Cloud storage is a service model where digital data is stored on remote servers managed by a third-party provider and accessed over the internet. This approach eliminates the need for businesses to purchase and manage their own physical storage infrastructure. Instead, they can leverage on-demand, scalable capacity from a provider, often paying only for the resources they consume.
Adopting cloud storage offers significant advantages over traditional on-premises solutions. It allows businesses to streamline operations, reduce overhead, and enhance their data management capabilities, moving from a capital-intensive model to a flexible, operational one.
Cloud storage isn't a one-size-fits-all solution. It's typically offered in several deployment models, each catering to different needs for control, security, and scalability. Organizations can choose the model that best aligns with their operational requirements and data governance policies.
While often used interchangeably, cloud storage and cloud computing serve distinct but related functions in a modern IT strategy.
While cloud providers offer robust security, organizations must address key considerations to protect their data.
The cloud storage market is dominated by three hyperscalers: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. These providers lead the industry with vast global infrastructure and a wide range of services. They offer scalable solutions for nearly any use case, from enterprise data lakes to simple backups.
Beyond the big three, other vendors serve specific niches. Services like Dropbox and Box are popular for file synchronization and sharing. Meanwhile, traditional enterprise vendors like IBM and Dell EMC also offer robust cloud solutions.
How secure is my data in the cloud?
Leading providers use robust security like end-to-end encryption and compliance with major regulations. However, security is a shared responsibility; you must still properly configure access controls and manage user permissions to prevent breaches.
What happens if my cloud provider has an outage?
Most providers guarantee high uptime through service-level agreements (SLAs) and have built-in redundancy across multiple data centers. This ensures your data remains accessible and minimizes disruption to your operations during an outage.
Can I switch cloud providers easily?
Migrating between providers can be challenging due to data egress fees, technical complexities, and potential downtime. Planning a multi-cloud or hybrid strategy from the outset can help mitigate vendor lock-in and simplify future transitions.
Multi-channel marketing uses various platforms—like email, social media, and direct mail—to engage with customers wherever they are.
The consideration buying stage is where potential customers have defined their problem and are now actively researching and evaluating solutions.
Call disposition is the process of labeling the outcome of a call. It helps sales teams track interactions and plan their next steps effectively.
Affiliate marketing is a performance-based model where affiliates earn a commission for promoting another company’s products or services.
An electronic signature is a digital method for getting consent on electronic documents. It's a legally binding way to sign agreements online.
A product champion is an internal evangelist who drives a product's adoption and success by ensuring it solves real problems for their team.
Video selling uses personalized video messages to engage prospects, build rapport, and guide them through the sales funnel to close more deals.
A value gap is the difference between the value a customer expects from a product and the actual value they receive, often leading to churn.
Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) is the predictable, recurring income a business expects to receive each month from all active subscriptions.
Product-market fit is when a product meets the needs of a strong market, leading to high demand, customer satisfaction, and organic growth.
Direct mail is a marketing method where businesses send physical promotional materials directly to potential customers' mailboxes.
No Forms is a method for capturing lead data directly from your website visitors' profiles without requiring them to fill out any forms.
Scalability is a company's ability to handle increased workloads or market demands without a drop in performance or a spike in costs.
Data privacy is an individual's right to control their personal information, including how it's collected, processed, stored, and shared.
Subscription models are a business strategy where customers pay a recurring fee at regular intervals for access to a product or service.
A firewall is a digital barrier that protects a network by monitoring and controlling traffic, blocking unauthorized access and malicious content.
An account is a company or organization that you're targeting for sales. It can be a prospective, current, or even a past customer.
An AI sales script generator is a tool that uses artificial intelligence to create personalized sales scripts for any outreach scenario.
Nurture is the process of building relationships with potential customers, guiding them through the sales funnel with personalized communication.
Learn about B2B, including what is it, its key elements, the benefits of B2B partnerships, the differences between B2B and B2C, and strategies for effective marketing.
Virtual selling is the process of selling to customers remotely using technology like video calls, rather than meeting them in person.
