What is one key advantage of cloud computing in business practice?

One key advantage of cloud computing in business practice is enhanced flexibility in resource allocation. This flexibility allows businesses to easily scale their IT resources up or down based on current demand. For example, if a company experiences a sudden increase in traffic or project workload, it can quickly allocate more computing power, storage, or applications without the need for significant upfront hardware investments or lengthy procurement processes.

This on-demand resource availability not only helps in optimizing costs—since businesses only pay for the resources they actually use—but also enables rapid response times to changing business needs. Companies can adapt more readily to market changes, support remote work environments, and test new applications or services without the constraints imposed by traditional IT infrastructure.

In contrast, the other options suggest limitations that cloud computing seeks to overcome: restricted data accessibility, increased hardware costs, and limited scalability do not align with the core benefits that cloud services are designed to provide.