cloudWith the transport and logistics sector looking to maintain growth, companies are capitalising on the many operational and cost benefits offered by cloud computing to help them extend their bandwidth and create efficiencies.

Transport and logistics companies are currently looking at keeping costs low as they manage the myriad of challenges that growth presents. These include erratic consumer demand, supplier risk brought about by fuel worker disputes, fluctuating foreign exchange rates and increased transport costs. Managers in the sector are being urged to outsource their IT to the cloud in a move that will mean operational costs are more manageable with a rental based solution as opposed to upfront capital expenditure fees.

The hybrid cloud (a combination of public cloud and internal infrastructure) is now emerging as one of the foremost trends in IT for the next three years. Data centre and communication specialist Node4 has strengthened its offering by including hybrid cloud options within its new n4Cloud solution to respond to the changing needs of its customers and has received positive feedback on its services.

Andrew Gilbert, Managing Director at Node4, said, “A one size fits all approach to cloud computing doesn’t work and that’s why our cloud solution has been well received. When companies have the freedom to pay only for the services they need and do so on an ongoing basis it immediately becomes an attractive proposition. As a number of challenges in the transport and logistics sector are affecting the bottom line, the cloud will help to steady ongoing costs.

“We need to get away from the thinking that ‘the cloud’ is just one solution that will either work for your business or it won’t. It’s a wealth of options that can be applied in many instances so whether you’re using it for storage, applications or unified communications, there are benefits to outsourcing to the cloud. Hybrid is just one way that IT management can evolve in a way that keeps many processes in tact but at the same time adds functionality, boosts flexibility and has high levels of security.”