How Should Your Small Business Implement Cloud Solutions?

Whether you take advantage of it or not, the cloud is a major part of most businesses’ IT infrastructures—especially with the ongoing pandemic, which has kept many workers out of their offices and off of the in-house network. If your business is one of the few that has managed to stay afloat without the cloud, let’s change that. With a high-quality cloud solution, you can future-proof your business in ways you may not have considered.

Explaining Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is so common that the majority of people use it on a day-by-day basis, perhaps without even realizing it. One of the biggest examples of consumer cloud computing is most email accounts, like Gmail or Yahoo, which use the cloud to store emails. In general, this is what cloud computing looks like—storing data in an online environment, improving flexibility and accessibility. It’s the ideal solution for businesses that want to keep operations running even outside of the office.

Most organizations utilize the cloud to some degree, usually a public or private cloud.

Public vs Private Clouds

Cloud-based services fall into one of these two categories, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. Let’s take a look!

Private Cloud

It’s actually pretty common for businesses to manage and maintain their own cloud infrastructure. This means that they have server units on-premises that they are responsible for keeping active, thus providing their workers with the ability to connect to their data through any approved devices, be they a desktop, laptop, or smartphone. A private cloud offers more flexibility in terms of the way that it’s designed, as well as a greater security ceiling. However, this comes at the cost of… well, costs; you need to manage, maintain, and secure server units, and they also consume a considerable amount of electricity.

Public Cloud

As you might imagine, not all businesses have the ability to care for server units in-house. This is where the public cloud comes into play. Essentially, the public cloud is like “renting” online computing resources; you pay for space from a cloud provider and do with it as you see fit. The space is partitioned off per user or account, meaning that only you have access to your data, even if it is technically located on the same server as other users’ data. The convenience of this concept makes cloud computing much more accessible, but it does come with its fair share of concerns. The space is managed by your cloud provider, so you won’t have as much control over it as if you were managing it yourself. Furthermore, you won’t be able to have as much control over security as you might like. The public cloud is generally pretty secure, but businesses shouldn’t have to compromise on security.

The small business is put into a bit of a dilemma. Do you invest in a private cloud infrastructure and all of the challenges that come with it, or do you pinch your pennies and go with the public cloud? If neither option sounds ideal, we have one more option for you: the hybrid cloud.

Hybrid Cloud

For businesses that don’t have the capabilities to implement a private cloud solution, but don’t want to accept the shortcomings of the public cloud, a hybrid cloud solution might be the right call.

The idea is simple; a managed service provider hosts your data so that you don’t have to. You then work with the provider to design your infrastructure around your specific needs. The managed service provider manages and protects your infrastructure to whatever extent you are comfortable with, freeing up tons of time for you to focus on being productive. All of this combines to get the customization you need without compromising elsewhere.

Does your business need a hand setting up a cloud solution? XFER can help. To learn more, reach out to us at 734-927-6666 / 800-GET-XFER.