Cloud based computing and sharing of information is a very exciting new era for IT. These cloud-based technologies will definitely be the future.
However, when it comes down to it, your business is your livelihood and we need to take a cold and hard look at these applications and decide whether the technology is stable and mature enough to support us effectively.
Question: First, we must ask ‘Why do you want to move to the cloud?’. You might think that the answer is obvious. However, have a think about it seriously and note down all of the reasons why your office server can’t do what you need it to. The answers to this question will be very important collectively they will determine the most appropriate systems to consider.
Decisions: Assuming that the issues raised by the above question can’t be resolved by a change to the existing server setup, we then need to consider the technical positives and negatives of the available systems and decide whether the pros out-weigh the cons.
New Technology: It is extremely important to note that, although individuals have been using some of these newer cloud-based systems for a while now, scaling these systems up to cope with multi-user and sharing is still quite new and is often not without issues.
Excitement vs Disaster: To a certain extent, your job as a customer is to get excited about the new technology but my job is to try and anticipate all of the ‘what if’ scenarios. I need to do my best to prevent any issues. These may range anywhere between major system restrictions and unforeseen events.
Backups: Traditional backups systems involve taking a copy of your data away from where it naturally resides on a regular basis and ensuring that this happens. There is an argument to say that if the data lives in the cloud, then copying the data to your own laptop on a regular basis would be considered to be an off-site backup. However, this can be flawed by un-monitored (by me) local system malfunction, human error and laziness. We need to consider ways of preventing data loss being made worse by these factors.
Setup & Migration Costs:Using new technology does come at a price. Not because we intend to add a premium but simply because there are more unknowns associated with a project which is un-proven and which could add delays or expense related to producing work-arounds. Wherever possible, we will attempt to anticipate the pitfalls in order to budget for a solution but this is definitely something to bear in mind.
Selecting a Cloud Based Solution
Selecting the product that best fits the business model can be quite difficult. Products that have been around for a while tend to have a better support network around them from other users. However, newer products may claim to suit your needs better but may not necessarily have an established support network. Choosing the wrong product can be a costly exercise especially if you are forced to switch to a different product later.
If an established product doesn’t quite fit your needs, it may pay you to wait for future enhancements to the product rather than go off in search of an obscure system with little or no support.
Arguably, currently the most popular cloud-based solutions for file sharing and email:
Dropbox
Easy to use. Lots of people use it making it fairly easy to find support. Sharing is possible although setting permissions is a very manual process and you can’t set different permissions on sub-folders. Some folder manipulation tasks are difficult or tedious. One large premium Dropbox account could be shared with several free Dropbox user accounts in order to save money. Proper reliable automated backups could be an issue due to Dropbox being an application rather than a service.
Gmail
Possible alternative to Exchange. Cost is about 30 – 40 per user per year. Sharing is possible. Tasks, Notes and some other bits don’t sync with Outlook. This is just for Mail, Contacts & Calendars. Excellent spam filtering – Among the best in the world. Email ‘Search on server’ function on iPhone doesn’t work, doesn’t appear to have ever worked and I’ve seen no sign of a fix. So, if you’re looking for an old email then you’ll have to wait until you can get to your laptop. Extremely poor support. Google is renowned for offering promises of good support but actually failing to deliver anything at all. I suggest you should consider support from Google to be non-existant. Proper reliable automated backups could be an issue.
Posts Tagged ‘ Decisions ’
Article by Leon Belenky
Are you interested in dedicated server web hosting? Like any decision, there is sure to be some pros and cons to the situation. First consider what a dedicated server is. A dedicated server refers to a service that allows a client to lease an entire server and have exclusive rights to it. This is in contrast to shared web hosting, which requires that users share a server with various other users and websites. With shared web hosting, the company maintains control over the server. With dedicated service, the user is basically leasing a server to do whatever he wants. What are some of the pros and cons of dedicated web server hosting?
First consider the major pros. Dedicated hosting offers you peace of mind. You know that you are the only user or company making use of the server. Since you are the only person leasing the server, you can count on top priority service from your provider. You will probably be allowed to make major decisions as to administration and software. Additionally, you don
Have you ever wondered if what you know about marketing on Facebook is accurate? Consider the following paragraphs and compare what you know to the latest info on marketing on Facebook.
Social networking websites are becoming more and more popular each day. Websites like these are primarily used as a social utility that will enable people to connect with other people. With Facebook, you will be able to connect with friends, acquaintances, and with other people who you study and live with.
One social networking website that is very popular among many people today is Facebook. With Facebook, you will be able to get your very own profile page where you can upload an unlimited amount of photos, share videos, and also a place where you will let people viewing a little about you.
