Posts tagged small businesses
Cloud Computing Will Surpass the Internet in Importance
Jul 10th
IDG News Service — Cloud computing will top the Internet in importance as development of the Web continues, according to a university professor who spoke Friday at the World Future Society conference in Boston.
While those who developed the Internet had a clear vision and the power to make choices about the road it would take — factors that helped shape the Web — Georgetown University professor Mike Nelson wondered during a panel discussion whether the current group of developers possesses the foresight to continue growing the Internet.
“In the mid-90s there was a clear conscience about what the Internet was going to be,” he said. “We don’t have as good a conscience as we did in the ’90s, so we may not get there.”
While a vision of the Internet’s future may appear murky, Nelson said that cloud computing will be pivotal. “The cloud is even more important than the Web,” he said.
Cloud computing will allow developing nations to access software once reserved for affluent countries. Small businesses will save money on capital expenditures by using services such as Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud to store and compute their data instead of purchasing servers.
Sensors will start to appear in items such as lights, handheld devices and agriculture tools, transmitting data across the Web and into the cloud.
If survey results from the Pew Internet and American Life Project accurately reflect the U.S.’ attitude toward the Internet, Nelson’s cloud computing prediction could prove true.
In 2000, when the organization conducted its first survey and asked people if they used the cloud for computing, less than 10 percent of respondents replied yes. When asked the same question this May, that figure reached 66 percent, said Lee Rainie, the project’s director, who also spoke on the panel.
Further emphasizing the role of cloud computing’s future, the survey also revealed an increased use of mobile devices connecting to data stored at offsite servers.
However, cloud computing faces development and regulation challenges, Nelson cautioned.
“There are lots of forces that could push us away from the cloud of clouds,” he said.
He advocated that companies develop cloud computing services that allow users to transfer data between systems and do not lock businesses into one provider. The possibility remains that cloud computing providers will use proprietary technology that forces users into their systems or that creates clouds that are only partially open.
“I think there is a chance that if we push hard … we can get to this universal cloud,” he said.
Continue Reading Full Source: By Fred O’Connor at CIO.com
Related posts
Why Small Businesses Are Using ‘Big Data’
Jun 4th
Cloud computing reduces the cost of big data analytics.
Big data analytics is no longer just the purview of big companies with big budgets. Increasingly, cloud computing gives small companies an affordable and easy-to-use way to find out how big data can help grow their existing business or uncover new opportunities. Because cloud computing removes the need to invest in expensive infrastructure to try out their new ideas, small companies no longer face barriers to big data innovation.
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) providers such as Amazon, Microsoft ( MSFT – news – people ), Google ( GOOG – news – people ), GoGrid, Rackspace and Slicehost, along with the on-demand analytics solution vendors that support them, make big data analytics very affordable. A lot of parameters go into computing the exact price of running big data analytics in the cloud such as usage and configuration and, of course, each IaaS and analytics vendor has its own pricing model. However, it is safe to say, that there are solutions that can allow a small business to perform simple data analytics on a terabyte of data for as low as $100.
So, perhaps you are now convinced that big data analytics is becoming cheap but are wondering what demand from small companies will really be. After all, don’t small companies have small data? Do they really have the skill sets required for big data analytics? Are the solutions available to these small companies really as good as what the big players have access to? The answers to these questions may surprise you.
All companies have big data whether they realize it or not. Certainly, most online businesses, large or small, will collect large volumes of data from their Web logs and clickstream data. But internal data can be just a small part of the big data portfolio as the number of publicly available data sources grows. Consider that the World Bank makes its statistical data about the entire world available online or that all Twitter data since March 2006 will soon be archived digitally at the Library of Congress. Further, there are plenty of news and investment data services that offer low-cost access to their information and their prices keep dropping.
Big data analytics functionality is likely to accelerate in the world of cloud analytics instead of being just a subset of what is available in non-cloud products. Just as users in small companies turn to IaaS to gain affordable access to big data analytics, developers of analytics software and associated plug-ins will turn to the infrastructure as an affordable way to develop and test their applications. Affordability will increase ubiquity of solutions and extend their functionality.
Ease-of-use is a major focus of on-demand solutions in general, particularly big data analytics intended for business users. On top of ease-of-use as a major design focus of on-demand solutions, technical support is undergoing a dramatic transformation. The mindset of hiding exactly how products work and product bugs from competitors and prospective customers is past history. Instead, on-demand, big data analytics open up the kimono in public forums to expose users to this information as quickly as possible, to make users self-sufficient and to encourage member collaboration. These communities for customer service have become just as important to a cloud vendor’s website as its sales and marketing information.
