The coronavirus pandemic has changed the way enterprises operate worldwide, and businesses in Iowa are no exceptions. With stay-at-home orders issued across the Show-Me State, business leaders had to think quickly and formulate a plan that would allow them to continue operations, serve customers, and ensure revenue. Inevitably, they all turned to the cloud.

The cloud is an off-site data center that allows anyone with proper login credentials to access business information and run apps from anywhere with an internet connection. Not only does it offer unprecedented accessibility, it also affords businesses the flexibility they need to continue operations should something unexpected happen.

And if COVID-19 has taught organizations anything, it’s that flexibility is paramount to survival. In the post-coronavirus workplace, the cloud will be a crucial tool that will keep companies afloat. Here’s why.

Remote work arrangements will be part of the new normal

While working remotely was already an option pre-COVID-19, it’s now quickly becoming the standard. Not only does the option to work from home appear attractive to employees and job seekers alike, it also helps reduce overall operational costs, benefiting your bottom line.

What’s more, splitting up the workforce minimizes risks. When disruption arises, you wouldn’t want to have all your eggs in one basket. Having a geographically spread-out workforce is just one way to ensure that business will continue even if one location is compromised.

As such, post-COVID-19 workplaces should be able to support partial or full-time remote work setups — which means utilizing the power of the cloud to host data and apps. With this technology, your workforce can access a whole suite of productivity tools that will allow colleagues to communicate and collaborate with one another in real time, regardless of their location.

Mobile devices will be front and center

Mandatory self-isolation due to COVID-19 has brought people closer to their mobile devices, with mobile internet usage even spiking up from 32% to 62% in some areas. This behavior will most likely remain in the foreseeable future. Even as restrictions begin to ease up, users will continue to shop online, stream videos on demand, and chat with friends using social media apps.

To reach customers who spend a good part of their day on their mobile devices, marketing leaders will launch more aggressive digital marketing efforts. This will necessitate being active and interactive on social media — which the cloud can help facilitate. For instance, a business can utilize cloud automation to deploy chatbots that can respond efficiently to customer inquiry round the clock. Marketing cloud solutions can also be used to monitor and analyze the performance of a marketing campaign.

In addition, remote workers often use their own phones or tablets to reach clients or get work done. Without cloud access, they cannot be productive and operations will be swamped with bottlenecks.

Business continuity will be a priority

Natural disasters like fire or floods can destroy data to the point of irretrievably. What’s more, an unforeseen event such as a large-scale on-premises data breach can compromise business continuity. In the post-COVID-19 workplace, everyone may be just a little bit paranoid about how to keep business going when the unexpected happens. For your peace of mind, back up your information to at least three locations.

One of these locations should be the cloud. Because it’s off site, it’s safe from events and disasters that may befall your workplace. The cloud is also proactively maintained by security experts 24/7 to ensure that your critical data is backed up regularly and easily retrievable in case one version gets corrupted or accidentally deleted. Whatever disruption may come your way, your business can quickly get back up and running with the cloud.

The cloud offers limitless possibilities, from storage to analytics to security. Unfortunately, not all businesses are able to tap its full potential. Midwest Data Iowa will ensure that you’ll experience the best of what the cloud has to offer. Schedule a free, no-obligation meeting with us today.