Although this is a great social networking site that will enable you to keep in touch with your friends and acquaintances as well as meet new people and make new friends, it is also a website that made a lot of internet marketers drool.
With over 62 million active subscribers and still continuing to grow, you know that this place is the place to market.
If you own a business and you are reaching for an 18 to 25 demographic to sell your products, you will see that Facebook will be able to provide you with your target customers. Most subscribers here are aged between 18 and 25, which is called the “tech-savvy youth audiences”.
If your marketing on Facebook facts are out-of-date, how will that affect your actions and decisions? Make certain you don’t let important marketing on Facebook information slip by you.
With Facebook, you will not only target your ads on specific regions and universities, but you will also be able to get your fair share of audience. Here, you will see that when you join, you will be able to readily use tools that can really help you advertise your products and services.
You can customize your profile in order to make it unique and attract your target audience and you can also post blogs and even syndicate your blog page using RSS. If you have video ads about your products or services, you can post it here on Facebook as well.
When you register with Facebook, you can also add friends. Try adding as much as you can and establish some relationship. If you already know someone who uses Facebook, add them and try to get them to promote the products or services you offer.
This is one great feature of Facebook. With it, you will be able to get people who are connected to your network to advertise for you. This way, you will see that you will be able to market your product more effectively by getting people in other network know about your products or services.
Another great tool that you can use in Facebook is the ability to let you add applications in your profile page. Here, you will be able to add games and other applications in your profile page, which can be great in attracting other people to visit your profile page.
As you can see, Facebook will be able to create a great potential in internet marketing. The website already has the numbers in terms of traffic, and it also has the tools necessary for you to market your products or services effectively.
It is just a matter of knowing how to use these tools and also know how to effectively market your products or services. By creating a great profile page in Facebook, you can be sure that you will be able to attract a lot of targeted traffic.
Blogs are easy to write. You do not have to own an advanced degree in journalism to write one. Yet its usefulness cannot be overestimated. It is an important tool for keeping records of things important to the writer and disseminating valuable information to others. Because of this, blog writing has become a very popular past time and excellent marketing tool as well. HCG diet blogs are no different. They are often used by dieters to keep track of their daily activities, decisions and outcomes related to the diet and when this is done in the internet, they become powerful means of convincing or dissuading people.
Perhaps, there is no better means of obtaining reliable information about HCG diets than blogs posted by actual users. After all, they are the product of concrete experiences that is very difficult to dispute. The only way to dispute them with any hope of obtaining a reliable conclusion is to compare related blogs and see which side the majority tends to agree on.
HCG diet blogs are not all about actual experiences. Some blogs are refreshingly loaded with data based on studies and experiments about the weight loss program intended to clear up areas that most people are concerned with or support a specific position regarding the diet. Saves you time reading the source documents from which the blog was based on and provide you with enough information for your own judgment.
Now, not all HCG diet blogs are written just for the fun of it or disseminating information or helping settle disputes. Some blogs are blatantly promotional but it is easy enough to see if you are being taken for the ride. Anything that promises heaven on earth should be taken with a grain of salt.
Best forex indicators – you can trade the foreign exchange using many different timeframes. Some of the most popular ones are the 1 minute, 5 minute, 15 minute, 1 hour, 4 hour, 1 day, 1 week, and 1 month charts. So many choices can really confuse the novice trader, so in this article, we will talk about which one is right for you.
The one you choose will largely depend on your personality and trading goals. If you want to be in and out of trades quickly, then you might use a 1 or 5 minute chart. If you want more time to analyze your trades, then you will use a 1 hour or higher.
Also your experience will be a factor when choosing. Generally the smaller the time sample, the harder it is to trade. For one reason, you have to make quick decisions on quick charts, and quick decisions for beginners usually end in losses. Secondly, patterns that develop on smaller charts are less reliable because they reflect only a small sample of time. Chart patterns using higher time samples are generally more reliable.
One more point – you will probably use a combination of timeframes when you trade. These different market perspectives will be one of the best forex indicators you ever use. You might look for a good trade on a larger timeframe and then drop down to a smaller one to identify the exact entry and exit points. But it is best to choose 1 and use it the majority of the time.
So which timeframe should you choose?
If you are a beginner, you should use the 15 minute or higher. Anything less is too quick. You first need to recognize patterns, learn the market, and become very familiar with your trading station before you focus on trading often.
Most people suggest that novices start on the 1 hour chart. You won’t get a lot of trade opportunities on the 1 hour, but you don’t have to take a lot of trades to make money. I repeat – you do not have to take a lot of trades to make money. Many traders get the feeling that if they are not actively trading then they are wasting their time. Usually traders that over-trade waste more than just their time – they waste their money.
So try different timeframes and see which one works best for you. The right one for you will be one of the best forex indicators you can have.