Related posts
Salesforce’s Benioff: Microsoft, IBM play catchup in cloud computing
May 11th
With Google, IBM and Microsoft suddenly racing to deliver Software-as-a-Service to small businesses, Marc Benioff, outspoken co-founder and CEO of Salesforce.com, couldn’t be more tickled.
Benioff has been championing the service as disruptive technology for more than a decade. Technology Live caught up with Benioff shortly after he delivered this keynote presentation at a Google event promoting Google Apps Marketplace. Excerpts of that interview:
TL: So what do you make of all of these clever, discrete hosted services suddenly becoming available to small business?
Benioff: No one has to buy software anymore. The software has gone online. That’s where the software lives. It’s not anything more than that.
TL: So what’s driving this?
Benioff: Users are just completely frustrated with the lack of innovation that has occurred in traditional business software. You look at products like Microsoft SharePoint or IBM’s Lotus Notes and they’re designed for systems whose days are gone by.
TL: Why are you such an enthusiastic backer of Google Apps Marketplace?
Benioff: Google Apps Marketplace is kind of like Apple’s iPhone apps store, except it’s for business software. The idea is that customers can choose from a lot of different vendors and technologies and easily integrate them. That’s where the power is. There are a lot of different ways you can integrate these services together.
TL: Surely you’re not ruling out Microsoft and IBM in this emerging space?
Benioff: No. I’m not ruling out Microsoft and IBM, but they have done a terrible job over the last decade. That’s just material fact. Certainly their investors have paid the price for their inability to innovate and their attempts to try to hold on to the old paradigms instead of innovating aggressively in the Internet. It’s not about Microsoft or IBM; they’re just trying to figure out how they can tactically catch up.
TL: Where do you see this going in the next year or two?
Benioff: We are entering the second generation of cloud computing, call it Cloud 2.0. It’s about enabling a whole new level of capabilities for business users delivered on the next generation of BlackBerries, iPhones and iPads. It’s about all these cloud services providing a greater level of collaboration, social computing, communication, entertainment and information management.
TL: Do you see cloud computing emerging as an X-factor; can it help small business boost the economic recovery?
Benioff: Yes, this is fantastic for small business because it gives them the power of big business. We have large customers and we have small customers. Cisco has 50,000 users with us, Dell has 80,000 users. But we have lots of customers with five users, 10 users and 30 users. They’re all running the exact same code from the exact same servers. It used to be small business lined up over here to buy this software, medium business lined up over here and large business lined up over here. Cloud computing blurs those lines. All businesses are now able to get this kind of capability with a level of equality that’s never been possible before. It makes it a more democratic world.
Related posts
8 Tips to Getting Started in Cloud Computing
May 10th
In the old days, infrastructure meant buying $5,000 servers, putting them into high-security, cooled rooms, and hiring IT folks to make them all work. And then doing this all over again so that you’d have redundancy. Those days are gone—in fact, if you tell investors that you need money for IT infrastructure, they’re going to question your intelligence.
Cloud computing is what has changed the game. It provides small businesses with the ability to deploy websites and applications quickly, to pay only for what you use, and leave all the management issues to someone else. It makes for a leaner business that can react faster to challenges and opportunities.
But cloud computing also requires understanding a whole new technology and computing philosophy. I was lucky when we put my company’s website, Alltop.com, “into the cloud” because our service provider, Rackspace, hosts hundreds of companies and our developers at Electric Pulp have done this many times. The gang at Rackspace and I have come up with a list of ten tips to help you get started in cloud computing:
1. Know the different options available to you. “Cloud computing” simply means that you pay only for what you use—like electricity, but it can be found many forms. A platform-as-a-service (PaaS for short) works well for front-end applications and websites. It takes care of a lot of the infrastructure you need to get started. An infrastructure as a service (IaaS for short) gives you access to a command line and allows you the flexibility to customize your load balancing, autoscaling, security and failover settings, but requires advanced technical knowledge in system administration.
If you don’t have someone comfortable programming in a terminal, an IaaS is not for you. Infrastructures-as-a-service require some system administration experience. If you don’t have someone with this type of expertise, either find a competent systems administrator or consider a platform-as-a-service instead. A PaaS provider should be able to handle basic but necessary tasks such as load balancing and security.
