Each business uses a certain amount of technology to get things done, but today, no technology is as important to businesses as the Internet. You’ve begun to see businesses of all sizes spending thousands of dollars a month on Software-as-a-Service platforms designed to get workers the tools they need without placing undue pressure on a company’s capital budget. Today, we will talk about another cloud-based platform that is growing rapidly: Infrastructure-as-a-Service.
Profitability is less the measure of being able to turn a profit, and more the measure of how much profit you can make. For the successful small business, the integration of technology can dictate what kind of annual margins you are looking at. For the new company, however, it can be something even more critical: the difference between setting a course for success, or wallowing in failure. Today we analyze the cost difference between hosting your IT in-house, or choosing to host it in the cloud.
The cloud has proven to be an extremely useful tool for the modern business. Not only does it provide anywhere-anytime access to applications, processing, storage, et al; it also delivers those products as a service, allowing you to budget for recurring costs rather than major upfront ones. This provides your organization with functional, supported, and secure computing environments that eliminate a lot of the support costs that traditional computing environments require. It sounds like a perfect scenario for small and large businesses alike, but things aren’t always what they seem, as a lot of cloud users have found that they have incurred several hidden costs by using cloud platforms. Today, we take a look at these hidden costs.
In the modern workplace, collaboration plays a critical role. Successful businesses depend on a collaborative effort to create their products or deploy their services. With the world on pause because of the COVID-19 pandemic, cloud computing has strong and useful tools for businesses for its cost effectiveness and its ability to support remote workers. Today, we are going to look at some of the cloud-based collaboration tools businesses are using to keep their businesses in action.
Tomorrow is World Backup Day, which--considering the current business climate as the coronavirus pandemic rages on--seems only too appropriate. Let’s discuss why times like these make it only too clear how critical a business continuity strategy is, especially when supported by the right backup solution.
As we come up on tax time, we’re reminded just how important the professional services are. There is very little that businesses do without consultation. After all, consultants are just professionals in a field giving you advice on how to navigate forward. Lawyers, financial consultants, accountants, and advertising and marketing specialists are just a few of the crucial people that provide the average business with outside expertise.
If your business is taking advantage of the cloud to meet its operational and data storage needs, then you’re already doing something right. The cloud has changed the way businesses function, but this also needs to extend to the way businesses think about data security. How is your business or cloud provider securing your critical business data and applications stored in the cloud?
There’s no denying the importance of data management for businesses, but companies that utilize cloud-based data storage and infrastructure access have to be extra aware. How can your business ensure that your data storage methods are working for you, and not against you? For this week’s tip, we’ll discuss some of the ways that businesses can best use their cloud-based data storage without compromising efficiency.
Identify Your Business’ Specific Needs
Businesses often implement a cloud solution without thinking about the options that are available. For example, you might make a spur of the moment decision to implement a solution thinking that it will offer great flexibility and dynamic access to your business’ data, and in the heat of the moment, you’ll forget how important security is. While this is true, you’re foregoing a major step in the implementation process--research and consultation. The best way to implement a cloud solution is to make sure that you’re getting the solution that best suits your business’ needs.
That being said, there are three major types of cloud solutions that your business will be choosing from. The public cloud allows small businesses to take advantage of the cloud on a limited budget, but often falls short in terms of customized service and network security. On the other hand, a private cloud is hosted in-house and is tailor-made to suit the needs of your organization, security and all. Finally, the hybrid cloud is a melding of the two, allowing for maximum customization and flexibility without the need to sacrifice security.
Ensure Your Data Is Organized
The important thing to remember about cloud-based data is that you’re essentially moving data from one location to another over the Internet. Therefore, it makes sense that you want your data to be organized so that the process goes as planned. When your data is organized, applications and other components that communicate with your cloud work much better, so it’s critical to keep this particular tip in mind.
Of course, you can also think of cloud-based data storage and integration as a second chance to improve the way that your business functions. Look for ways that your business can optimize data storage and organization, or ways that your data storage has been lacking until now. It’s a great opportunity to assess what mistakes you have made in the past and take steps toward resolving them for your future infrastructure needs.
Determine the Migration Process
Depending on your business’ needs, you’ll have to determine which data, and how much of it, will be migrated to the cloud. You’ll need to determine just how much interaction there will be between your business’ applications and cloud storage, as well as what you’re using this data for. There are all kinds of uses for cloud data--it’s just a matter of figuring out how best your business can take advantage of it.
If you don’t know which information your business needs to focus on, BEI can help. We’ll not only help you implement a cloud solution but ensure that you know how it’s contributing to your business’ success. To learn more, reach out to us at (844) BIZ-EDGE.