Predictive analytics uses historical data, statistical algorithms, and machine learning to identify the likelihood of future outcomes.
De-duping, or data deduplication, is the process of eliminating duplicate copies of data within a dataset to improve accuracy and save space.
Average Revenue per Account (ARPA) is the average revenue generated from each customer account, usually measured on a monthly or annual basis.
Hadoop is an open-source framework designed for the distributed storage and processing of extremely large data sets across clusters of computers.
Learn about B2B intent data, including how B2B intent data enhances sales strategies, sources of B2B intent data, leveraging B2B intent data for competitiveness.
Inventory management is the process of ordering, storing, and using a company's inventory, from raw materials to finished goods.
A Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) is a secure, isolated section of a public cloud. It lets you provision your own logically isolated resources.
A sales pipeline is a visual representation of where prospects are in the sales process, from the first contact to the final sale.
Objection handling is the process of responding to a prospect's concerns or hesitations about a product or service to move a deal forward.
HubSpot is a customer relationship management (CRM) platform with tools for marketing, sales, and service, all aimed at helping businesses grow.
Low-hanging fruit are the most obvious and easy-to-tackle tasks or goals that provide a quick, valuable return for minimal effort.
Freemium is a business model offering a product's basic features for free, while charging for advanced or supplemental features.
A draw on commission is an advance payment a salesperson receives against future earnings, which is later repaid from earned commissions.
CRM data is the information businesses use to manage customer relationships. It covers contact details, purchase history, and communication logs.
A sales strategy is a comprehensive plan that outlines how a business will sell its products or services to achieve its revenue goals.
Video messaging involves sending short, personalized video clips to prospects or customers, replacing traditional text-based communication.
Sales rep training is the process of equipping your sales team with the skills, knowledge, and tools to effectively sell and hit their targets.
A Marketing Qualified Opportunity (MQO) is a lead vetted by marketing as a genuine sales opportunity, ready for direct sales follow-up.
Dynamic pricing is a strategy where businesses set flexible prices for products or services based on current market demands and other factors.
A/B testing is a method of comparing two versions of something, like a webpage or email, to determine which one performs better with your audience.
Segmentation analysis is the process of dividing a broad market into smaller, distinct groups of consumers with similar needs or characteristics.
Psychographics categorizes people by their attitudes, interests, and lifestyles, revealing the 'why' behind their purchasing decisions.
Product-Led Growth (PLG) is a business strategy where the product itself drives user acquisition, conversion, and expansion.
Fault tolerance is a system's ability to continue operating without interruption when one or more of its components fail.
An inside sales rep sells products or services remotely from an office, using digital tools like phone and email to connect with customers.
Lead enrichment software adds crucial data to your leads, like contact info and firmographics, to help you better understand and engage them.
Renewal rate is the percentage of customers who renew their subscriptions or contracts at the end of their service period.
Digital analytics is the analysis of data from digital channels to understand user behavior and optimize online experiences for business goals.
Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a focused B2B strategy where marketing and sales collaborate to target and convert high-value accounts.
A cloud-based CRM is a customer relationship management tool hosted online, letting teams access and manage customer data from anywhere.
Sales pipeline velocity is a metric that measures how quickly deals move through your sales funnel to generate revenue for your business.
Customer journey mapping is the process of creating a visual story of your customers' interactions with your brand across all touchpoints.
Learn about buyer behavior, including understanding the buyer's journey, influencing factors in buyer behavior, & buyer behavior and marketing strategy.
Cross-selling is a sales tactic of encouraging customers to purchase products or services that are related to what they're already buying.
Net Revenue Retention (NRR) is the percentage of recurring revenue kept from existing customers, including upsells, downgrades, and churn.
Customer Data Management (CDM) is the process of collecting, organizing, and analyzing customer data to create a unified view of your audience.
Sales automation uses software to streamline and automate repetitive, manual sales tasks, freeing up reps to focus on selling.
Precision targeting is a marketing strategy that uses data to identify and reach a highly specific audience most likely to convert.
Chatbots are AI-powered programs that simulate human conversation. They interact with users via text or voice, typically for customer support.
