When you see the term “The Cloud” pop up in an upcoming movie trailer – especially as the villain in an unfortunate series of events for a married couple – you know it’s made it to the mainstream. But you can also see how widely misunderstood it still is. Even though this hilarious-looking movie (whose R-rated name will be withheld) is not real, letting questionable photos or videos slip can happen to anyone in the iPhone age simply because of the lack of understanding about what this cloud thing is and how it works.
So while we’ve been using the cloud as consumers for some time now, business owners are being overwhelmed with the term far more these days. So they “should” be better equipped to understand a) what it is, b) what it is not, and c) what it can do for them…but “should” is the operative term here. Let us take a moment to educate you. Don’t worry, we’ll put aside all the technical speak. You probably don’t care that there are private, public and hybrid clouds – but if you do, check out this informative Huff Post Small Business article that goes into more detail. For this post, we’ll keep it high level and relevant to you as a business owner.
What it is, and what it is not
The cloud is commonly thought of as solely the infrastructure needed to store and keep data in some offsite location. That would be correct, but the infrastructure is only part of the equation. The infrastructure piece is what most business owners we talk to seem to be aware of – i.e. Rackspace, Amazon Web Services, et al. Think of this piece as the electricity, and the aforementioned providers the electric company. They are the datacenters that provide the juice for your cloud. How do you put that “power” to work? What functions or apps are you moving to the cloud? How is it set up to keep your data backed up and secure? These are all areas that still must be covered.
You can’t just dive into the Cloud
Many clients come to us saying they want to go to the cloud, without really knowing what that means. First of all, there needs to be a cloud strategy – and there should be a phased approach to execution. Why? Remember this is YOUR business’ data, YOUR business’ critical apps and functions. You want to be sure that you pilot the solution before expanding it. Just as you would never jump into uncharted waters feet first, we would never just throw our clients head first into the cloud.
So what does a phased approach mean? For example, first you would start by moving strategic file folders to the cloud. Once that works smoothly, then move your mail application. Next, move selected apps, and eventually even your voice system to the cloud. Before you know it, you’ve got access to all of your critical information wherever you are. You can be on the golf course and appear as if you’re in the office to any calling customer.
How do we get You to the Cloud?
That’s where our OneDriveNow service comes in. OneDriveNow is a portal that is customized for each client’s data they wish to “cloudify.” The interface makes it easy to manage and upload files, and a desktop client syncs all of your information automatically. You can access it with your smartphone or any desktop with internet access. It’s managed hands-on by our team, and it just works.
Ready to learn more about how AZBS can help grow your business’ productivity – and bottom line – with a scalable cloud solution that makes sense? Our combined 60+ years of experience in IT consulting and support in the Chicagoland Area can take the guesswork out of it for you. Contact Us to learn more!