2. Understand that scaling is a skill, not a default. Cloud computing gives you a lot of flexibility to scale at a lower cost. However, no cloud provider offers “infinite scalability” out of the box though. The world’s most popular websites and applications have professionals working full-time to ensure uptime and speed when they are needed most. Be sure to factor this into your long-term IT costs.
3. Implement a disaster plan. The cloud is not fool proof, but there are ways to protect yourself should it go down. A multi-tenant cloud will go down on occasion. If uptime is crucial to your business, be sure you have a disaster recovery plan, geographic failover, and redundancy set in place.
4. Don’t be naïve. Cloud computing will not make up for a poorly written application or database structure. A hosting provider gets the blame for a lot of performance issues. If a database is not set up properly, or code is not optimized, there is nothing a hosting provider can do to make up for this. When it comes to developers, remember that you often get what you pay for. Be sure to check their resumes and portfolio for other work.
5. Budget for your specific use-case. Calculating your budget is not as simple as reading a provider’s website. Cloud computing treats hosting as a utility. Like other utilities such as electricity, your bill will vary each month with usage. If you see a surge in traffic or users, use more space, or process more information, expect to pay more at the end of the month.
6. Choose a cloud provider on your needs, not its popularity. Do you need something that is highly elastic in a short period of time? Are you going to need support and additional services? High availability? Integration with third party software? Different cloud providers excel at different things. Consider your individual needs, do your homework, and ask cloud providers questions about their availability, speed, security, and integration before you sign up.
7. Remember: some applications are not good fits for cloud. Cloud computing is great for anything you’d need to deploy quickly and at a low cost. However, just like multi-tenant buildings are not good for every business, a multi-tenant cloud is not good for every application. If you have high security or bandwidth needs, you will need to pursue dedicated gear.
For security reasons, any application that requires PCI or HIPPA compliance is not a good fit for cloud computing. A multi-tenant cloud may also not be able to handle extreme performance loads often seen by more resource intensive applications. Evaluate your specific needs and don’t rule out dedicated or hybrid hosting (a combination of cloud and dedicated hosting) if it looks like the right fit.
8. Think outside of the box. When hosting becomes a commodity, it opens your business up to new and exciting things. You can deploy applications or sites on the fly. Consider media rich or real-time elements to your application or website. Set up a server just to comb through customer information or other data your company collects. These possibilities were not as accessible to the masses before cloud computing, so don’t be afraid to try new things and expand how your business operates.
Full Source: Guy Kawasaki at OpenForum
Related posts
Cloud Computing Boosts Virtual Companies – Cloud Technology
Apr 9th
Cloud computing is no longer a fluffy abstraction. Consider California-based Rimon Law Group, which calls itself a Web 2.0 legal firm. Rimon employs 28 senior lawyers in seven U.S. states but has no offices, thanks to cloud computing services that are helping to change the face of businesses across the globe.
Rimon and many other professional services companies such as Innovations International, a 25-year-old U.S. consulting firm, are using cloud computing to slash costs, put on a professional face for clients, and transform themselves into virtual organizations.
What exactly is cloud computing? By one definition, it means shifting computing tasks and storage from local desktop PCs and company servers to remote systems across the Internet. And in the case of communications services, it means replacing local electronic switches known as private branch exchanges—which can range in price from several thousand up to hundreds of thousands of dollars—with software that can be easily controlled by any company employee over the Internet, without any training.
Both Rimon Law Group and Innovations International are among thousands of companies now using technology from RingCentral, a seven-year-old company based in San Mateo, Calif. RingCentral was named a 2010 Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum and has raised $25 million in funding from the likes of venerable Silicon Valley venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and Khosla Ventures. The company’s software is lowering the cost structure for business phone systems to as little as $10 a month and delivering those services in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.
RingCentral’s pitch is resonating with clients who are eager to save money and ensure they don’t lose business when executives are on the move. The company’s cloud-based technology “is a great equalizer that allows very small companies to come across as a fully professional entity to their customers,” says chief executive Vlad Shmunis, a native of Ukraine who now lives in the U.S. “Similarly, companies of any size can just be more accessible to their customers anywhere in the world.”
The market for these types of cloud-based unified communications services is projected to be worth $1.6 billion by 2016 in Europe alone, says Dorota Oviedo, a research analyst in the Warsaw office of Frost & Sullivan. It’s no surprise, then, that a number of newcomers are targeting the same space, including Poland’s Edge Solutions. Edge has a cloud-based offering called IntraOut which provides mobile phone synchronization, email, business grade instant messaging, high definition VoIP, groupware, teleconferencing, and videoconferencing.
