Delphine Clavel, Product Marketing Manager
9 min read
You’ve probably heard about cloud print solutions multiple times before, but why move to the cloud? What is it that makes it so monumental? And given that you likely don’t want to give your print infrastructure more attention than it’s already demanding, why should you?
As technology changes, so do our expectations for the devices we include in our offices. As more Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions are at our fingerprints, IT teams expect more. 'More' as in enhanced customer experiences and efficient processes that bring cost savings and less work to their department–so they can focus on the core business. These solutions exist to make way for IT transformation.
That’s why companies move to the cloud: To embrace infrastructure simplicity, let go of IT infrastructure management, and make systems like print easy—to oversee, use, and scale.
Companies embrace cloud connectivity across their IT infrastructure to take advantage of more scalable, efficient, reliable, and cost-effective solutions. Many companies widely adopt software for document filing, communication, and personnel, and now even company printers receive a needed cloud enhancement.
Some of the greatest advancements we enjoy today come from cloud compute resources. And that’s true even for companies’ print and scan ecosystems.
This article will dive into the main motivations for why companies are migrating to the cloud. It will also dig into what it means for your team as you become business enablers.
Why Move Applications to the Cloud?
Companies take the transformative leap and turn to cloud solutions for many reasons. Moving applications into cloud infrastructure helps IT departments simplify their internal IT because servers, storage, and operating system software don’t require local installations.
It also qualifies a higher level of tech elasticity, where organizations can grow or shrink infrastructure resources as needed.
Cloud software also allows for enhanced collaboration in distributed workforces and multi-location teams. Any authorized person or team can access data and insights from anywhere and anytime. And that’s just scratching the surface.
The path of cloud adoption can give you the following benefits:
- Sizable cost savings
- Speedier infrastructure
- Incremental and disruptive innovation
- Higher infrastructure scalability
- Increased business agility
- Enhanced collaboration across teams
- Strengthened IT security
- Higher availability and accessibility
- Team and infrastructure cloud maturity
Are you sitting with on-premises print technology and a “Why migrate to cloud” question mark? In the following section, we’ll walk you through 11 reasons why companies like yours are letting their print infrastructure soar in the cloud. Let’s dive in!
11 Reasons Why Companies Embrace the Cloud
There’s a global, fast-paced move towards cloud computing. The allure of cloud services depends on companies’ individual needs, but there are also commonly shared factors for why companies move to the cloud.
There are many reasons why cloud technology has increased in popularity–and in the sections below, we walk you through the most important ones 👇🏽
1. Achieve Significant Cost Savings
Cost-cutting is an enticing motivational factor for any business decision, and the switch to cloud services is no different. Although it may not be the sole driving factor behind migration, the cloud can cut costs effectively because it allows businesses to cancel expensive and obsolete software subscriptions or driver hosting.
With pure cloud solutions, you can shift from a CapEx model (with high costs of data center infrastructure) to an OpEx model (where you pay for the IT services you consume). This results in eliminated hardware costs. Let's take servers as an example:
- 66% of organizations with more than 1,000 employees maintain 3 or more print servers, on average 3.
- They spend over $2400 annually to provision each server and another $2000 each for annual running costs.
- Using 3 servers as the average, this means that each organization spends $13,200 annually just to run print jobs on-premises.
By moving to serverless cloud printing, you'll already see a $13,200/year saving.
Plus, there is no need for an upfront investment for hardware or licensing. Companies save on preparation methods—unlike relying on your server, where you need to purchase backups in the case of system failure, you can count on the greater cloud to protect you.
Cloud print solutions often operate on a SaaS subscription model, so your business only has to pay for usage and can easily scale up or down as the business evolves.
2. Enjoy a Speedier Print Procedure
As we progress further along in the age of digital transformation, we all have increasingly less patience for slow speeds. This seems to be true no matter the task—it’s hard to believe that we were ever okay with a webpage taking a minute to load (like in the age of dial-up internet).
Speed is one of the absolute leading benefits of cloud computing. Cloud-hosted services (like SAFEQ Cloud) have the advantage of running on massive secure data centers from which users can always benefit from the latest software updates.
Also, considering IT admins’ day-to-day, the time spent on troubleshooting user issues with a cloud print setup is nothing compared to managing print on-premises.
