There’s no shortage of news these days regarding cloud computing and how this technology is making businesses more productive. For the small business owner looking to do more with less, there are numerous advantages with cloud computing.
Time Savings
When you decide to engage a cloud hosting companies, many of your important day to day computer management activities are immediately handed over to the cloud service provider. Things like server management and maintenance, software patches, program upgrades and daily backups, albeit important in keeping your servers and the network running, no longer exist as a bottomless pit of your IT staff’s labor hours. This is because the server systems that used to be housed in your company are now running from the cloud host location. Your employees are provided access via the Internet, using a web browser like Internet Explorer or Google Chrome. Because cloud companies offer the use of servers and software, the cloud IT staff performs daily server management task. Once your IT team is freed of these duties, their time now becomes available for special projects that have been on the list and maybe even have critical importance, but were stalled or placed on the back burner for lack of available resources.
Do you hate computers, but need to have a hot shot computer genius in your back pocket when the fire alarm rings? Opt in for remote support services via the cloud and voila “on demand” technical support at your service. If any of your computers have a problem, your cloud host can reach through the Internet, connect to you, fix the problem and you’re back in business. Problem solved! Cloud computing helps reduce PC downtime and offers a positive impact on employee productivity.
Lowering Operational Cost
Cloud hosting pricing lends well to budget constraints. Business software purchases carry hefty licensing fees. The value of each server license and software run on every PC can surmount to thousands of dollars and additional fees are required for the support of the software. These figures can cause a walloping dent in any small business software budgets. Cloud hosting pricing schemes vary but make it more affordable for a company to have the latest software and ongoing support. The cloud hosting firms utilize the most recent software editions and hardware systems. For a monthly subscription, applications such as accounting, email, and CRM are available as a cloud offer. Some cloud firms have programs that charge by service utilization, where pricing is based on how much data is transferred between the host and your company.
Security
If you think Fort Knox is secure, you haven’t seen nothing yet. Cloud companies have taken extreme measures to ensure the safety of your data from a physical and equipment level. Their facilities are outfitted with special power generators in the case of power failures. Some firms have data centers which are physically duplicated in separate parts of the country, and in the case of a natural disasters, the duplicate location is brought online within seconds. Fire protection systems are high tech and prevent the spread of a fire by disbursing special liquids.
Servers are placed in locked cages to prevent theft and their components such as hard drives are mirrored onto additional drives. If a drive fails, the mirrored drive replaces the dead drive.
Additionally the cloud host facility is on camera surveillance and no one without the property authority or security credentials is permitted to enter the data center.
The cloud host IT staff is available around the clock and highly skilled in the management and support of all the systems and network infrastructure installed for various clients. Their credentials are checked with electronic badges and some other biological identifier like, such as a fingerprint.
Management staff ensures data backups are performed on rigorous schedules and validation testing is performed to guarantee that backups will perform in the event data needs to be restored.
Lastly many hosting companies have received certification from regulating authorities on the strict adherence of handling financial data and HIPPA regulations for healthcare organizations.
How to Get Started
The first place to start is with your computer support organization. They are intimately familiar with your network, the programs you run on a day to day basis and how your business operates. Employ them in the evaluation of the many types of cloud solutions available and to help you navigate through the cloud service provider terrain.
Cloud computing offers businesses significant cost savings, helps in gaining operational efficiencies and ensures you have access to your data around the clock, while being stored in a fortified, secured and extremely protected environment.
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