Unified communications are only one of a number of software services being delivered via the cloud. Other services include email, customer relationship management, human resources and executive search, application development, storage, and security. Innovations International, for example, says it is using RingCentral instead of a private branch exchange, plus Google apps for e-mail and calendar functions, and technology from Mountain View (Calif.)-based Egnyte for cloud-based data management. Combined, cloud based services are projected to grow globally from $14 billion in 2009 to $33 billion in 2013, according to research firm IDC.
A 2009 IDC survey of 75 British companies with 250 or more full-time employees found that 47% of companies are already using some cloud services in two or more areas and 16% are using them in seven or more areas. Expect that number to mushroom as more and more services move to the cloud, says David Bradshaw, IDC’s research manager for European cloud services.
Both small businesses and large enterprises are interested in unified communications being delivered as a cloud service, since it represents a cost savings and eliminates the headache of managing and integrating multiple applications and vendors, says Frost & Sullivan’s Oviedo.
For law firm Rimon, the choice to go virtual was easy. The average price per office per associate in downtown San Francisco is $10,000 annually, a waste of money since most of lawyers never see clients in their offices anyway, says Yaacov Silberman, the firm’s co-founder. What’s more, it’s easier to attract the best people if employers can promise better quality of life, such as by letting people work from home or easily move from place to place without fear of losing their jobs, if, for instance, their spouses are transferred, he says.
Since its creation in 2008, the virtual law firm has successfully lured high-profile talent such as Dov Grunschlag, a 30-year legal veteran specializing in labor and employment who worked as a professor of law at the University of California’s Davis campus and served as law clerk to then-Chief Justice Roger Traynor of the California Supreme Court before entering law practice. Other Rimon Law attorneys include seasoned Silicon Valley attorney Fred Tsien and Martin Goodman, a lawyer with 40 years experience specializing in creditor’s rights, who has worked for credit unions and banks such as Citibank.
RingCentral’s services include multi-extension business phone systems with an auto-receptionist that professionally answers, greets, and directs callers to the right department or person. Each employee can define how they want to automatically route calls to their home office or mobile phones, based on the time of day and availability. Users also can make calls from their iPhones while on vacation and make it look as if the call was placed from their office. And, Internet fax capabilities convert incoming faxes to PDFs, making them immediately available to distribute to team members to view, forward, and file electronically.
Phone companies see such services as a compliment, rather than competition. That’s why AT&T and ClearWire have both partnered with RingCentral to distribute the service in the U.S., says Shmunis. In Britain, RingCentral worked with BT Group in 2008 to offer services to BT’s small business customers with cloud based phone systems. RingCentral says the partnership was disbanded due to strategic and other changes at BT. In a written reply to a question from Informilo BT confirms it had a commercial partnership with RingCentral. “However, however, after a performance review, we decided to discontinue the relationship,” BT says. RingCentral is now directly servicing the U.K. small business market via its own local Web site.
Shmunis, a seasoned entrepreneur who sold a telecommunications company he co-founded called RingZero Systems to Motorola in the late 1990s, remains optimistic about RingCentral’s international expansion and says he also sees huge growth opportunities for the company in the U.S. Since one-half of the work force in the U.S. is employed at businesses with 100 people or less, Shmunis believes there are well over 10 million potential businesses that could be customers of such services in the U.S. alone. Source: BusinessWeek
Related Blogs
- Is Technology Making Children More Empathic? « ResourceShelf
- Search Marketing: Tips on mastering the latest innovations in this …
- Larry King: Shagging His Sister-In-Law? Ugh | Hecklerspray
- Green Stock; Electric Vehicle Company, Balqon Corporation (OTCBB …
- Top 10 Marketing Concepts for Small Business | cmosexod.com
- Verizon's On-Demand Cloud Computing Solution Adds Server Cloning …
- Grid Computing in Distributed Gis | Technology Base
- Israeli Innovations Expo 2010 | Philately News
- » International Wall / AC Charger for the Amazon Kindle Latest …
- Steve Jobs' Email Response to International Customer: “Are You Nuts?”
