Not Just in the Sky Anymore
Posted by g33k on Jan 5, 2016 in Tech Knowledge | Comments Off on Not Just in the Sky Anymore What is the cloud? Let’s talk about it. Cloud is probably one of the biggest buzzwords in the IT industry right now. There are many different applications and strategies that utilize cloud technology. Simply put Cloud is utilizing a vendors network and size to gain easy access from anywhere and have large company redundancy and reliability with a monthly charge rather than building the same environment at your office. This could be using an accounting companies software and accessing it via a secure web browser session or storing all of your files on their network and letting them handle backups and server maintenance that could be costly. At G33k Consulting we can say hands down that the cloud service that we are most excited about is Microsoft’s Office 365. It allows you to roll several technologies that would require multiple servers to run all into one service that has a low monthly cost. Let’s take a quick look at what they are: Email with Exchange: If you have corporate email that you are internally hosting you know the cost isn’t cheap. If you are utilizing a cheaper hosted service that only allows POP access to your email you know that received, read, and deleted emails don’t sync between your devices. Exchange uses a push technology to send emails to your devices when the email is sent. If it is read or deleted that change is replicated to your Outlook, mobile device, or web login. No need to manage your email in several places. Adding a contact on your phone automatically syncs it with your other applications and devices. Depending on the subscription your team could have up to 50 gigs of email storage and unlimited archives that are easily accessed. No longer do you need to delete emails because of the cost of storage. Another great feature that comes along with Exchange is the ability to have personal calendars that are easily shared with staff and people outside of the firm. Office Apps: Microsoft is always updating their software. Unfortunately it’s not always backwards compatible. If your clients are sending you files in a new format you are forced to upgrade. If you are using Office365 you no longer need to plan ahead for those large expensive upgrades. The monthly pay as you go subscription gives you the newest software as it comes out. You can choose to upgrade as soon as it’s rolled out or wait until...read more