Email has become so entwined with our daily work activities that without it our productivity almost comes to a standstill. When a company hosts their own email servers internally, they are susceptible to many interruptions, such as power outages or hardware failure.
What do you do about that important email you had to get out right away when the email server does crash? Relax. The Cloud has you covered. Business owners understand the need for reliable, functional email. That is why more and more companies are either moving their email servers to a datacenter or transferring email functionality to a Cloud-based service such as Microsoft’s hosted Exchange or Google’s mail services. Either solution offers anytime, anywhere access.
Hosted Apps / Desktop
Let’s go back to the computer that just crashed. Not only did you lose all your data, but you lost all your applications, as well. How many of us actually have the original disks to install that 10-year-old program we have been using? Probably not many of us. More likely, we downloaded a program from the Internet and have now lost the program and installation file.
With Cloud computing for hosted apps or a hosted desktop (also known as Virtual Desktop Interface, VDI), losing our applications is a thing of the past. Service providers are offering Cloud-based applications for a variety of tasks. Microsoft offers their Office365, which is Word, Excel, etc., in the Cloud. Intuit offers QuickBooks Online, and companies such as Thompson Reuters offers all their tax programs, including Microsoft Office online in a virtual office. Additionally, there are companies that actually offer a complete desktop. So, if your computer crashes, you have lost nothing. You just grab another computer, even a tablet, log into your VDI and continue as if nothing happened.
What do you do when you set your laptop down for a moment at a café, walk away, and when you come back, it’s gone? That sudden, bewildering moment of fear overwhelms you, knowing everything was on that laptop. Now, consider how different you would feel if you used your laptop to access a computer in your office or at your home? All is not lost! You have only lost the cost of a new laptop. All your “stuff’” is still sitting on your desktop. This is a very easy and economical advantage of Cloud computing.
Where does this leave us? It leaves us with the knowledge that Cloud computing has many offerings. There is a Cloud solution that fits most business needs and budgets. The best place to start is to contact an IT consulting company that can help guide you through the process. Without an experienced consultant by your side, some Cloud solutions can turn into storms. But, with the assistance of a consultant, there can be billowy-white Cloud solutions that cover all your IT needs. It only takes some careful planning and execution to get the most out of your Cloud computing. Remember, implementing Cloud computing can be sophisticated and expensive, or simple and economical. It all depends on what you want from the Cloud.