- The Reinvention of the Cloud Computing Reseller
- Frustrations with cloud computing mount
- Middleware Software Constitutes 41% of IBM's Stock « Note of the Day
- Local Business Listing Marketing vs. Data Services | Search Engine …
- Fleetwood RV Partners with MCD Innovations | RV Business
- Rest Easy: Mother and Son Save International Banana Museum | NileGuide
- Small Business Information Center | Technology | MediaVerso
- Convert Your Ecommerce Website Into Yahoo Store | Technology …
- Ash cloud over Europe | Manufacturology
- Technology can impact home based health care | KevinMD.com
Related posts
13 Terrific Cloud Services for Small Business
Mar 18th
For better or for worse, cloud-computing is the technology of the future. Just ask Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer, who recently said that seventy percent of Microsoft employees are doing something at least related to cloud computingin a year, that figure will be ninety percent. While some (such as PCMag’s crankiest geek, John Dvorak) think Microsoft should abandon cloud computing, the rest of the industry is pushing forward. Although cloud computing is not without concerns about security, stability, and data ownership, at its best it allows businesses to unshackle day-to-day operations from the local datacenter. Cloud computing is helping to shape today’s truly mobile workforce.
For small businesses, cloud computing hits a particular sweet spot. With cloud services, small businesses reap the benefits of not having to deploy physical infrastructure like file and e-mail servers, storage systems or shrink-wrapped software. Plus, the “anywhere, anytime” availability of these solutions, means hassle-free collaboration between business partners and employees by simply using a browser. In fact, it’s not a stretch to say that aside from a locally installed desktop operating system and browser, a lot of today’s small business technology needs can be fulfilled almost completely with cloud-based offerings.
What Is Cloud Computing, Exactly?
Let’s take a quick look at what constitutes a true cloud-computing solution. Cloud-computing services require no software to purchase and install. This doesn’t include a Java plug-in or some other kind of lightweight applet required to use the service.
Cloud-computing fees for businesses are typically subscription-based. The vendors usually charge you on a month-to-month or annual basis. The solutions we feature here are relatively affordable and follow the subscription model.
Another feature of cloud computing is that it’s easily scalable. Many of these solutions can work for a business with five employees or 5,000. Cloud-based service is nimble because it grows as your business grows.
What follows is a roundup of twelve of our favorite cloud-computing services for small businesses. Yes, we’re aware that there are more than a dozen cloud-computing services. If you personal favorite isn’t on this list, tell us about it in the talkback section, and maybe we’ll give it a look.—Continue Reading Next: Storage and Backup >
Related posts
‘Cloud Computing’: What Exactly Is It, Anyway?
Feb 8th
For a lot of small-business owners, “cloud computing” is the latest IT buzzword to leave them scratching their heads. To demystify things, here’s a primer for companies looking to wade into cloud services for the first time.
What are cloud services?
The Journal Report
See the complete Small Business report .
Broadly speaking, any service or program sent over an Internet connection can be considered a cloud service. An outside vendor runs the servers and software, so the buyer doesn’t have to worry about the technical issues in-house—and can focus on its own business.
The services come in a number of forms. Many businesses are already familiar with one aspect of cloud computing: software delivered over the Web. Along with email services like Google Inc.’s Gmail, there are programs that help salespeople keep track of customer information, such as Salesforce.com Inc.’s software, and backup data-storage services from providers such as Amazon.com Inc.
Some businesses don’t just use software services, they buy computing power from vendors such as Verizon Communications Inc.—much like buying power from a utility. Let’s say a retailer expects lots of additional business during the holidays, and its in-house servers can’t handle the load of customer orders. The company might pay a vendor for the use of its servers, to shoulder part of the computing work as the need arises.
Other companies, meanwhile, might buy computing power on a regular basis. They might drop one or more in-house servers entirely—or not buy the hardware in the first place—and let a vendor run their vital programs on its machines. Once again, the buyer would pay a fee based on how much computing power it used.
How much will they cost?
Unlike traditional applications, which require hardware such as servers and IT staff for maintenance, cloud services don’t carry many upfront costs.
A Cloudy Outlook
- About 3.2% of U.S. small businesses, or about 230,000 businesses, use cloud services.
- Another 3.6%, or 260,000, plan to add cloud services in the next 12 months.
- Small-business spending on cloud services will increase by 36.2% in 2010 over a year ago, to $2.4 billion from $1.7 billion.
Source: IDC
Consider software. Salesforce.com’s offering for businesses costs between $5 and $25 per user each month. Google offers a host of programs including email, a word processor, video and a hosted Web site for an annual fee of $50 per user. For small businesses that have more-extensive computing needs, such as drug laboratories with extensive software, cloud services could cost more than $1,000 a month.
As for buying computing power, some providers charge for a certain amount of memory and computing configuration. Terremark Worldwide Inc., for example, charges six cents an hour for one gigabyte of RAM and the equivalent of one processor.
