Cloud Computing and SaaS

OK, everyone’s talking about Cloud Computing and Software as a Service (SaaS), but what can it do for your business?

Historically, computerising your business has involved a great deal of Capital Expenditure.
You would pay upfront for hardware, networking and software (and pay for it again in a few years time when they need upgrading!).  With cloud computing, you pay monthly, per user for your servers, operating systems and software.  You also pay monthly for any support services.  The only upfront costs are likely to be the initial configuration and training.  You will automatically be upgraded to the latest versions of the software and operating systems.  Paying for your IT services monthly will do wonders for your cash flow.

What happens now, if your in-house file server goes down?
Unless you have extensive disaster recovery options in place such as duplicate on-site servers it can take up to 3 days to rebuild a server from scratch (assuming you’ve got an up to date backup).  Can your business afford to be down for this length of time? With cloud computing, using the latest computer technology, we can guarantee a 99.99% uptime for your hosted servers.

Is your business ever affected by the weather?
Have you had situations in the past where your staff were unable to get to work because of the ice or snow? With cloud computing it doesn’t matter about the weather, everyone can work from home!

How good is your backup routine?
The guy who took last night’s backup tape home is off ill, lives 20 miles away and you need to restore your data.  Or, you go to restore the data and you discover the tape is faulty? With cloud computing backups are done automatically for you and are always available 99.99% of the time.

Do you and your staff need access to emails and calendars all the time, whether in the office or not?
Implementing Microsoft Exchange Server in-house can be an expensive process.  With Hosted Exchange, this can all be up and running very quickly and cheaply using Hosted Exchange from AMA.  We can even link emails, calendars and tasks into your mobile phone!

Do you need to move your whole business over to cloud computing to take advantage of this functionality?
Certainly not, you can mix and match.  For example your accounts could be running on your local fileserver while taking advantage of Hosted Exchange.  Your system backups could be taken automatically into the cloud, no need for any more tapes! You could make your accounting software available to home workers via the cloud, but have your internal sales team running their CRM software on your local servers.

If everything is in the cloud, do you still need an office network?
Yes, but it’s now very much simpler with no need for expensive file servers.  Your PC workstations don’t need to be upgraded so often because they simply need to be able to run a Web Browser.  If the workstations need replacing, they can be replaced with low cost dumb terminals.

Note: To run hosted desktops you need to make sure that your internet connection is ‘Business Quality’, the faster the better.