What is the Cloud?
When someone says they store their documents “in the cloud”, what they mean is that their documents are stored on the internet. Email, Documents, Backup …it doesn’t matter what it is, if it can be stored in your computer, it can be stored “in the cloud”.
Cloud backup such as DropBox, OneDrive, Google Drive or iCloud upload your information from your computer to their servers via the internet. Most cloud-based services provide software that make it easy to interact with that service. The benefits of the cloud include:
Flexibility Cloud-based services are ideal for businesses with growing or fluctuating bandwidth demands. If your needs increase it’s easy to scale up your cloud capacity, drawing on the service’s remote servers. Likewise, if you need to scale down again, the flexibility is baked into the service.
Disaster recovery Businesses of all sizes should be investing in robust disaster recovery, but for smaller businesses that lack the required cash and expertise, this is often more an ideal than the reality. Cloud is now helping more organizations buck that trend.
Automatic software updates The beauty of cloud computing is that the servers are off-premise, out of sight and out of your hair. Suppliers take care of them for you and roll out regular software updates – including security updates – so you don’t have to worry about wasting time maintaining the system yourself. Leaving you free to focus on the things that matter, like growing your business.
Capital-Expenditure Free Cloud computing cuts out the high cost of hardware. You simply pay as you go and enjoy a subscription-based model that’s kind to your cash flow. Add to that the ease of setup and management and suddenly your complex IT project looks at lot friendlier.
Increased collaboration When your teams can access, edit and share documents anytime, from anywhere, they’re able to do more together, and do it better. Cloud-based workflow and file sharing apps help them make updates in real time and gives them full visibility of their collaborations.
Work from anywhere If you’ve got an internet connection you can be at work. And with most serious cloud services offering mobile apps, you’re not restricted by which device you’ve got to hand.
Document control The more employees and partners collaborate on documents, the greater the need for watertight document control. Before the cloud, workers had to send files back and forth as email attachments to be worked on by one user at a time. Sooner or later, you end up with a mess of conflicting file content, formats and titles.
If you have any questions about the cloud, or you might be considering the move to the cloud, contact us at anytime.
This IT Security Tip is brought to you by BlackBox Connections.
You Want Secure IT with Fast Response at the Best Price!
We are featured on Page 101 in the March ‘Business in Calgary’ magazine
