Small Businesses (SMBs) are increasingly adopting the cloud. According to BizTech Magazine, software-as-a-service (SaaS) adoption among SMBs hit 73 percent last year. Forbes also noted that growing cloud use among small businesses has research firms "adjusting their forecasts upward." Curious about the potential benefits of cloud computing for your business? Dive into our SMB starting guide.

Key Benefits

Adopting the cloud simply because "everyone else is doing it" isn't enough for an SMB's bottom line. Here's a look at four key benefits:

• Cost Savings — Instead of spending capital on new IT hardware and maintenance, you only pay for resources used. All hardware upgrades, software updates and security patches are handled by your provider.
• Accessibility — SaaS solutions aren't tied to a physical device like a desktop, meaning employees can access critical apps anywhere, anytime.
• Integration — Chances are you're running at least one "legacy system" — software that was built in-house or has never been replaced — and that doesn't play well with new technologies. Moving to the cloud provides the framework for seamless integration down the line. Many services offer limited support for legacy software.
• Time — By handing off maintenance duties and upgrading to a trusted provider, your in-house IT staff can gain more time to address line-of-business issues, since they're no longer stuck in the "break-fix" cycle of traditional tech deployments.

Use Cases

Baseline benefits aside, how does your small business actually use the cloud?

To start, there are straightforward integrations such as customer resource management (CRM) tools that allow companies to keep track of consumer histories, service requests and previous concerns. By linking these systems to the cloud, front-line staff are always able to find the information they need, exactly when they need it.

Another use case? Secure storage of confidential employee files. Cloud solutions offer both solid encryption and the ability to access this data even if local services are unavailable. SMBs can also benefit from the use of cloud technology as a disaster recovery (DR) service. If local servers and devices go down, the cloud offers duplicated files and resources to keep your business up and running.

Last but not least, another reason to move to the cloud is data analytics. Here's why: SMBs are generating massive amounts of data, but many don't have the throughput to process it all. Cloud-based big data analytics solutions can provide insight into current practices and offer data-driven predictions for new business strategies.

The Security Issue

Any discussion about the benefits of cloud computing has to mention security. Is it really on-par with local oversight, or are files on public clouds prime targets for theft or destruction? Here's the truth: A recent survey found that on-premise security measures suffered more attacks than cloud-based solutions. Those using local services experienced significantly more "incidents" than businesses using the cloud.

Curious as to why? There are two reasons. First, cloud providers likely know they have an uphill battle when it comes to security. Local IT personnel often don't like the idea of handing over security controls, and any public cloud breach will garner media attention. The result is a focus on cloud security that meets (or exceeds) in-house efforts to ensure business data is protected. This may include strong encryption when data is moving and at rest, or the use of "zero knowledge" solutions where cloud providers can't access client data. Only SMBs who own the data have the decryption key. The second reason for improved cloud security is because cloud services are built to handle this kind of workload. Security solutions are constantly updated, threats are regularly monitored and responses typically happen in real time.

The bottom line: The cloud is good for your business. From front-line benefits like lowered costs to use cases like agile disaster recovery, the benefits of cloud computing outweigh the drawbacks.