Text message marketing is a strategy where businesses send promotional messages, offers, and updates to customers via SMS or MMS.
Ramp-up time is the period a new hire takes to get fully up to speed and become a productive member of your go-to-market team.
Account mapping is comparing your customer list with a partner's to find common prospects and unlock new sales opportunities.
Sales enablement provides sales teams with the necessary tools, content, and information to help them sell more effectively and efficiently.
Lead response time is the duration between a potential customer showing interest and your team's first point of contact with them.
GDPR compliance means following the EU's strict data protection laws to ensure the secure and lawful handling of personal data.
Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM) is the portion of the market you can realistically capture with your current resources, sales, and marketing.
ABM orchestration aligns marketing and sales actions across channels to deliver seamless, personalized experiences to high-value accounts.
Single Sign-On (SSO) is an authentication method allowing users to access multiple applications with one set of login credentials.
Total Audience Measurement (TAM) provides a holistic view of content consumption, tracking viewership across all platforms and devices.
A needs assessment is the process of identifying the gap between a company's current state and its desired future state.
A weighted pipeline forecasts sales revenue by assigning a closing probability to each deal based on its stage in the sales funnel.
Learn about business intelligence, including key components of business intelligence, the role of BI in decision making, business intelligence tools and techniques.
Outbound leads are potential customers a business proactively contacts through outreach like cold calls, emails, or social media.
LinkedIn InMail messages are a premium feature that lets you directly message any LinkedIn member, even if you're not connected to them.
Customer buying signals are the actions, behaviors, or statements a prospect makes that indicate they are moving towards a purchase decision.
Account-Based Everything (ABE) is a strategy aligning sales, marketing, and success teams to focus on a specific set of high-value accounts.
Analytics platforms are tools that collect and analyze data from various sources, helping businesses track key metrics and make informed decisions.
A Product Qualified Lead (PQL) is a user who has experienced a product's value, signaling a strong potential to convert to a paid customer.
Video prospecting is the sales technique of sending personalized videos to potential customers to grab their attention and secure more meetings.
Direct-to-consumer (D2C) is a sales strategy where a brand sells its products directly to end customers, bypassing any third-party retailers.
Phishing attacks are fraudulent attempts to trick you into revealing sensitive data like passwords or financial info by posing as a trusted source.
Outbound sales is when reps proactively contact potential customers through cold calls or emails to generate leads and build a sales pipeline.
Sales intelligence is technology that gathers and analyzes data to help salespeople find and understand prospects and existing clients.
Retargeting marketing is a digital advertising strategy that targets users who have previously interacted with your website or brand online.
Email engagement measures how your audience interacts with your emails. It includes key actions like opens, clicks, replies, and forwards.
Learn about bounce rate, including understanding bounce rate implications, key factors affecting bounce rate, & reducing your bounce rate effectively.
Cold calling is a sales technique where reps contact potential customers who have had no prior interaction with their company or product.
Marketing automation uses software to automate repetitive marketing tasks, such as email marketing, social media posting, and ad campaigns.
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) uses software bots to mimic human actions and automate repetitive, rules-based tasks on digital systems.
A sales demonstration is a presentation showing a prospect how a product or service works and how it can solve their specific problems.
A small to medium-sized business (SMB) is a company whose employee count and annual revenue fall below certain industry-specific thresholds.
An Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) is a detailed description of the perfect, hypothetical company that would get the most value from your product.
Learn about brand loyalty, including how to build brand loyalty, benefits of brand loyalty, measuring brand loyalty, & strategies for increasing loyalty.
A Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) API is a web service that uses XML to exchange structured information between different applications.
Accessibility testing is a software testing method that verifies an application is usable by people with disabilities, like vision or hearing loss.
Software as a Service (SaaS) is a cloud-based model where users subscribe to an application and access it over the internet.
Sales performance metrics are key data points that measure a sales team's effectiveness in achieving its goals and driving revenue.
The buying process is the journey a customer takes from first realizing a need to making a final purchase decision and evaluating it afterward.
Lead scoring is the process of assigning points to leads based on their attributes and actions to determine their sales-readiness.