A Clear Vision For Business Cloud Solutions
Cloud solutions are great for cost savings and boosting productivity – when done right. Choosing the wrong cloud solutions can lead to costly challenges and even place your security at risk. It’s crucial to have an IT partner you can trust to recommend the right cloud solution and manage it according to your needs.
In the Twin Cities metro you can turn to the experienced IT professionals at Nicolet Tech for all your cloud needs. With offices in Minneapolis and just over the St. Croix River in Hudson, we have both sides of the metro covered when it comes to responsive IT services.
Free Up Office Space While Increasing Your Storage Space
Cloud solutions eliminate the need to house and maintain your own servers, freeing up physical space in your office and eliminating the costs associated with managing the back end of a network. We can set up and manage your cloud file storage so you can be confident in where you store your company data.
Access to Your Files and Programs On-The-Go
When employees can’t be in the office, the cloud brings the office to them via cloud solutions such as Microsoft Office 365, Hosted Microsoft Exchange, and Google G Suite. Everything from apps and calendars to email and presentations can be managed on the cloud. We can help you with hosted VOIP phone service, allowing your office phones to go everywhere your employees go, maintaining seamless communication with your customers.
What Is the Cloud?
When you hear “the cloud” refer to computing and not the blue sky overhead, it refers to the network of servers that parties can access over the internet, alongside the databases and software that run on those servers. Cloud servers are basically in the sky, as they are in data centers located across the planet. There are no physical servers in your office if you are using cloud computing, but instead, you are relying upon the space and bandwidth available in the virtual cloud that spreads across the many servers that populate it.
The benefit of the cloud is two-fold. First, you don’t have to maintain physical servers in your office space. While you might think that servers are small and relatively easy to maintain, as your data needs grow, the space they consume increases, and certain humidity and temperature settings require ongoing maintenance for servers to function safely. This can entail logistics and costs to your business that you simply are not interested in having to deal with. The cloud removes the worry of climate-controlled space for your servers by hoisting your data needs into the cloud.
The second benefit of the cloud is that you don’t have to worry about the physical security of servers that support your data. If you are renting servers from a local data storage company, and the server’s physical space ignites or floods, you could find yourself in the unfortunate position of having no accessible data.
The cloud spreads this risk across the combined body of servers in the network so that if one server location goes down, your data remains secure. Whether or not your business is in a position where cloud computing is of value is an important question to ask before investing in this innovative and space-saving technology, as we’ll discuss below.
How Do I Know if I Need the Cloud?
When you have information to store on your personal computer, you save it onto the local hard drive, where it occupies a minor physical space in the capacity of your hard drive.
If you are in a workplace and prefer to store information in a central location and not on the computers of each employee, you will direct that information into a server. A server is a very large hard drive linked to many computers. Computers linked to the network can save and share information through the server.
If only the computers in the company have connections to the server, it is safe from outside threats like cyberattacks that might seek to steal your clients’ personal data. If the computers have connections to the internet, parties can access them through the web - including bad actors - so you need security measures to protect your data.
The data in the cloud is safe from physical threats such as fires and floods, though there are still digital threats that remain. We can set up protections by using proper security software and other solutions to keep the cloud-based data safe.
Data Safety Measures Support the Value of Cloud Computing
The key benefit of cloud computing is that removes the demands of maintaining your physical servers and eliminates worries about the destruction of an individual server holding all of your key data. However, the cloud does exist online and can encounter security risks through cyber threats.
Cyber threats to businesses often involve the theft of personal data for financial gain. A hacker might try and gain access to your system so that they can get your list of clients and their payment information so they can engage in as many fraudulent transactions as possible before being discovered.
The theft of your clients’ data can result in a loss of trust, and that is something that you cannot buy back. If you use the cloud, employ sufficient safety measures to protect your clients' and your business's data. One of the IT professionals from Nicolet Tech can advise you on your best options to meet your business's unique needs.
Not all online security providers are a good fit for your company, and some of them might pose cyber threats themselves. When purchasing antivirus software from an online source, consumers have been surprised to learn that the “antivirus” software that they paid money for was, in fact, malware that attacked their system and opened their sensitive files to the hackers.
Choosing the correct cybersecurity solutions for your business from trusted providers is important, and Nicolet Tech is here to guide you through the process after carefully considering the needs of your business.
Cloud Computing is Covid-Friendly
While the workplace once entailed cubicles for some and more of an open-space layout for others, the pandemic has changed the everyday reality for much of today’s workforce. Gone are the days when you can go into the office and access all the data you need on company computers.
Cloud computing places all the data of your business directly at the fingertips of your employees, without the security risk of putting the data on their local computers. Using the cloud keeps your employees’ work and contributions online and centralized. They can download and upload instantly from anywhere, whether they are working in an office, at Starbucks, or from the couch at home.
Cloud computing can add value to your business, but the options might seem puzzling and difficult to choose. Connect with Nicolet Tech at (651) 240-2202 to learn how you can benefit from cloud computing through a customized solution we create just for you.