‘Cloud’ turns cost saver

RITIKA SHARMA /
Emirates Business

Not only are cloud-based services making various companies in the Middle East efficient and productive, they are also helping in saving a huge amount
of money that was otherwise spent on data connectivity and hardware maintenance.
Regional experts claim that a thoughtful use of cloud services by all industries can cut the additional costs by almost half allowing companies to invest elsewhere for further growth.
Talking to Emirates Business about the fast adoption of cloud computing in UAE, Raghav Kumar, IT consultant at an IT start-up Web Solutions, said, “Cloud services are the future of technology. There is no second thought that Cloud is a great money saver. Organisations have been spending millions on their storage, processing and collection methods ever since IT became the main tool. There were many hidden costs that companies had to deal with. But with cloud services it is all changing – and for good.”
It is a fact that cloud computing cuts out the high cost of hardware and one can enjoy a subscription-based model that is not only easy to set up
but is also much more user friendly.
“Apart from other benefits, Cloud services are making things very accessible and transparent, thereby reducing the possibility of any online-frauds to a good level. Also disaster recovery and backups are now more affordable for small businesses due to Cloud computing. With all these plus points, Cloud services are fast becoming an essential, especially in a country like UAE where business of all bandwidths and types are operating
simultaneously,” Kumar added.
Not just IT, various sectors in the country are benefitting by bringing their business to cloud.
In one such recent development, Alpha Data, a leading system integrator claimed to have cut
the data connectivity costs of Alam Group, a UAE-based supermarket and trading company by a huge margin.
Kazi Shahidul Islam, Head of IT for Alam Group, said in an official statement, “We chose ‘Alpha Cloud’ services to secure our data, provide easy and cost-effective connectivity anytime and anywhere, and help our group adapt to new technology trends. Through its deployment we have been able to reduce our data-connectivity costs by around 35 percent and significantly improve operational and customer satisfaction levels by providing our employees with easy access to the information they need to maximize their productivity.”