Cloud Computing Tag

Small businesses seemingly always need to take a long look at the way they do things because they need to be as efficient as possible to carve out a market share. This often means using technology to make everything work. There are many different types of technologies that can help any SMB build more efficient operations, but the two we will outline in today’s blog, are two technologies that are probably doing the most to help SMBs improve. 

You might be familiar with the concept of hosting a service or application in-house on your own server units, and if you are, you know all about the struggles that come along with doing so. But what if we told you that you can get the same benefits of hosting your own applications and IT systems without the need for any of the bulky equipment taking up space in your office? Yes, that’s right—you too can host your business applications, even if you do not have the space to do so, and it’s all thanks to the cloud.

The cloud is a great tool to improve the accessibility of applications and data, but with so many options available to businesses, it can be a bit intimidating to get started with it. Let’s go over some of the various types of cloud solutions available, as well as some of the more well-known services that you might find helpful.

Cloud computing has been one of the most utilized tools for business in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has made it crucial for businesses to give remote access to tools and one effective way to make that happen was to look to the cloud. This has expanded an already booming market and presents businesses of all sizes with the opportunity to get the computing they need without huge upfront costs. Today, we’ll take a look at the cloud computing market and how you can leverage hosted computing solutions to improve your business. 

This is a strange time for everyone. For business owners, it’s filled with uncertainty as many of their businesses have had to shut down in the face of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Others were forced into embracing remote operations. For these companies, their cloud platforms are turning out to be major benefits. Today, we’ll explain why.

We hear a lot about the benefits of moving your business to the cloud. It can reduce that big expense on new infrastructure and the ongoing management costs. The cloud can increase the effectiveness of your IT budget. It can add functionality and increase user satisfaction. 

Businesses are rapidly moving all or portions of their IT to the cloud, and for a lot of good reasons, but before you do, it is important to remember the following:

When you look at the cloud service business model, it can be easy to wonder how it is so beneficial to businesses - or really, how it fiscally can be. After all, dollars to donuts, the monthly service charges most likely add up to less than a business would spend for another, comparable service. To understand how the cloud does this, it may help to look at something that often occurs in the office.

The cloud can bring numerous benefits to a business. Public cloud offerings can reduce technology costs, provide scalability and flexibility to a business’ computing infrastructure, promote collaboration, protect your business from data loss, and much, much more. What it cannot do, however, is guarantee the control some organizations wish to have over their technology infrastructure. Some businesses prioritize that control, while others are bound by industry and government-induced regulations. For those businesses, there is the hybrid cloud.

Consultation is something that can save businesses a considerable amount of time and resources. After all, you can’t expect a business professional to know everything there is to know about everything. Professional services, like those of lawyers, financial consultants, accountants, advisers, and marketing specialists, are required by just about all businesses to at least some extent. Suffice to say that each of these specialists has dedicated software and IT solutions that are needed for success.

Software as a Service
The cloud has created a revolution in professional service acquisition, making it easier than ever before to leverage software applications. Software as a Service, or SaaS, is the delivery of software applications through the cloud for a monthly fee. SaaS solutions are typically billed by the user, and they include services like Office 365 and G Suite. Software developers have built services that can be deployed through the cloud, making them much more accessible and flexible according to the business’ specific needs.

Mobile Solutions
Mobility can put businesses in a favorable position, and from a professional services standpoint, it can also create a lot of complications. For example, professional service providers need to consider the federal, state, and industry regulations that might entail implementing more layers of security for sending and receiving certain data. Mobility might create more opportunities to be productive, but it also means that data is being exposed to more threats, meaning that those in professional services industries need to be careful about how it is utilized.

A virtual private network, or VPN, is the easiest way to solve this dilemma, as it provides a layer of encryption that gives your employees the ability to keep data secure while it’s in transit. Furthermore, this frees providers from bringing paper documents with them all over the place, meaning that there is less opportunity to lose physical documents.

Document Management
Access to information is one of the most important parts of running a professional services business. This is true both in and out of the office. A document management system is critical to guaranteeing access to a digital database rather than a filing cabinet, opening up lots of opportunities for accessibility and convenience. You can store files as PDFs in a secure database, and a relational database management system will provide an end user with the ability to search the system for keywords in these documents. All the user needs is an Internet connection.

COMPANYNAME can equip your organization with all of the above tools. To learn more, reach out to us at PHONENUMBER.

In today’s modern business world, you’d be hard-pressed to find an organization that doesn’t utilize the cloud to at least some extent. Let’s take a dive into how businesses use the cloud to be more sustainable and efficient.

Understanding How Business Computing Has Changed
It wasn’t so long ago that users needed the physical copy of a movie to watch it, but with the advent of streaming at an affordable monthly rate, people are finding that they are spending less money and still getting all the access to movies that they love. The same can be said for television series, as you don’t have to wait for the airing time to watch a specific episode.

This cloud-based model has been adopted by many companies that provide software to organizations. Rather than purchasing licenses, businesses instead choose to pay a monthly fee for each user to access this service through the cloud. Of course, when it’s absolutely needed, the organization might still choose to purchase the software outright, but cloud computing is generally considered the standard.

Why Cloud Computing Is So Popular
Rather than selling consumers installation codes or discs, the cloud enables organizations like Adobe and Microsoft to deliver services to users based specifically on what they need. Here are just some of the many benefits:

• Reduced Piracy: The cloud is able to prevent software piracy simply by making it more accessible. The solutions are better protected by the developer, as the user needs an account to access it. Plus, if users have more access to these solutions, they will be less likely to seek alternative means of accessing it through piracy.
• Reduced Business Requirements: On-site infrastructure also plays a role in how often users can take advantage of software solutions. While businesses would need to implement full-blown workstations in the past, cloud solutions enable workers to access services on any device they own, whether it’s a slimmed down workstation or their laptop.
• Reduced User Restrictions: Users are less restricted by resources when they use the cloud for certain services. For example, the momentary “genius” moment where you’re not in front of a computer won’t help if you have no way to record it. The cloud gives employees the opportunity to take advantage of solutions on mobile devices, making them much more accessible when needed most.
• Reduced Financial Toll: A user might need a large down payment for purchasing a software license, as well as all the services fees required to maintain the infrastructure. Software as a service through the cloud makes it so that software is more accessible and affordable to businesses.

Does your business want to take advantage of software in the cloud? COMPANYNAME can help. To learn more, reach out to us at PHONENUMBER.