Small- and medium-sized businesses have improved efficiency and security by switching from an in-house infrastructure to an IaaS solution.

Many SMBs do not have the resources or the staff to manage their own infrastructures, making cloud computing an attractive and low-cost option. Instead of focusing their energy and money on providing desktop security and software upgrades, companies can outsource those tasks to a cloud vendor, allowing them to focus on more business-relevant tasks.

The cloud has enabled SMBs to reduce their long-term energy and software expenses, but has also provided them with an effective solution in case of emergency. Being able to store information in the cloud means companies can access the information from any web-connected device at any time.

If an on-premise server crashes, or the main hard drive of a small business becomes corrupted, then many businesses may be out of luck. However, those that have implemented a cloud backup solution can continue conducting business with drastically reduced down time.

The influx of SMBs adopting cloud solutions is one factor propelling the growth of the industry. IDC predicts public IT cloud services will grow from $16.5 billion in 2009 to more than $55 billion in 2014.ADNFCR-2553-ID-19888241-ADNFCR