The SAFEQ Cloud alternative lets you trade in your old-fashioned physical drivers for a full-featured single driver that can handle any and all print jobs. Just imagine the reduction in tickets to the Helpdesk.
3. Leverage Recognized Innovation
Every company wants to stay ahead in technology and avoid falling behind. We live in a world where being up to date on trends isn’t enough. Ideally, your company will be a few steps ahead of industry trends at all times. To do so, the cloud is your answer.
Cloud resources open the gates for your company to leverage both incremental and disruptive innovations. With a cloud-first strategy, where you give precedence to cloud services over legacy systems, innovation percolates through entire IT infrastructures.
📖 Read on → Cloud-First Strategy: What Is It and Why Include Print?
The people behind SAFEQ Cloud work tirelessly to maintain future-proof software that follows the latest security trends and remains at the forefront of cloud tech and capabilities. Customers not only get to be pacesetters in their industry, but they can also be confident that the software always improves. The SAFEQ Cloud platform undergoes dynamic enhancements.
As a service provider, Y Soft provides solutions that make life easier for IT teams. Our focus is not on offering advanced features for print management –why offer the features (that make your infrastructure complex and give you more to do) when we can do the work for you? We've made SAFEQ Cloud a zero-management platform that always works. We take care of the platform management and leave the core business to you.
Need proof? In 2022, SAFEQ Cloud won the HP Workpath Innovation Award.
We were also awarded MPSA's Best Innovation Award the same year.
📖 Read on → 7 Ways Pure Cloud Solutions Drive Innovation Forward
4. Achieve Higher Scalability
With every company comes the possibility for growth. And while that’s something that every organization wishes for, one of the realities of business is that what comes up can also go down. Recognizing the possibility of business fluctuation is essential.
Fortunately, cloud-based services allow for easy scalability, both up and down.
Not only can you get more storage space, servers, and licenses at the touch of a button, but you also only pay for what you use. With SAFEQ Cloud, you can accelerate your digital transformation and cloud journey—at your pace, your way. Our SaaS model lets you scale the capacity up or down as your business matures and needs change without any compromise to SAFEQ Cloud’s performance.
5. Increase Business Agility
You can’t answer a “why are companies migrating to the cloud?” question and not discuss business agility, the ability to swiftly respond to market transformations and emerging opportunities with innovative, digitally enhanced business solutions.
Upgrading hardware and software in a traditional legacy setup can be costly and take up a lot of time. However, with the flexible cloud server capacity in a cloud environment, businesses can easily and swiftly allocate new resources. This allows them to adapt rapidly to market changes and seize new opportunities.
6. Stay Protected with Cloud Security
Security is top of mind now more than ever. After all, we often hear news stories about companies experiencing security breaches and data loss. To minimize their vulnerability surface, companies look to the cloud for protection, quick and compliant disaster recovery, and business continuity.
There are many ways to keep a business’s operations secure, but keeping up with the necessary security standards required for every application can be an overwhelming task. Companies dodge a lot of risk by choosing a cloud service that offers real-time reporting and security features (like pull printing) suitable for even a Zero-Trust environment.
Secure cloud services always prioritize and take care of your security. Service providers take a proactive approach to security, ensuring new enhancements and protective capabilities are available at all times–and to all tenants. With solutions like SAFEQ Cloud, you can rely on additional proactivity with vulnerability scanning and PEN tests.
To understand cloud security better, read the following customer story with Intracoastal Realty. In it, you'll learn how they used SAFEQ Cloud to simplify their infrastructure and protect their data from the strong elements of their hurricane-prone office location in North Carolina.
📖 Read on → Intracoastal Realty Customer Story
7. Take Advantage of Cloud High Availability
Availability is one of the most significant advantages of cloud computing. In a nutshell, cloud services are available all day, any day, from anywhere. This means that, in most circumstances, employees can choose to work from any location with any device (smartphone, tablet, computer, etc.).
SAFEQ Cloud is hosted on AWS (Amazon Web Services) in five different locations with multiple availability zones per location. Safe to say, your cloud print infrastructure is always available to you, whenever and wherever you need it.
8. Improve data accessibility
Contrary to on-prem legacy systems, opting for cloud connectivity makes it easy for employees to access and use data from anywhere, at any time, no matter the location, format, or device.
