Having the edge in technology is no longer a luxury, it’s essential for nonprofits to keep up in the fast paced world we live in today.
The cloud’s idea whether your nonprofit is struggling to improve efficiency, reduce costs, or simply have a more reliable computer system to complete your mission using. Why? There’s been significant enhancements made to the technology in recent years, and adoption of the cloud has opened the doors for many organizations to benefit.
The cloud has evolved dramatically from when it was first conceived in the 1950’s, when it was originally referred to as an “intergalactic computer network”, and corporations started prioritizing the efficiency of their large-scale mainframe computers, which allowed multiple users physical access to a computer from multiple terminals.
A tidal wave of concerns have been raised since then, and those concerns have been subsequently met with innovation of the technology, especially around the idea of security and scalability.
Perhaps the greatest achievement of cloud computing came in 1999 with the arrival of Salesforce.com, the CRM made that world realize it was possible for a large-scale corporation to receive a critical service through a website.
The cloud continues to serve the nonprofit sector
According to the most recent nonprofit & association technology trends survey by eXos, 83 percent of respondents say moving their nonprofit from an on premise cloud is their primary reason for migrating to the cloud. Perhaps even more jarring, is that 45 percent of respondents to the survey plan to move to the cloud in 1-3 years.
While most of the nonprofits who responded to the survey say their main motivation is moving away from their current on premise computing solution, another 82 percent of respondents reported cost savings associated with their switch. Interestingly enough, only 14 percent of respondents said cost saving was the main reason for their making the switch.
Telecommuting becoming more prevalent
Conducting business in 2015 is far different than it was even ten years ago in 2005. According the report, telecommuting has grown 87 percent across the nonprofit and association sector since 2005. With that said, the importance of remote access to data is imperative for nonprofits to continue operating at maximum efficiency.
Security, security, security
Not to be forgotten, according to the same study, 94 percent of respondents argued they saw a a marked improvement in their computing security since moving to the cloud. Most of whom cited up-t-date patching, better anti-spam filters, and more current antivirus protection as the main drivers of this increased security.
The bottom line is, the cloud just makes sense for the nonprofit sector. Whether attempting to cut costs or beef up security, the cloud serves the nonprofit sector better, faster, and efficiently than any on-premise solution.
