Cloud Services
Leverage the Flexibility of the Cloud
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Section 1: What are Cloud Services?
The term Cloud Services can be a bit “nebulous,” but it generally refers to an assortment of services that function as IT resources on the internet. Cloud services differ from other services in that businesses do not have to rely on their own systems to uphold the services—they can use the “cloud” to host what they need. Small and mid-size businesses whose systems are unable to support a myriad of IT resources find this system brings many benefits.
Benefits of cloud services
- Pay-as-you-go system improves budgeting processes.
- Working remotely is easier, cutting costs for the enterprise while improving employee morale.
- IT security gets beefed up.
Cloud services store information in the cloud, which also acts as an access point for businesses. For example, Dropbox functions as a cloud service built on Amazon AWS. Most people use Dropbox for accessing/storing photos or sharing documents and other information. By using Dropbox, companies can share and store information without relying too heavily on their own systems.
Some companies with plenty of capital and an itch to develop unique IT technology venture out to build and use their own infrastructures, but cloud services offer a simple, cost-effective third-party approach where information can be accessed on a bigger, shared space.
Technology companies build and use cloud services differently, so cloud services may use their own applications or host other applications.
What ARE Cloud-Based Services
Cloud-based services encompass many of the basic technology components we use today. Facebook is a great example of a cloud-based service. Users upload videos, photos, statuses, and more in order to interact with other users and share information in the cloud.
What ARE NOT Cloud-Based Services
It may be easier to think about what are not cloud services. Even though the internet and the cloud share some attributes, users may upload information to the cloud. Business still happens over the internet, but users do not upload and share as in a cloud-based service like Dropbox. Amazon, for instance, is not considered a cloud-based service.
Types of Cloud Services
Cloud services can be lumped into three main categories, according to the layout of the service.
- IaaS – Infrastructure as a Service
- PaaS – Platform as a Service
- SaaS – Software as a Service
The Future of Cloud Services
With most cloud services, businesses are able to pay as they go instead of buying software one time and having to budget for expensive and regular upgrades. Cloud services afford businesses the ability to store information, communicate internally and externally, and use streamlined software for processing. In many cases, cloud services are proving to be more cost- and- time-effective for businesses that get bogged down paying for pricey upgrades and spending valuable time installing, testing, and training staff to use them.
With most cloud services, business applications are instantly available upon sign-up and offer streamlined use so no single upgrade makes such drastic changes that staff members are unable to use them.
Because cloud services use network connectivity and host data storage, businesses have to be assured their data is secure; however, most cloud-based service providers are ensuring data is just as safe – even safer – than it is with older infrastructure models.
With many companies opting into cloud services to replace their old way of doing things, the market for cloud services is becoming more diverse. Though the IT realm still makes up the majority of cloud services, many other types of businesses like consulting firms are switching over.
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Section 2: What is Cloud Computing?
With so many forms of data storage available on the internet, identifying specific types of data storage and analysis can prove challenging. Defining the cloud itself isn’t easy, either, because unlike a hard drive, it exists in more than one place. The cloud can be defined as any internet server where information is stored and shared.
How Does Cloud Computing Work?
Cloud services offer spaces for internet storage apart from a company’s hard drive or internal servers. By using cloud services – third-party storage space on the internet – businesses can avoid costly and lengthy server upgrade processes.
Not only does cloud computing allow data storage and sharing, but the service also permits data manipulation. In other words, you can also analyze data and export information when necessary by using cloud computing.
Cloud storage offers a storehouse for the information or for shared access to the information. But unlike cloud storage, cloud computing allows users to complete projects with the data, all off the business’s internal servers.
Software as a service, otherwise known as SaaS, is one example of cloud computing. SaaS allows users to transform and work with data all through a software interface on the internet.
The top uses for cloud computing include storage/backup, data analysis, email, security, and collaboration.
Why Use Cloud Computing?
On the rise in businesses today, cloud computing allows for more streamlined business processing. Instead of having to back up and store data on an internal server, businesses are able to use a completely external interface to store data.
Cloud computing is also preferred because it saves time, energy, and money. By using an application or interface on the cloud, no internal storage is required. Teams can save time and money by not having to worry about internal tasks like on-site software patching and set-up.
Because cloud computing relies on outside companies with efficient interfaces, often these storage and data spaces are more productive than an on-site server. Companies who make use of cloud computing are typically more secure with data and ensure complete efficiency of their product.
