robust performance and governance.
Alibaba Cloud
Alibaba Cloud is the leading cloud service provider in China and Asia, offering a comprehensive suite of global cloud computing services to power international and local businesses. It’s known for its robust e-commerce, retail, and mobile business solutions, as well as for AI and machine learning capabilities.
DigitalOcean
DigitalOcean provides Cloud solutions that simplify web infrastructure for software developers. Known for its ease of use, straightforward pricing, and focus on small to mid-sized businesses, DigitalOcean is a favorite for developers looking for cloud servers, storage, and Kubernetes-based solutions. (Kubernetes is an open-source container orchestration system for automating software deployment, scaling, and management).
VMware Cloud
WMware offers Cloud solutions tailored to businesses looking to migrate or extend their VMware-based IT infrastructure to the cloud. WMware Cloud solutions are ideal for organizations seeking hybrid cloud environments, allowing them to leverage the same VMware tools and technologies they use on-premises, in the cloud.
Safesforce Cloud
Salesforce offers a suite of cloud-based applications for customer relationship management (CRM), marketing automation, analytics, and application development under the banner of Salesforce Cloud. It’s particularly well-regarded for its CRM services, helping businesses connect with customers in new ways.
SAP Cloud Platform
SAP Cloud Platform is an enterprise service with wide-ranging applications, including database and data management, analytics, application development, and integration services. It’s geared toward businesses looking for cloud solutions to run alongside their SAP applications.
Rackspace Technology
Rackspace provides a range of cloud computing services, including cloud hosting, cloud storage, and a wide array of managed services. It’s known for its strong customer services and managed Cloud solutions, helping businesses manage cloud operations across multiple providers.
Costs and Pricing for Cloud Solutions
The cost of cloud services varies widely. Costs depend on the service model (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS), the resources consumed (storage, computing, bandwidth), and the provider. Most providers offer a pay-as-you-go model, allowing businesses to scale services as needed and control costs. It’s essential for small businesses to understand their needs and usage patterns to choose the most cost-effective cloud solutions. 
What are the Benefits of Cloud Solutions for Small Businesses?
Cloud solutions offer small businesses the opportunity to leverage the most advanced IT infrastructure and applications. Thus, this enhances their agility, scalability, and competitiveness. Benefits include cost savings, improved collaboration and mobility, enhanced security and compliance, and the ability to quickly adapt to market changes.
What sets apart organizations that successfully leverage the cloud? Although many organizations see the cloud as a force multiplier, leading organizations go beyond using the cloud to achieve efficiency and agility; they use it to drive innovation. 
What are the Challenges Small Businesses Face with Cloud Solutions?
While the benefits are significant, small businesses may encounter challenges such as data security and privacy concerns, reliance on internet connectivity, managing cloud costs, and acute complexity of migrating existing systems to the cloud.
For example, if you move workloads to the cloud but neglect to modernize them, you may actually increase operating costs and fail to improve business agility.
Compliance is an issue for any business that uses backup services or cloud storage. In fact, according to a survey by Statista, 44% of companies consider compliance to be their biggest cloud computing challenge.
Every time your company moves data from internal storage to a cloud, it must comply with industry laws and regulations. For example, healthcare organizations must comply with HIPAA rules, retail companies must comply with SOX and PCI DSS regulations, and companies dealing with the European market must comply with GDPR standards.
Finally, while many established cloud providers have aligned themselves with relevant accreditation programs, your company is ultimately responsible for ensuring that all data processes and workloads are compliant.
How to Migrate to the Cloud
Migrating to the cloud can be challenging and complex, particularly for organizations lacking the requisite resources and expertise. In the end though, the benefits of cloud migration are worth the investment. All cloud providers offer some level of assistance and migration tools.
Azure:
Microsoft Azure offers tools and services for migrating various workloads to the cloud, including databases, applications, and entire data centers, with comprehensive support and guidance.
SharePoint:
Migrating to SharePoint in the cloud can enhance collaboration and management, with tools available to migrate files and data securely.
O365:
Office 365 provides a suite of cloud-based productivity tools, with straightforward migration paths for existing Microsoft users, enhancing teamwork and accessibility.
AWS:
Amazon Web Services offers extensive resources for migrating applications, databases, and servers to the cloud, with various options to optimize performance and cost.
Others:
Other cloud providers and third-party services offer specialized migration tools and services, catering to specific needs and industry requirements.
Take Advantage of Managed Cloud Solutions
Leveraging the expertise and resources of cloud solutions providers can dramatically ease the transition to the cloud. They offer tailored solutions, managed services, and support to optimize cloud usage and maximize benefits.
What are Managed Cloud Solutions?
Managed cloud solutions for small businesses encompass a range of services provided by third parties to help businesses manage and optimize their cloud-based resources. Managed cloud solutions providers offer partial or complete management of a client’s cloud resources or infrastructure.
For example, management responsibilities can include migration, configuration, optimization, security, and maintenance. These services are designed to enable organizations to maximize benefits from managed cloud solutions while minimizing internal time and costs. They are your IT Department for hire and your ever-ready helpdesk, all in one.
You can engage with managed cloud solutions provider for public, private, and hybrid clouds at any point in the cloud adoption lifecycle. Often, organizations will contract for services before migration to gain help determining which cloud resources best suit their needs and to ensure that configuration is performed correctly.
Consulting:
Managed Cloud solutions providers offer expert advice on selecting the right Cloud solutions, designing cloud architecture, and developing a migration strategy.
Administration and User Support:
You can rely on your MSP for ongoing management of cloud infrastructure, including user management, performance monitoring, and support tickets.
Monitoring & Support:
Continuous monitoring of cloud resources ensures performance, availability, and security. Should a problem arise, your IT experts stand ready to fix it and often can spot it before it becomes one.
Optimization:
MSPs conduct regular reviews and make necessary adjustments to cloud resources to realize greater cost efficiency and optimal performance.
Migration:
Assistance with migration applications, data, and workload to the cloud can be invaluable to small businesses. It helps facilitate a smooth transition with minimal disruption.
Still Have Questions? Ask Frontline.
Cloud solutions and services offer your small business a powerful way to enhance your operations and improve your agility and competitiveness in the digital age. No matter where you are in your cloud journey, Los Angeles-based Frontline has been there before.
We’ve helped hundreds of small businesses like yours better understand the cloudscape and provide strategic best practices. We become your world-class cloud IT team, so you can unlock the full potential of cloud computing to propel your growth in 2024 and beyond. Reach out to us today to learn more about how Frontline can help your business.