Cloud-based tools also enhance overall collaboration across teams and entities by offering online access to the same resource, designed for use by entire organizations simultaneously. With these collaborative systems, it’s easy for team members to work together on projects in real time, regardless of where they’re located.
9. Amp up Integrations
Cloud software like SAFEQ Cloud comes with well-defined APIs and is, in general, easy to integrate. APIs allow for simple, flexible, and transferable connections that can latch on to just about any application or platform within a business. APIs are easy to use and help with interoperability—one of the most important parts of modernizing IT systems.
10. Enable IT Transformation
Cloud services have become a key enabler for using technology to create new, enhanced business processes, products, and services. Cloud computing allows IT departments to build their company’s digital backbone and digitally powered market differentiators.
A change is manifesting in IT departments. With new CIO and IT team responsibilities, it becomes increasingly paramount for these teams to implement modern technologies (like cloud) that support them as they pivot towards more business strategic priorities.
📖 Read on → 8 Indicators that IT Transformation is in Full Swing
“The transition to a cloud-based solution can remove some of the administrative tasks and related costs which have traditionally been carried out by internal IT teams, saving time and freeing up IT resources to focus on more important strategic elements." Interview with James Turner, Y Soft.
11. Move Your IT Team Toward Cloud Maturity
In the modern world, companies rely heavily on technology. And for good reason. Technology helps us move faster, be more productive, collaborate, and bridge gaps.
Cloud-connected systems can help companies take advantage of even newer technology, like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). Learning to work with such technologies internally will help the company avoid later tech expertise investments and take new leaps in its path to tech maturity.
Are you predominantly using legacy systems? Maybe a cloud adoption journey is for you. If you want to learn more about your cloud readiness, you can assess yourself here:
✅ Take the Quiz → Take our Cloud Readiness Quiz
Why Print is Often Overlooked in Cloud Migrations
While most companies are aiming for a complete migration to the cloud, there is one element that they tend to overlook: print servers. Make sure you begin your cloud printing journey to achieve full cloud maturity - And yes, you can do it even without Google Cloud Print (which was discontinued in early 2021).
Although it’s often overlooked, moving your print to the cloud is a strategic decision. Many organizations consider printing to be a significant cost, and it also tends to clog up the IT helpdesk, with a large number of service requests attributed to printing.
Why should you move to the cloud? So your IT team can let go of print management and enjoy an advanced printing solution that gives you full control of the print environment – all from one pane of glass. That way, your team can transform from a back-office support department to a full-fledged business-generating frontline unit.
Introducing Cloud Connectivity in SAFEQ
SAFEQ Cloud is a cloud print infrastructure service offered by Y Soft. The platform offers public cloud services, using a SaaS application model.
Easy and quick to install, SAFEQ Cloud allows companies to either outsource the management of their printing solutions or simplify their internal processes—depending on their deployment of choice.
Cloud-empowering print technology means employees can process print jobs from any device in the office (SAFEQ Cloud allows for desktop as well as mobile printing). The solution enables organizations to migrate their print to the cloud without compromising security and, at the same time, simplifies the entire print infrastructure.
Ultimately, SAFEQ Cloud is a true-cloud software platform that makes printing easier and more secure–for IT and all the users printing.
FAQs on Moving to the Cloud
Q1) Is Moving to the Cloud Safer?
With simplified end-to-end encryptions, zero-trust policies, and advanced data centes, moving your print environment to the cloud is safer than keeping it on-premise. Cloud software complies with strict protection and safety regulations, made to protect both users and data alike.
Q2) What is the Most Significant Benefit of Cloud-Based Technology?
While there are many benefits to leveraging cloud-based technology, a chief advantage is its imminent degree of flexibility. Businesses can scale services to fit their needs and requirements, customize applications, and access cloud solutions from anywhere with a wifi connection.
📖 Read on → 5 Reasons to Move your Print Infrastructure to the Cloud
Final Points
So, there you go. If that’s not an advocacy speech that gives you the answer to the “why do companies move to the cloud?” question, we don’t know what is. But if you need a closer look at the platform itself, that's cool, too! Get a free demo of SAFEQ Cloud today.
We firmly believe that the best opinions to get inspired by come from the people using the product. To take the next step in your journey, head over to our Podcast episode with Tom L. from Ambiq, where he walks you through his experience when migrating his print environment to SAFEQ Cloud.
