A Gracious Host: 3 Ways Cloud Computing Can Help Your Business

Much has been made of the cloud recently and you see more and more that companies of all sizes are beginning to utilize cloud computing services in some fashion. Whether it's simply the incorporation of web-based social networking interfaces as inexpensive (and seemingly valuable) marketing tools, or the complex hosting of your company's entire computing infrastructure, the cloud has several options that can work for your business. Below are three ways in which the cloud can present your organization reasonably valuable solutions.

Hosted E-mail
When people talk about the cloud as a solution for business computing, they tend to consider it a relatively new idea. Hosted e-mail has been around for some time. Basically, hosting your company's e-mail on a server that isn't located in your office is one of the more popular examples of cloud computing being used in business today. These hosted e-mail clients give client-administrators the full array of administrative access that they'd expect out of an off-site solution. Many times administrators are granted access to every capability they would have if they hosted their e-mail server locally; all without the massive overhead associated with hosting an extra server for internal e-mail. For your business, communicative efficiency results in boosts in productivity. Many of today's hosted e-mail solutions provide additional collaboration tools.

Hosted Desktop
Delving a little deeper into cloud computing than just e-mail hosting, Hosted Desktop solutions feature dynamic interfaces in which to deliver web-based software to your company's users. Software as a Service (SaaS) is at the heart of this delivery model. Users sign into a dedicated interface that houses all that organization's software. This software is not located on the PC or workstation, it's located in the cloud. The Hosted Desktop functions much like the desktop of your operating system. These computing solutions are highly valuable for businesses that have remote workers. This also provides an end-user access to work-essential software that would normally bog down a computer system by allowing them to run everything virtually.

Hosted Server
Servers are generally the most expensive part of an organization's computer network and typically present businesses with numerous and substantial capital outlays. By hosting your server in the cloud, your organization gains the ability to get at their data from anywhere at anytime. Many future start-ups and business that need scalable computing are sure to take advantage of Hosted Server solutions. This infrastructure as a service (IaaS) model allows organizations the simplicity of having their company's complete IT infrastructure in the cloud. The flexibility with Hosted Server solutions provides enormous values for companies that don't have a dedicated storefront of a brick and mortar presence.

Cloud services are just now becoming affordable enough for them to be valuable to businesses all around the world. For information about the cloud, available software, virtualized hardware, or storage capabilities, call Directive at 607.433.2200. Our established professionals are some of the top IT minds in the Upstate New York area and can help your organization boost its efficiency.