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Cloud storage is a great way to protect your data safely and securely, regardless of the size of your business. After all, uncertainties abound in business: disasters strike, devices fail, networks get hacked, customer preferences change and so many other unfortunate events can impede your everyday operation.

Though its practically impossible to insulate yourself from every possible scenario, business owners can take certain steps to minimize the chances of losing all your valuable data, sometimes even for free.

In this article, were going to take a look at certain key criteria you should know about when selecting a cloud storage provider for your business needs. In this sense, cloud storage can be the best decision youve ever made for your business. Lets look at more reasons to choose this option.

Businesses stand to gain much from cloud storage. Here are some key benefits.

Advantages in costperhaps the biggest reason to move to the cloud. Cloud storage is affordable because the cost of infrastructure and services is distributed across many businesses.

In addition, you have no hardware investment or maintenance costs, so overall, you get to save a substantial amount of money.

All that you need to work is a computer and a stable Internet connection because everything else is stored in the cloud. No more servers and complex devices to worry about.

You probably may not even need a large IT team as employees will only have to manage a few devices and a small network. This way, youll save on the cost of physical space and will have only a handful things to monitor. Nothing beats this convenience of limited monitoring.

With all your data stored in the cloud, IT staff dont have to spend a ton of time keeping your servers running and your data safe. Instead, they can focus on the core aspects of your business, and maybe even spend time researching new products and services thatll give you an edge over your competitors.

How many times have we heard of hacking incidents in the last few years? A good way to protect your assets from hackers is to have an enterprise level security. But, this level of security is expensive, and unfortunately, out of reach for many businesses.

But, the good news is, cloud storage providers offer this level of security at a fraction of the cost of buying it yourself. Also, there is no single point of failure in the cloud as your data is backed up across multiple servers.

All this means, your data is sure to have the highest possible level of security when it is in the cloud.

In todays connected world, employees want to have the flexibility to work from anywhere. Whether they are waiting for a subway train or at home with a sick child, they still want to have access to tools thatll maintain their productivity.

Cloud storage offers this mobility for your employees, as they can work from anywhere and from any device thats connected to the Internet.

Even if an employee works from multiple devices, say a desktop at work, smartphone on the way back home and a tablet from home, all the files are synced to the same location. This means, the latest version of a document would be accessible from any device.

Cloud storage providers offer a pay-as-you-go model. This way, you can use as much or as little space, depending on your level of activity. Also, you can adjust the resources available through cloud storage providers, and customize them to meet your needs.

In all, cloud storage is sure to add value to your business, and help you save money as well. Lets now look at some specific features of cloud storage that can help you reap its benefits.

Remember, every business is unique, and may require a different set of cloud storage features, but still its good to know your choices.

Mobile and desktop apps are a convenient way to upload and download files from the cloud. Many storage providers like Microsofts OneDrive offer easy to use and intuitive apps for all devices. In addition, this service also offers 15GB of space for free. Businesses that use Microsoft Office 365 get 1TB of free space as well.

Cloud storage providers not just give you space to store your information, but also make it easy to share it with others. Almost every major cloud service provider offers file sharing services, though some services like Hive allow you to share only with other Hive users.

If you frequently share files with users outside your organization, go for services like IDrive, as its versatile and comes with a full set of features for sharing.

Cloud storage providers like Google Drive give you access to some of their handy tools like email, online documents, spreadsheets, presentations and more. So, youll get more value for your money, and maybe even better productivity and collaboration.

File versioning allows you to go back and look at the previous versions of your file. Some services like elephantdrive and Sync.com give you unlimited versioning, while others like Carbonite restrict you to up to 90 revisions.

Sometimes, you want to try out a service before moving your data, and thats totally fair. SugarSync is a reliable cloud storage provider that offers a 30-day trial period. Livedrive is another provider that gives a free trial for 14 days.

Small businesses dont typically need a ton of space, so they can opt for any of the manyfree cloud storage solutions. However, there is a limit on how much free space comes with such storage providers.

As your business grows, you can choose to increase your storage space, and maybe even pay for the extra space you need.

Many cloud storage providers are based in the U.S., so they are subject to provisions of the U.S Patriot Act. Essentially, this means, the NSA can access your data at any time.

Weve heard of NSA programs like PRISM that monitor the private data of all Americans, and this most likely will extend to your business data too.

If youre keen on privacy, we suggest going with zero-knowledge cloud providers. When you use this service, your data is encrypted and nobody other than you has the key to decrypt them. This way, cloud providers cant give any data to the NSA simply because they dont have access to it.

When it comes to zero-knowledge providers, we like MEGA, pCloud, Sync.com and Tresorit.

Encryption offers an extra level of protection to your data when youre uploading or downloading from a cloud. It also comes handy while sharing your files with others over the Internet.

Most well-known cloud providers offer AES 128-bit or 256-bit encryption for your data. However, not many offer encryption services when your data is stored in the cloud or in your local machine. If youre particular about encryption at rest too, OneDrive for business is a good choice.

To conclude, cloud storage is a great way to protect your business from data loss, natural disasters and other external uncertainties. Besides protection, you also get other advantages such as increased collaboration, lower overheads, maintenance-free data management and the flexibility to work from anywhere.

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There are many cloud storage providers out there that offer a range of different features. You can choose a provider based on your current needs. For example, if you have a small budget, try a provider like pCloud that offers 20GB for free, and $3.99 for 500GB. Or, if you want to store large amounts of data, but dont mind paying for it, then Dropbox is a good choice. Zero-knowledge providers like Sync.com and MEGA are the perfect choice if data privacy is a top priority for you.

In all, the choice of a cloud storage provider depends on your business needs. Just make sure you research thoroughly and understand the benefits and downsides of a service before you sign up for it.

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Which Cloud Storage is Best for My Business? - Cloudwards