The cloud or Cloud computing, can be confusing, even mystifying, but this need not be the case. With a large variety of options and more coming on line, Optimised Communications can help get you the right products and a price your business will be comfortable with.
Cloud Computing in a nutshell?
The cloud is nothing new. Many business connect to their office using a thin client or to pick up their emails. The servers in the office that provided these services, could be said to be cloud based as uses needed the Internet as a medium to connect to them.
Now imagine all those servers, rather than being in your office, are now hosted with someone else. You access them using the internet. They are in “The Cloud”.
So the Cloud are servers, providing specific services such as email, file sharing, accounting and hosted by someone else which you access using the Internet.
What services are available?
The Cloud has the potential to offer any service you can think of and more are coming on line daily.
The most basic cloud services are emails and file sharing.
Accounting companies now provide their products in the cloud.
Examples of cloud based, (as well as desktop) based services are Microsoft Office and Google Documents..
The Cloud can even now host far more complex system through companies providing such services e.g. Microsoft Azure.
What are the benefits of Cloud Computing?
There are many benefits to the Cloud some of which we list here;
- No more expensive Servers
- Reduced IT maintenance costs
- No worries about backups
- Services always available no matter where you are.
- More productive
- Fast and easy setup
Cloud Security – How secure is it really?
Companies that provide cloud services spend more money on security than the average small business. They are more likely to be much more secure than your current business network.
How much does the cloud cost?
Costs can vary, depending on what services you use and who provides them. Small business often spend in excess £5000 on a server and software. Servers need costly maintenance throughout their life cycle adding to more costs. Indeed, over 5 a year period your costs could be as much as £15,000. However with the cloud, you are unlikely to get even near that figure over the same time period.
For more information on how we can help get you on the right Cloud platform, contact us or make an appointment