“..I would never put my critical data in the cloud..” It’s a prevailing point of view. The idea being that putting your personal data, documents, or music on a computer other than your own means that you are somehow more vulnerable to privacy invasions, hacking, and other problems.

There can be no argument that you are taking a risk by trusting someone else with your data. However, it’s worth pausing for a moment and asking yourself a question that few ever think about: Is your data really safer if you manage it yourself? Here are a few things you may want to consider.

1) You probably don’t already have a good backup of your vital data

Sure, you run your backup program every so often (maybe even nightly). Perhaps it backs everything up directly to your trusty external hard drive that’s constantly plugged into your computer. Maybe the IT guy comes into the office every so often to swap backup tapes on the server.

Now consider – what happens if your house burns down, your office floods, or someone breaks in and steals your laptop and backup drive? What happens if your computer gets a virus which decides to delete all of the files on your local hard drive as well as any external drives it happens to be connected to?

Most importantly, how often do you actually test your ability to restore from the backups you create? Are you sure the tapes created by your IT guy actually contain your critical data?

The reality is that there’s no cost-effective backup strategy the typical home-user or SME can implement that provides a truly secure, always-accessible solution to protecting against all of the scenarios mentioned above unless you use the cloud in some way to create off-site backups.

Cloud-based backup solutions give you a simple, cheap way to keep your important data backed up in a location other than your home or office (the key here being that your backups must reside in a location separate from your computer, so that if one is stolen, damaged, or lost, the other remains intact).

Plenty of online backup solutions today offer fully encrypted backups (the kind that can’t even be decrypted by employees of the company) – so you should obviously do your homework before choosing one. Any (minimal) risk associated with your backups possibly being stolen and decrypted by a (very ambitious) hacker should be mitigated by the fact that your data is actually backed up properly, and not vulnerable to every-day threats.

2) Your most sensitive personal information is probably already in the cloud

Most people don’t understand that their personal data exists in the cloud today, even if you didn’t put it there. Your bank account details exist on the bank’s website, your credit scores are on the servers of credit bureaus and your travel reservations are on the airline’s web-site, along with hundreds of other pieces of important information about you are out there, waiting for you to view it.

Obviously, these companies go to great lengths to keep your data private, but there have been cases where something happens and criminals are able to retrieve the data. Remember, in many cases, this is data you didn’t even put there, but it’s sensitive information about you, nonetheless.

The point is – you’re likely safer taking an active role in knowing who has your personal information, and managing those accounts carefully.

3) Your computer is probably full of spyware, viruses or malware

Unless we’re talking about the true computer-geeks of the world, statistically speaking, nearly every Windows home and SME computer out there has some sort of spyware, virus, adware, or other form of malware installed and running. I’m sure you faithfully run your favorite anti-virus software in the background, but remember, virus creators test their stuff against the latest and greatest as well (to make sure it’s not detectable).

The typical business computer user is really not professionally qualified to be the system-administrator of their own computer, and yet that’s precisely the role they’re asked to assume. This leaves the door wide open for hackers.

In a cloud-storage scenario, you mitigate this risk by trusting your data to people who are security experts and make their living by providing clean, secure, and hacker-resistant storage solutions. Do they always get it right? Definitely not. Is your data safer with them, than in your spyware, virus-infected laptop? Absolutely.

4) Your laptop is at risk of being lost or stolen

One of the most common arguments people make for not storing their data in the cloud is that they don’t want their documents and data to be stolen. I can certainly respect this, and I understand why someone might feel safer if they keep their data in a place where they see and touch it.

Why, then, does the typical laptop owner leave their computer sitting on the front-seat of their car while they stop in for their morning cup of coffee?

If you don’t want your data to be stolen, you’re far better off keeping it in a location where it’s not vulnerable to being lost, damaged, or stolen with one of your devices. Keep it in the cloud where it’s being stored in a military-grade data-center, behind bullet-proof glass, biometrically secured, and watched 24×7. This way, at least you’ll have the peace of mind knowing that, even if someone steals your laptop, they’ve gained access to nothing.

Conclusion

The cloud isn’t perfect, but it provides an opportunity for the average SME employee to step up their game in terms of providing better security, backups, and overall protection in what is otherwise a very dangerous technical landscape. Unless you plan to become an expert in computer systems administration and data security, your best option to keep yourself as safe as possible is to put your trust in someone with expertise in these areas. It’s the same reason you use a bank to store your cash instead of handling it yourself– the bank is simply better equipped to keep your money safe than you are.