On-Demand
Many cloud computing hosts allow users to pay as they go, which can be a great way to save money for the business. Instead of purchasing more data storage space that may never be used or filled, businesses are able to purchase only what is necessary at the time of service, or for a set amount of time. When more space is needed, they may make a new purchase or increase their current cloud computing offerings.
Flexibility in Cloud Computing
The fact that cloud computing allows data to be analyzed and transformed in a third-party application allows for greater possibilities on how to use this service. Cloud computing may be purchased in a basic way to act simply as a storage/networking unit, or to complete complex business processes and analyze the results.
There’s no one right way to use cloud computing. Companies can purchase cloud computing to suit their specific needs in an on-demand basis. Businesses love this more personalized approach to storage, sharing, and data analysis. The cloud computing companies love it too because they can focus their energy on making a higher quality product for a greater amount of clients.
Summary
Cloud computing does more than just store data—it allows businesses to interact with the data being stored and to analyze results. Businesses can save time, energy, and money by investing in cloud computing because of the product’s convenient off-site interface and specialized functionality. Since no software patching or other internal maintenance is required, businesses are able to access and evaluate information more easily with cloud computing companies.
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Section 3: How Cloud Services Benefit Your Business
Business is an ever-changing world, challenging professionals every day to keep up with its pace. Leaders in every enterprise must be willing to part ways with old processes and learn new ones. To keep up with technological revolutions and new best business practices, understanding your technology options is a must. If you’re wondering how cloud services can benefit your business, the answer lies in the way this third-party alternative service works.
About Cloud Services
Cloud services offer a unique advantage to stay on the track to optimal success. Businesses can save time, energy, and money by using cloud services instead of relying on internal hardware. The cloud offers a space on the internet to store and access information that may be shared at any time. While cloud services offer space to store and share business data, cloud computing services takes it one step further, allowing users to interact with the information and draw conclusions in a variety of ways. Cloud services act as a completely external space that all approved users can immediately access.
Why Do Businesses Like Using Cloud Services?
In a nutshell, cloud saves a lot of resources. One of the basic challenges in any business is to decrease the amount of money, time, and energy invested in operating expenses while increasing productivity and sales. Using cloud services is becoming more popular among successful companies because it saves these resources while offering a new and better solution for data storage.
All businesses have processes to follow and data to store. Instead of purchasing bulky and high maintenance hardware to house this information, using cloud services is a great way to outsource data storage and function. With ease of access and quick software, cloud services make things simpler.
Another way cloud services impress business owners is through cutting-edge technology. Because cloud service companies specialize in offering their product as a third party, they understand the quality of the outsourced material needs to be top-notch. Businesses wouldn’t pay to store data in a slower system than what they could use in-house. The product must be a better option than what businesses can provide on their own. Consequently, cloud service companies typically offer some of the most impressive software. It’s usually quicker, cheaper, and overall easier than using the hardware directly from the business. Cloud also takes less maintenance when it comes to updates and software issues, which otherwise can be a time-consuming headache.
Benefits of Cloud Services
Cloud services are quickly saturating standard business processes. Even something as simple as a web-based email platform like Gmail is a cloud service, and it is now taking the place of Outlook in many companies worldwide. Dropbox is another cloud service company that many businesses use now to share information quickly and easily on a third-party server. A good example of a service that takes the service further is G suite, where you are able to access, share, and transform data.
Taking the step of purchasing cloud services and migrating information from one system to another can seem daunting, but given the time, energy, and money you can save through using the cloud, it’s a step worth taking. Whether you’re using a third party to simply to store user manuals and lists or to grant access to sensitive documents, cloud services are on the rise in businesses today. Cloud services are almost unavoidable in standard business practice now. Because of their popularity in the corporate world, they are rapidly becoming the next step in the direction of the future of business processing.
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Section 4: Why Using Cloud Services is More Secure
Security is easily the most important aspect of dealing with data in business. An ever-expanding industry, an ever-expanding industry, cybersecurity is allowing more businesses to safely store information without having to rely on internal hardware storage.
Though more and more companies are using cloud services to store data, a few of the more traditional IT technicians are hesitant to believe cloud services are as secure as their own hardware.
