To cloud or not to cloud?

Any smartphone user with digital photos, movies and mp3s understands the advantage of backing up to the cloud. It’s hard not to love that your content is easily accessible whenever you need it — and yet it won’t fill up your valuable storage space. And how nice is the peace of mind that every last file is safely backed up if you lose your device?

Nevertheless, some businesses are on the fence about taking a similar approach for their data, applications and resources. If yours is one of them, IDC recently published an infobrief that could help push you over the edge. In a good way. “Sharpening the Small Business Competitive Edge: Is the Time Right For the Cloud?” covers everything from the basics — from how you access the cloud to how you pay for it — to five reasons why businesses like yours are making the move.

Bottom line? There is a clear association between Cloud use and revenue growth. Small businesses using the Cloud are 1.7 times more likely to have 10%+ revenue growth than small businesses in general.

No wonder cloud adoption is skyrocketing globally. Nearly 1/3 of all small businesses in India are there already. In the US, more than 15% of small businesses were expecting to add cloud services in 2014.

One of the cloud services you can now add is SAP Business One powered by SAP HANA. It’s a great way to make sure you’re getting the visibility and insights and speed you need. And, like the title of the IDC paper suggests, it’s another way to sharpen that competitive edge.  If you want, you can read more about it here — right after you back up those photos.