If your company is considering moving to the cloud, it’s headed in the right direction. About 90% of companies have made the switch, and some experts say all companies will need to be cloud-based by 2020.

Your company is probably already using the cloud to some degree and most employees have been using it for a long time—sending email, paying bills online, watching movies, playing games, etc. In fact, we’re so accustomed to having instant access to what we need, it’s super frustrating when we don’t.

The cloud has now become the undisputed future of communication, data storage, and business growth. Here’s why.

1. Security and Updates

A major point in favor of moving to the cloud is security. When your information is stored only on local servers, any interruption or data breach can destroy critical information forever.

The cloud allows your valuable data to exist in multiple external places, untouched by local issues - hence the idea of the pristine floating cloud. If one location is compromised, the others float in to back it up. Your data is preserved.

This also means your company can constantly stay current on security patches and critical updates, which keep problems at bay. The cloud delivers up-to-the-minute security updates.

When hackers access servers and plunder information, it’s almost always local servers. None of the most famously disastrous attacks have happened on the big public clouds.

Look at the JP Morgan Chase data disaster in 2014. They compromised the data of 76 million Americans, despite spending $250 million a year on security. How? The bank’s own servers were the source of the hack, not the cloud.

2. Sustainability

Here’s a benefit of the cloud that’s good for the whole world: It’s more sustainable.

When you move to the cloud, your information sits in outside locations, rather than local servers that must be purchased, maintained, and powered. That’s less equipment, less electricity, less air conditioning, and less physical space occupied by data management.

It’s not just good for your company, it’s good for the world. Greenpeace, the environmental advocacy organization, supports cloud computing due to its incremental improvements in global energy use.

3. Disaster Recovery

Still scratching your head about whether a cloud move is worth it? Here’s something to think about. Without the cloud, your company could be crippled by a disaster. With the cloud, you could be back up and running within minutes or see no interruption at all.

Just ask McNair Travel Management, a corporate travel company. In 2010, two major storms dropped 55 inches of snow on the company’s Washington, D.C. location. Not a single employee could make it work for days.

Luckily, McNair was at the forefront of cloud adoption and had made it an integral part of their disaster plan. Using the cloud, employees at their Virginia headquarters were able to step in, access all company data, and keep the business running as usual, far away from the storm.

4. Cost Containment

Your CFO will be glad to hear that cost savings is a huge benefit of the cloud. Imagine freeing your company from buying and maintaining servers, and paying people to tinker with the hardware again and again.

The cloud essentially makes data management a pay-per-use arrangement. Instead of facing the sunk costs - and depreciation - of physical equipment, you pay only for the amount of data you manage and storage you use.

5. Upgrades and Expansion

The cloud is also good for your company’s long-term business outlook. Upgrading - using the latest version of a software - is no problem. It’s so seamless, even your IT people will notice very little change in day-to-day business during upgrades.

As your business grows, you can expand your cloud use as needed, without new expenditures on physical equipment. Capital, and personnel, investment in data management and upgrades is minimized.

That’s why tech forecaster and writer Nicholas Carr predicts that in the next two years, “Clouds will make people richer.”

Got questions about moving to the cloud? Check out for Western Computer’s OnDemand webinar on cloud computing and get the answers you need to make an informed decision. In the meantime, feel free to contact us with any of your questions or to get more information.