Because cloud companies use client data, which may be sensitive or personal information, they must take the utmost care for securing that data. So the question arises: how secure are cloud services that require a business to fork over their information?
Characteristics of cloud services
Cloud services operate differently than in-house hardware servers. They replicate data upon uploading. That means as soon as information comes in, it is instantly replicated in several locations. In order to lose all data, all copies would have to be accessed and destroyed at the same time. The redundancy of cloud-based resources helps preserve data that would be lost to a malware infection or natural disaster.
Using cloud services also lets you easily determine who has access to the data you’re storing. By granting permissions, you can add users to read-only or edit access. The fact that there’s no file copying/sending in random places adds to the security of cloud services. Plus, you can easily remove permissions. As employees move on to other companies, you can quickly remove access to all data without worrying if they have alternate folders of information out there.
Some cloud services even offer data recovery systems which allow you to recover accidentally deleted files.
It’s not about the platform
As counterintuitive as it may seem, security doesn’t stem from control over a system. Just because you’re able to see, monitor, and control a hardware system doesn’t necessarily mean it’s more secure that a cloud services that stores information in an outside source. Security is less about the platform you’re using and more about how you access it.
Researchers have shown that cyber hacks can occur in either cloud-based applications or on-premises hardware; however, in recent studies it was the customers of companies storing data on their own servers that were hacked more frequently.
In fact, brute-force attacks, which involve repeatedly trying to guess the right credentials to access a privileged account, are much more common against traditional IT networks than cloud platforms.
This dismisses the idea that cloud services are more of a security risk than using in-house servers.
The future of cloud services
With the rise of people using cloud services to store data, the cloud companies are constantly improving their security. Occasionally, incidents happen with any kind of system; however, fewer attacks are getting through the front lines of even remote applications.
Cloud service products are highly specialized in that they only serve companies who are outsourcing space to store and work with data. Knowing that this is their area of expertise, and that many companies are entrusting them with sensitive data, they take security seriously.
Many security companies report that fewer security issues are happening due to improved technology. Gartner reports that by 2018, the 60% of enterprises that implement appropriate cloud visibility and control tools will experience one-third fewer security failures.
As more companies migrate data to cloud applications, fears of data breaches are quickly fading. Cloud services, by nature and also by attention, are proving to be even more secure than even an internal hardware system.
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Section 5: Wolf Technology Group’s Cloud Service Offerings
Cloud Services provide unparalleled scalability and flexibility. Collaboration across remote locations becomes easier than ever, and many services include automatic updates, meaning that your company is far more protected against emerging threats.
But how does a company make the switch? Unless you have unlimited IT personnel to devote solely to these projects, it can be a daunting and sometimes rough process. Wolf Technology can take on the responsibility of assessment, migration, and implementation so that you can focus on your business.
Which service is best for your business?
Wolf Technology offers a variety of options to fit your company’s specific needs. Here are a few of the offerings that could improve your process and take your business to the next level of innovation!
Cloud services we offer
eDocs
Data storage on the cloud can seem ambiguous and stressful. Migrating data isn’t always as straightforward. Wolf TG can help implement a cloud service that will store your data safely so that your documents are readily accessible to employees with access. We will work closely with you to ensure you get the cloud storage option that’s right for your business.
Cloud Backups
Data Management
If you’re in this for more than extra storage space and need to use a cloud service to manage important data, we can design a system that checks all your boxes. But data management migration can be one of the most intimidating processes to migrate to cloud services. After all, our business processes and data management is what drives your business on a daily basis. Wolf TG can help by taking a look at your current data management and helping migrate it over to a cloud application.
Office 365
This service is one of the most popular programs in business today. It offers monthly subscriptions to Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint without having to regularly upgrade for compatibility. But switching over to Office 365 can sometimes be a bumpy experience, especially if you don’t have the IT staff to devote to this project. If you’ve decided to switch, Wolf Technology can do the dirty work for you, everything from installation and migration to the actual implementation of this cloud service.
Upgrade to the cloud with Wolf TG
Wolf Technology Group is here to help you explore the Cloud Services that best serve your business. If you’re concerned that your existing network may be outdated, leaving you vulnerable to attack, or simply that your network isn’t operating as efficiently as you need, consider having us perform a network assessment. We’ll map out your network, from your internet connection to the software on each machine and give you the insight you need to make informed decisions about what’s best for your organization.