Cloud computing offers ample opportunity to manage the growth of your business IT resources (for example, data storage and anti-virus software), often allowing the freedom from maintaining physical servers or data centres and therefore keeping costs down. Generally speaking, ‘the cloud’ is a shared infrastructure: using someone else’s hardware, software, expertise and (increasingly) information to support your business goals. This is made possible by the improved availability (and reduced cost) of fast and reliable communication links.We offer three main cloud solutions based on our professional assessment of the unique requirements of your business:
- Public Cloud: Resources can be accessed over the internet (e.g. virtual machines, licensing, applications or storage). Numbers can be easily scaled up or down and you only pay for the resources that you actually use.
- Private Cloud: Services are maintained on a private network with exclusive access to your business only. A suitable solution for businesses which require more direct control or are based in data sensitive environments, such as financial or government sectors.
- Hybrid Cloud: Offers the benefit of both public and private clouds. Data and applications can be moved between the two, based on the requirements of your business. This offers even greater flexibility and cost-effectiveness
Co-location can be considered a ‘toe in the water’ towards a move into the cloud, whereas to jump in with both feet would be to migrate everything into the cloud. The best place for most businesses is between these two extremes, however we evaluate for certain what the best option would be for the unique workings of your business. To do this we consider regulatory obligations, differing departmental priorities, avoiding ‘lock in’ (getting tied to one provider) and the need to have fast, highly available connections to your data.
In short, cloud storage offers a wealth of opportunity for IT resource management and we can help you decide exactly which options would suit your business model.
