Is the Cloud Still Confusing?
Let’s not over complicate things, let’s talk about what the cloud can do for you!
After all these years of hype about the “cloud,” it’s still something that seems more confusing than it really is. It may seem confusing to understand what it means for your business, but really the cloud is simply the internet. With access to the internet being so much easier and faster, we can store data anywhere that we can access the internet, from just about any device.
As the cloud becomes more prevalent, the question for your business shifts from whether or not you should be using the cloud to how you should use the cloud. And remember, using the cloud is simply having anytime anywhere access to your data.
When making this decision, you have three options.
ALL CLOUD
When you decide to use exclusively cloud-based applications, all of your data is outside of your company. All of your applications are driven by software that was written specifically for the cloud. Your employees are doing their work through their browsers (and sometimes a smartphone app). You have chosen this option because you are a startup, your organization is virtual, most of your employees are spread around the world, or you just got tired of maintaining servers and data in-house. You’re happy to pay monthly fees to the companies who are delivering all of their software and services through the cloud. In this case, you are all cloud, all the way.
HYBRID
When you decide that you still want to use many of the same desktop or server applications that you’ve used all along, except that you’ve moved them to someone else’s server, and you and your people are accessing these systems remotely, that means you are “hybrid”. You’re probably using something like Windows Remote Desktop (or a similar thin-client capability) to do this. You still own your software like before because it works fine and you have little desire to migrate to an entirely new system. But, you’re paying a monthly fee not for the software, but for the service provided by the hosting company that is making sure everything is secure, running smoothly, and backed up. Nothing’s really changed except that instead of getting information from your internal server, employees access the same data and software from someone else’s server that you’re merely renting. You’re not all cloud yet, but you’re definitely using the cloud to your advantage. It’s a hybrid choice.
ON-PREMISE PLEASE
You still have a server in-house. Your software systems are still the same. You’ve made no changes to your infrastructure. But you’ve probably created your own internal cloud using something like Windows Remote Desktop. That way your people can access all the same things they’re used to accessing in the office from just about any device and from almost anywhere where there’s an Internet connection. Instead of getting this information from somebody else’s server, they’re getting it directly from your server. This is because you have no desire to spend the money and incur the additional work of changing your systems and you don’t care to put your data outside of your company, but you do want to take advantage of the remote capabilities of the cloud.
Bigger companies have even more complex cloud-delivery choices for their systems, but we’re running small- or midmarket-sized organizations, so these are our choices for now. They’re good choices because however you decide to tap into it, you’ll find your people are more productive, more mobile, and happier than they were before the cloud.
Whether you’ve recently moved your small business to the cloud or are considering upgrading your technology, you know that finding the right technology expert can be hard. You need someone who understands your business in its current state as well your vision for the future. That’s where Vertilocity comes in. We are committed to helping you succeed in a fast-changing world of cloud and mobile technology.
The thing about Vertilocity is, we are happy to help your visualization for your business become reality. Whether you want to stick to on-premise, or go all cloud, or find a happy medium in between, we will find the best solution to fit your needs and build a lasting relationship to see it through. You shouldn’t have to work for your systems, let us do the work, so your systems can work for you! With a network assessment from Vertilocity, we can determine where you are today and get you where you want to be.