Big Business Cloud Benefits for Smaller Companies – A Cloud Technology Primer

We all know that, because of the internet, a two person company in Bangalore India can now compete for business with larger companies in Delhi, Europe and the US.  ‘Logistics,’ provided by a popular shipping company can help a small business outwit a larger established company across the street.  Now, with the advent of cloud computing, the advantages that large businesses have over smaller businesses continue to disappear.

Although cloud computing has been available for almost a decade, many smaller businesses are not aware that they too could reduce capital expenditures and eliminate internal IT functions, all while increasing employee and customer access to their applications on a secure hosted solution.   Barriers to discovery of cloud computing for smaller businesses might be the distracted executives trying to limp along on dated server technology, perhaps an IT technician protecting their job, or simply a lack of an understanding about the technology that is available to businesses of any size.  The following items are plain language descriptions of cloud technology and associated benefits available to every business.

Access from Anywhere on The Cloud – The ‘Cloud’ is named after the picture of a cloud that systems designers use to represent the internet.  Any business can move their applications and files for Outlook, Office, QuickBooks, CRM and proprietary applications to servers hosted at a secure data center, and access them via the internet. 

Familiar Desktops with Microsoft Server Applications – Your ‘cloud’ desktop will appear virtually the same as it does on your laptop or desktop.  IVDesk uses the Microsoft Windows Server Platform, and Microsoft Terminal Services to provide remote access to company networks and  Microsoft Exchange Server as the primary email system.  The goal is to provide faster and totally secure access to your data in the same environment (desktop) you had on you local network.

Security and Availability at a Tier III Data Center – Most businesses don’t build their own buildings.  Many people lease their cars or trucks.  Why buy and maintain your own servers when it can be handled for you?   IVDesk provides servers at a very secure data center that is available more than 99.95% of the time.  These data centers have multiple power sources to ensure access and several levels of security to protect your company data.

Recovery with Hot and Cold Backup and Redundancy: What do you do when your local server crashes?  Will you have immediate recovery?  Cloud computing providers like IVDesk will configure your systems to ensure that if there is any hardware failure, a backup system (virtual server) is immediately available for recovery within minutes with no lost data.

Secure Internet Transmissions with Encryption – Your companies data is held and protected in the data center and your access to that environment is encrypted using current technologies.  No data is moved to remote computers or crosses the Internet unless you want it to.  Everything stays secure with only your keystrokes and screen changes crossing your encrypted connection.  Needless to say, your data is safer staying in the data center then it is sitting on a server in your office closet.

Special Company Needs Via Virtual Private Networks (VPN) – Every company is different.  There are very few applications that can’t be hosted on the cloud.  VPNs are occasionally required for special printing or file transfer needs.  They are an extension of the hosted servers to facilitate these unique tasks and included in the IVDesk service as needed.  Once again, secure and hosted technology is available to help you improve productivity and efficiency while reducing costs.

In the long run, it is the technology that is eliminating the barriers to economical cloud computing solutions for smaller businesses.  But the technology is only important to the technicians at providers like IVDesk.  As an executive or user, all you want is for the applications and data to be available wherever you are and at any time.  With cloud computing, this can be achieved with ease and you can dedicate your time running your business and not worrying about technology.  On the cloud, it’s all taken care of for you.

Check out www.IVDesk.com and let us help you move to the cloud today!

Gerald Matykowski
Director of Sales
IVDesk
gmatykowski@ivdesk.com 

 

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