Cloud computing is quickly becoming the standard for cost-effective web hosting, data backup, and information technology services.
Businesses of all sizes (including giants like Netflix) use some form of cloud service for their integral day-to-day operations.
When you consider the money that businesses can save by avoiding purchasing their own servers, it’s no wonder there has been a huge rush to adopt cloud hosting services.
As the industry has developed, the need for reliable, secure service providers has become the focus of those businesses that seek to integrate cloud services into their existing infrastructures. Without the ability to securely handle your company’s data, there would be no cloud service industry.
Cost-effectiveness
But when does it make sense to even consider using a cloud service? For many small- and medium-sized businesses, using cloud services can be a great way to avoid the huge investments that in-house servers require. If your IT budget is limited, renting cloud services may be the right thing for your business. As opposed to a large cost to buy, upgrade, and maintain servers every several years, you can instead commit to smaller costs regularly.
Each way has their own pros and cons and you must determine for your business where the sweet spot is and what your return on investment will be. For example, does it make sense for your business to put its email services in the cloud if you have 100 email boxes? You can calculate this cost and compare it to the cost of an in-house email server that has the same capabilities.
Security
After cost-effectiveness, security is the first thing you should consider if your business is thinking of implementing a cloud service.
Make sure your IT consultants have confidence in the provider that you’re interested in using. You should only use the services of a cloud hosting provider if you can trust them with all of your company’s most precious data. This includes security measures that protect data transfer to and from their servers and data transfer between any of their multiple servers.
The way that a good cloud hosting provider will accomplish this is by using SSL (secure sockets layer), a type of encryption that ensures data’s security and integrity whenever it moves from one point to another. SSL is key to the security of cloud services for your business.
Data management and restoration
Finally, when choosing a cloud hosting provider, consider the provider’s capabilities in storing, managing, and restoring your data. Without the competence to handle your data in the direst situations, a service provider should not be able to earn your trust.
Again, consult with your IT team to determine if a service provider’s capabilities are good enough for your company. Can the provider store all of your company’s data? Is the data completely secure from its other clients? Can the data be accessed at anytime from anywhere? Does the company have reliable uptime and no history of data loss or service outages? Can it restore data in the event of data loss? These are all questions that should be important to you when choosing a service provider.
Check out cloud services offered by West County.