The term ‘Cloud’ and ‘Cloud Computing’ has become one of the most talked about technical trends of the past few years and many business owners are looking to the Cloud as a solution to many of their problems. Most head in that direction because of perceived cost reduction; Some move to Cloud because it offers them something new; Some use Cloud simply because its the next big thing and they like to be early adopters. If you have thought that the Cloud could offer benefit for your business then you are probably right, but here are some ideas before you get started.

What is the Cloud ?

Well the most basic explanation is “an IT service that is based on equipment NOT located within your business or organisation”. Some people think that the Cloud is a single service when in reality its a generic term for any service provided from outside your organisation. Some of the more well-known Cloud services include Dropbox (file storage), Hosted Exchange or Office 365 (email) and off-site backup (data backup). All of these are services you use without needing additional hardware, just an internet connection; Even telephone services such as Hosted Phone (PBX) solutions can be Cloud based.

Traditional vs Cloud Computing

Lets look at the traditional IT system. A small server in the corner of an office containing your files / data and usually your email too. The server is often looked after by a 3rd party support company and they fettle, update, check it on a regular basis and report back to you if the backup has not run correctly or the anti virus software needs updating. The key thing to remember is that this server is locked (literally) in your office 24/7 so if you need something from it you’ll need to get access to it directly and so a good quality, reliable internet connection is also needed. If any of these components fail, the server, the internet connection, the backup or the anti virus then you face problems.

So lets bring in Cloud services or more specifically Hosted Exchange or ‘Cloud Email’ as an example. By lifting email off the traditional server and leaving everything else in place then the email is now in a location that can be accessed from anywhere and not just from your single server. If your office became unavailable through fire or loss of internet connection then you can move to any other internet connected location and you would be able to access email.

The Benefits

By using Cloud services the responsibility for your data (and its recovery) has fallen to the Cloud provider and so that’s one less thing to worry about. If your office burned down and your server was lost then all your data (email, files etc) would still be there, in the Cloud. It’s starting to look interesting isn’t it ? A service that makes information more accessible, more reliable and includes a built in disaster recovery process.

By extending the reach of your Cloud services from not just email but perhaps to File Storage then the same applies. Your files are now in an off-site location, accessible from any internet connected location and with responsibility for backup and recovery handed to the provider. Taking email services and file storage off your local server and into the Cloud allows you to quickly reach a point where that large, noisy and expensive to manage server is looking somewhat redundant.

Can everything go to the Cloud ?

One important consideration is that many businesses will have more than just email and files on a server; they may have accounts software, business applications and other line-of-business software that needs to run on a server in a local office. That’s fine, there will often remain a need for businesses to retain hardware on site and not to move everything to the Cloud. But, it is possible to look at a hybrid model where you reduce the level of onsite hardware (and thus risk) while increasing the level of Cloud services which in turn also reduces risk. I recently completed a job for a Birmingham based interiors company where this hybrid model was employed, using Cloud email and a local server for files with a linked Dropbox account for off-site backup. You can read more on their specific solution [here]….

Conclusions

So, getting Cloud services into your business may not be as clear cut as you might have first thought, but the benefits of such services are huge and the level at which they start to make sense for companies is changing. Smaller businesses, in my opinion, have the most to gain from Cloud services as 2-6 users can have full email and file sharing features allowing them to compete and challenge larger competitors who have bigger IT budgets and more people to manage any IT infrastructure.

The cloud has become one of the most talked about technical trends of the past few years, it seems like every company is trying to utilize it. A large number of businesses have developed versions of their software that have cloud elements, like storage. Microsoft is one of these companies, offering a cloud version of their popular Office suite – Office 365. There are some great benefits to using this and other similar cloud services.

There are four main benefits to using a cloud based office solution like Office 365.

Prevent save disasters. One thing every employee has done is get caught up in their work and forget to save, only to have the program or computer crash resulting in the loss of their work. By using the cloud, changes are automatically saved and synced, so if something does happen, you probably won’t lose any of your work.

Access from more devices. As many cloud services are browser based, you can access them on a tablet or smartphone. This means you don’t have to be on your computer to access and edit documents. If you give lots of presentations and have a tablet with a data connection, you could ditch the laptop all together.

Eliminate forgotten documents. It can be embarrassing to show up to an important meeting only to realize that you’ve forgotten an essential document back at the office. If this happens, you can just log into your cloud application and access the document.

