What the COVID-19 crisis taught us about the cloud and business continuity

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed life as we know it, in many ways. While its impact on our day-to-day lives has been huge, the impact has been even more severe from a business perspective. The social distancing norms, staggered operating hours so as to limit crowds, the masks, shields, barriers, and what-not! From the business continuity perspective, companies have had to adapt themselves to the new normal very quickly.

During this global crisis, one technology that truly came to the rescue of business big and small was the cloud. The cloud made it possible for businesses to keep their operations running even with staff working remotely. With all critical data stored online, all that was needed was a compatible device with an internet connection and it was business as usual...well, almost.

Here are some core business challenges that were resolved due to the cloud.

• Access to core business data and software programs that were needed for smoothd day-to-day operations
• Data security concerns, though not entirely non-existent due to the use of personal devices, were largely taken care of, thanks to multiple layers of security offered by the cloud service providers
• There were no “hardware hassles”...companies that were already on the cloud didn’t have to worry about the logistics of providing office computers to their employees working from home. With all the data stored online, they could use their home computers or tablets to get the work done.

Earlier what was perceived as an advantage for employees (the permission to work from home) was now mandatory for survival of the business. Even businesses that allowed employees to operate from home before the pandemic had a tough time migrating their entire setup to the work-from-home model.