What Is Cloud Uptime, And How Do You Get The Best for Your Business?

Published July 30, 2020
secure cloud hosted accounting software for SMB

Making the switch to a cloud-based accounting solution from a desktop variant is one of the smartest business decisions you could make.

Desktop accounting software does give you access to all the functionality you need, but a cloud-hosted solution can deliver so much more. For example, QuickBooks Hosting gives your employees access to all their emails, files, and applications anywhere and on any device.

Additionally, cloud QuickBooks Hosting is an excellent option for small and medium-sized accounting firms because it gives you numerous advantages within a limited budget.

It should be noted that the quality and quantity of services offered depend largely on your hosting service provider. That’s one of the primary reasons why organizations put a lot of time and effort into choosing the right cloud vendor.

You might also like: The Questions You Should Ask a QuickBooks Hosting Provider

There are several factors businesses take into account when making a decision, but cloud uptime is one of the biggest priorities.

Great technical support and fast data centers are of little value if the hosting service has sparse uptime. Making the shift from desktop software to a hosted solution is supposed to give you real value in terms of uninterrupted remote access and seamless transitions between devices.

With long, regular periods of downtime, your business won’t be able to realize the full potential of cloud-hosted software.

To ensure your business gets the best, keep reading for a deep dive into cloud uptime and its implications.

What Is Cloud Uptime?

Cloud uptime is simply the amount of time a cloud service is accessible to the end user. Usually, cloud hosting providers state a percentage that can be used to calculate estimated uptime. For example, if the hosting service offers an uptime of 99.6 percent, this means the system cannot be accessed for 1.46 days a year.

Even a single percentage point can make a huge difference, which is why you should always go for providers that offer the highest uptime.

What Is the Best Cloud Uptime Rate?

The best cloud uptime rate is obviously 100 percent—but that’s practically impossible. Very few cloud hosting providers in the world offer that number, and it usually comes at a high cost.

A trusted cloud vendor that provides a cloud uptime rate of greater than 99.8 percent is adequate for most firms and translates into negligible hours of downtime.

What Are the Implications of Excessive Downtime?

We’ve established that uptime is a crucial factor in your decision—but how does downtime affect your business? Here’s how downtime can kill productivity and make your organization more vulnerable:

1. Productivity Losses

Most workplaces today cut down on infrastructural costs with a Bring Your Own Device policy. This allows firms to take full advantage of cloud-based solutions as it reduces costs and improves productivity. However, employees depend on a central network connection and continuous access to business information.

When the cloud platform crashes, your employees have nothing to do, leading to confusion, annoyance, and, ultimately, loss of productivity.

2. Cost of In-House Technical Support

Excessive downtime is a strong indicator that your service provider isn’t adept at diagnosing and dealing with problems. As a result, your firm might need to invest in a skilled in-house technical team to keep servers running.

It’s even more challenging to identify the root cause of crashes when using third-party hosting services—the reason being that the source could be the hardware, software, or even the intermediate connection.

As a result, these issues take even more time to resolve and can be costly for the business.

3. Greater Risk of Cyber-Attacks

If you’re experiencing regular downtime, there’s a good chance your system is more vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Not only does it make your organization an easy target, but a cyber attack could also lead to even more downtime.

In fact, equipment downtime caused by cyber attacks is substantially more destructive than one triggered by a hardware malfunction.

To prevent the far-reaching effects of downtime, it’s best to invest in a reliable cloud hosting service that provides high cloud uptime rates and strong IT support services.

Choose a Reliable QuickBooks Hosting Service

Get in touch with gotomyerp today to receive some of the best QuickBooks hosting services throughout the United States. As the leading provider of secure and reliable QuickBooks hosting services, we’ve helped thousands of clients accelerate growth and meet their business goals.

Call us today for more information on our services.