Move your IT to the cloud
Thinking you should be moving your IT to the cloud? Confused about what it means or what the pitfalls could be? Riverbank can advise you on what’s best for your business – we have been helping businesses in Oxfordshire since 1997. Riverbank can provide you with the full range of options from traditional on-site IT, creating your own private cloud or moving completely to cloud computing.What is cloud computing?
Cloud computing delivers an entire business’s IT via the Internet. Drivers pushing companies towards cloud computing include the need to reduce capital expenditure and the desire to cut out complex IT installations from their offices. There is an undeniable attraction about never having to buy another server, and instead just paying a single monthly fee for a guaranteed IT service.Others companies might adopt cloud computing for the flexibility it offers. If they have a seasonal or variable business it makes a lot of sense to use a service that can be turned up and down as required.
Benefits
The benefits of cloud computing:
Adaptable IT - only pay for what you need now
Flexible – you can easily increase/decrease server power and capacity
Quick to deploy – get the extra disk space you need in minutes not days
Go-anywhere IT – it’s always there, wherever you are
Hassle-free IT support – someone else manages the servers, the security and the upgrades
Why you might avoid cloud computing
You might decide not to go for cloud computing because you cannot risk having your company’s vital data in other people’s hands. You might also be worried about security – why would you place your intellectual property in an environment where you have little or no control over who can look at it?
It is still a brave step to be the one who decides to shut down the office servers and place everything in the hands of a new supplier. Standards are emerging and trust is building, and maybe we will soon be as trusting about cloud computing as we are about Internet banking or Internet shopping.
A major issue for small businesses is their Internet connection. Unlike major corporates, many small businesses are dependent on a single connection to the Internet. If that fails, business stops. You might well decide that now is not the time to bet your entire business on a single phone line.