More and more businesses are making its way into the cloud, and it is easy to understand why. The convenience and on-demand access that are possible with this technology make it an obvious choice for most businesses, and the security of knowing that your data and applications are backed up in a place that is completely distinct from your physical location is almost non-negotiable.
It is also has a user-friendly side, since most consumers have been using it for years without even realizing it. For many people email was the very first thing they did on the internet, or, at least it was the very first thing they did that worked well. This has given them a frame of reference to understand how the cloud works for them, if not how it actually works.
Unfortunately, choosing the wrong company to provide your cloud hosting could wind up costing more than money. You may remember a company called The Linkup, which offered cloud computing and data storage. The company went under in 2008, leaving all of its approximately 20,000 customers with no access and no back up. The tips below should help you avoid this kind of mistake when selecting the right cloud storage or managed hosting for your business.
Reviews
Nothing will give you nearly as clear a picture of the quality of service provided by a company as listening to their customers. Read product and service reviews by people in your industry to see how any individual company has behaved in the past. If you have people in your network who have needed similar hosting services, ask them about their experiences. Most people will need very little convincing to tell you about the worst experiences they’ve had when looking for a company to do business with, and learning from their mistakes can save time, money, and stress. For example, Cloud hosting providers like Giacom can be one of the good option to consider if you are planning to host SharePoint based solutions.
Security
Discuss with the company the sort of security measures they’ve set up for their customers. Do they have and advanced threat detection system in place to protect against attackers, both human and robot? Do they provide solid backups of the data stored with them, as well as reliable access to that data, to prevent the kind of catastrophe experienced by customers of The Linkup? For most companies, this will take the form of continued access that will be available for a short period of time after the business has closed its doors.
Real World Presence
Do some research into the company itself. Find out how long it has existed, whether it is publicly traded or privately held, and learn what you can about the owners and investors. If they seem like people you wouldn’t want to do business with in real life, they may not be the best people to handle your company’s sensitive and critical data.
None of us can effectively resist the advancements being made by innovations in all fields of science and technology, and this is particularly true in the business world. Learning to take those advancements and turn them into productive tools is what distinguishes the best of the best, and finding companies you can trust will help your business to stand ahead and above its competitors. Future of Cloud Computing seems to be bright as more and more companies are moving towards adopting cloud computing.
Author Bio:
Reanna Gutierrez is the Product Marketing Manager for OneNeck IT Services, which is a high quality provider of enterprise cloud services and managed hosting. She currently writes for the OneNeck Blog, where she explores the different ways that businesses can benefit from Desktop-as-a-Service, or DaaS.