One caveat that might bump up costs a bit: If you’re going to rely on the Internet for your services, you will need a solid connection. While some believe a business-class DSL connection is sufficient, many industry observers and consultants recommend getting a faster line, such as a T1.
Continue Reading at WSJ
Related posts
Should You Move Your Small Business to the Cloud?
Feb 1st
Cloud computing. For some, the term is wildly nebulous. Not long ago, even Oracle’s Larry Ellison publicly asked what the heck people meant by “the cloud.”
For others, cloud computing instantly raises concerns about security and reliability. After all, Gmail, a popular cloud-based e-mail service that has endured some high-profile outages, didn’t earn the nickname “Gfail” for nothing.
Before you dismiss the cloud as a lot of vapor, though, listen to what three small-business people told us about their experiences with it:
• “We saved over $4000 in up-front costs by moving to an entirely cloud-based solution [for e-mail, Web hosting, virus protection, and more]. We were also able to substantially reduce our power bill and the costs needed to maintain and upgrade hardware.” –Bob Everett, president, Bottom-Line Consulting, a three-person firm offering various small-business services.
• “As a non-IT person, I find cloud-based applications easier to set up and use than many [computer] applications, and I don’t need to rely on internal IT support as much for assistance.” –Cristina Martin Greysman, executive vice president, business development, Vuzit, a six-employee software company.
• “A power surge nearly destroyed our in-house e-mail server. Had we not recovered it, a great deal of historical knowledge and valuable information would have been lost forever, not to mention the lost productivity for days or weeks. Now we have a secure, redundant, cloud e-mail system we can access anywhere, anytime, with a consistent interface, and it’s made our business stronger.” –Kevin Hart, partner and founder, Hart-Boillot, a ten-employee marketing and communications agency.
To be sure, cloud computing has its shortcomings (more on that later); but small businesses looking to cut computing costs and improve efficiency during this long recession are finding the many benefits of Internet-based software and services increasingly attractive. In fact, companies with 100 or fewer employees are expected to spend $2.4 billion on cloud computing services in 2010, up from $1.7 billion in 2009, according to Ray Boggs, vice president of SMB research for IDC.
Here’s what you need to know about cloud computing: what it is, pros and cons, suggested services, and tips for applying it to your business.
Continue Reading… Full Source
Related posts
Small Business Management Trends Making it Trickier To Back Up
Jan 26th
Technology is helping small businesses to become more flexible, and making it easier to compete with larger companies.
We are currently seeing 3 big strategic trends in the way small businesses operate, which IT managers need to be aware of:
* Mobile laptop users who work on the road
* Small companies operating from many remote locations, and often internationally
* International businesses extending their work days, eventually moving towards a 24/7 work environment
Although this is great for business, it creates special and unprecedented challenges for IT managers when it comes to data protection.
Until recently, physical media has been the default choice for backing up corporate data. All critical data is stored to folders on the main server, and then the incremental updates are sent to DVD, tape or even external hard drives on a daily basis. A backup window – usually anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours – is usually set aside for this process.
But what if you have a laptop user who’s on the road, and doesn’t have internet access at the moment you want to back up? What do you do if you have offices in 4 countries across the globe, and there is no “end of the day”?
And worse yet, what happens if one of these remote offices needs to restore their data quickly and there isn’t any IT staff on-site to help?
This is where cloud backup solutions really help.
Because many of these solutions offer continuous data protection, the block-level incremental uploads occur as soon as a file is saved. This eliminates backup windows completely, ensuring that systems can run uninterrupted 24/7.
For laptop users who may not always have reliable connections to the Internet, there are also solutions available which offer both local AND remote backup capability. These systems give users the option of creating a local hard drive partition to serve as a secondary backup device with multiple point-in-time versions of all their data.
Finally, many of these cloud-based backup providers offer centralized administration for all remote systems. This ensures faster management, monitoring and administration. Not only is this more convenient than managing machines individually… but it also saves time, reduces IT management costs, and eliminates a lot of human error.
As the popularity of mobile computing, outsourcing and telecommuting continues to grow, the old-fashioned on-site approach to IT management will continue to become more difficult and cumbersome. For IT administrators, the cloud offers a lot of unique opportunities to simplify their work while also expanding the capabilities of their IT infrastructure.
About The Author/Contributor:
Storagepipe’s suite of server backup and online backup services helps businesses of all sizes become more flexible while effectively backing up their data.