More storage. With computers, there’s generally a fixed amount of storage available, when it’s used up, you have to free up space by deleting old files. This can be a problem, especially if you have to keep files and information due to legal requirements. Cloud services have plans that allow your company to have as much storage as you need.

These are just four of the benefits to using Office 365 and cloud services in your business. If you’re looking to move your office suite into the cloud, please contact us or check out these Case Studies of past Abussi Cloud projects

In the world of IT, technology and software are non-constants. New trends and developments are always being discovered, each of which have their own impact on the way businesses operate. Cloud computing is one of these trends, and for many small companies, it is changing the way they do business.

As the IT industry continues to evolve, the latest transformation is the move to cloud computing. The emergence of cloud computing has definitely changed the way many organizations manage their operations – especially for small businesses, who are currently the leading adopters of the cloud.

Focus on a Case Study
When companies move their business it can often be a good time to look at new technologies and new ways of working. When icould moved away from their partner company and became independent, this was such an opportunity. They needed to get 5 or 6 people working efficiently in 5 or 6 different geographical locations and Cloud services lend themselves to this sort of operation very well.

The 2min video below outlines what Abussi did to help icould and how the resulting Cloud solution allowed their business to flourish. A link to the full PDF Case Study can be found HERE

Other Benefits of Cloud
With cloud computing, the company doesn’t need to invest in servers to run new versions of the applications needed to run the business. Desktops and laptops can be used for a longer period of time when business management applications are accessed via the web. With most cloud applications, the business only pays for the services and software they need, adjusting user counts as the business grows.

If you are interested to know more about cloud computing and how it would impact your business, please feel free to contact us. We will be happy to sit down with you to talk about the solutions that work best for your company.

All you need is a stable internet connection, and you can access updated data, software, and other IT services through something called Cloud Computing, a trend that has been changing the way many companies do business – in a good way.

As the economy rebounds, businesses need to be ready to stay competitive while keeping costs under control. Small and medium-sized businesses must maximize the productivity of resources without compromising the end product or service. Cloud computing is helping more and more small and medium-sized businesses balance costs and resources.

Lower Costs The cloud is generally more cost effective, and spreads payment out over time. Monthly payment for subscriptions for applications allows businesses to pay only for services used each month. Updates and maintenance costs are usually included in the subscription cost. Companies save on dedicated IT support – as well as the cost of the electricity, space, and hardware that run the applications that manage your business operations.

Ensure Availability Another plus for the cloud is that it is more reliable and dependable. Few companies can afford to frequently update their hardware and software, so when problems arise, they have nowhere to turn. With the cloud, the application provider pays for the specialized staff to keep hardware and software running smoothly.

Secure Data Speaking of dependability, the cloud is also a better place to store your data. Depending on your subscription, you can arrange for regular backups of data to secure servers in case of any sort of incident – hardware failure, natural disasters, and more. With data backup through the cloud, you are better assured that you can always access your data no matter what happens.

If you are interested in knowing more about how cloud computing can help your business function more efficiently, please feel free to contact us so we can sit down with you and develop a custom solution based on your specific needs.

Thanks to cloud technology, businesses can now access their software and services via the internet, instead of managing everything on their own hardware. The cost savings and ability to respond to new opportunities can transform the business.

With cloud computing, businesses can tap into software and services as they need them, using an Internet connection and a web browser. Cloud services can help you manage growth and connect with your staff across town or the world.

Manage Growth

One of the toughest aspects of running a small business is predicting what resources are needed to support future demand. If the company grows quickly, more people and equipment need to be added to fulfill the work. Too much investment for the future is risky.

Cloud computing allows companies to quickly access the applications needed to increase capacity, support growth and handle busy periods. If a customer or project demands increase, software in the cloud scales without a big outlay of cash. The flexibility of the organization increases with cloud computing because it is easy to adjust and scale.

Improve Collaboration

Companies with remote employees can particularly benefit from cloud computing. More and more small and medium-sized businesses support home workers and employees that aren’t in the main office every day.

No matter where they’re located, employees can use cloud applications to have meetings, talk to one another, share files, and collaborate on materials in real time. With cloud computing, you can build a team that works together seamlessly, and improved productivity and better communication allows businesses to capitalize on new opportunities quickly.

Find out more about the benefits of cloud computing. We’ll help you find the solutions that fit your business and your budget.