The Connection, Inc Blog

The cloud computing landscape has witnessed remarkable advancements, offering businesses and individuals a wide array of advanced cloud options. These cutting-edge technologies have revolutionized the way we store, access, and process data, empowering organizations to achieve unparalleled scalability, flexibility, and cost-efficiency. This week, we will delve into some of the most prominent advanced cloud options available today, highlighting their key features and benefits.

Software makes or breaks businesses, so your software strategy should be implemented with sound logic in mind. One of the ways you can make the most out of your limited resources and budget is to consider cloud-hosted Software as a Service offerings. With SaaS, you can implement better software that is more accessible, flexible, and manageable than the traditional method of hosting.

Businesses used to paying up front for Windows may be surprised to learn that the newest offering by Microsoft, Windows 10 Enterprise edition, will have a monthly charge. For some organizations, this move may be enough for them to rethink how they buy and manage their software.

Did you know that 43 percent of IT decision makers have plans to increase their cloud investments throughout 2017? This is according to a recent survey which, when combined with the steady rate of cloud adoption seen during the past decade, proves that the cloud is the next phase in the evolutionary development of business computing. While this shows great promise for the future, cloud adoption is not something to dive into blindly.

After all, this is a tendency that many business owners regularly exhibit: after little research or preparation, it’s easy to adopt the latest technology trends without regard for the effects of these changes. Estimates identify the cloud as another technology that fits this tendency. In fact, projections place Software-as-a-Service as accounting for 59 percent of cloud-hosted workloads by 2018.

Clearly, the cloud is a valuable asset for businesses. Although, if a company were to dive right in (anticipating to immediately enjoy the cloud’s benefits), then they could easily experience detrimental issues.

As you weigh the many factors of your cloud solution against each other, it is especially important to invest time into considering your service provider--even more so if you don’t plan to host your solution yourself.

This is a very common practice, as not many companies can spare the time it takes to manage a cloud solution, let alone handle the administrative duties of adding new users, adjusting permissions, and the litany of other responsibilities self-managing entails. Utilizing someone else’s services allows you to invest that considerable amount of time into other matters, however, there is an obvious disadvantage.

By utilizing someone else’s services to see to maintaining your cloud solution, you are trading off your control for the sake of convenience. Therefore, if your provider encounters an issue, you will also face the consequences as you lose the ability to access your cloud services.

To avoid this, you will need to select a provider that guarantees maximum uptime, no matter what.

In order for your cloud solution to be worth the investment, your provider will need to care for your solution as a member of your internal team would, as well as ensure that interruptions are avoided, if not eliminated entirely.

In order to receive this kind of treatment with a solution that’s as complicated as the cloud, you’ll need trained IT professionals in your corner.

If you’re looking for these quality cloud services and freedom from having to maintain them, all for a reasonable, budgetable monthly expense, reach out to us at The Connection, Inc. We can provide data storage services, cloud-based email, or any other hosted utility. All you have to do is give us a call at (732) 291-5938.

All businesses have certain software solutions that they need to keep their operations going. Be it an email solution or a productivity suite that you lack, your business is held back from ideal operational efficiency. The traditional way of acquiring these pieces of software can be holding your organization back, so we’ve come to you with a solution: Software as a Service (SaaS).

Virtualized technology services are great assets for businesses with limited budgets. Three of the best ways that your organization can take advantage of cloud computing and virtualization services are Software as a Service (SaaS), Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), and hardware virtualization.

Software as a Service (SaaS)
More businesses than ever are taking advantage of cloud-hosted software that’s dynamic in scope and practicality. It’s software like this that has allowed SMBs to grow and accomplish things that might not have been possible otherwise. Examples of software as a service include Microsoft Office 365 and Google’s G-Suite, but any software solution that is paid for on a monthly basis through the use of a subscription qualifies as SaaS. Since these payments are smaller than purchasing full-fledged licenses of software, SaaS is ideal for SMBs with smaller budgets.

Virtualized Telephone Solutions (VoIP)
Virtual telephony solutions are great for the express purpose that they can be used on different devices, and most Internet-connected devices can access these VoIP solutions via the cloud. This means that as long as you have a smartphone, desktop, or laptop that’s connected to the Internet, you’ll have access to your company’s telephone number.

Hardware Virtualization 
Managing an entire network of servers and other components can be challenging for an organization that doesn’t have an in-house IT department. This is why many businesses are choosing to outsource their hardware management through a virtualization service. This allows for servers to be consolidated and hosted in a virtual environment, where they need less maintenance, require fewer resources to operate, and can be accessed via the cloud. Furthermore, hardware virtualization allows your organization to simplify its network.

Does your business want to take advantage of virtualization services to get the leg up on your competition? If so, reach out to The Connection, Inc. We have the technical skills and expertise required to help your business get the most out of new and innovative technology solutions. To learn more, call us at (732) 291-5938.