****************************************

Special Offer for Current Managed Services IT Clients

Managed Services IT will waive all cloud migration costs, saving you $7,500-$10,000, and offer free training from a certified IT trainer! Schedule a demo to see how you can take advantage of a fully integrated, managed solution for a single monthly fee. Call Jim today at 609-790-4215 for your free demo!

****************************************

Why Moving Your Business to the Cloud Makes Sense

Although just about every small business today is using the cloud on some level, especially with the accelerated shift to remote working, there seem to be quite a few misconceptions floating around – no pun intended – about cloud computing.

Interestingly enough, most of the applications and services you already use are cloud-based. For example, Microsoft 365 (formerly Microsoft Office 365), Salesforce, QuickBooks, Dropbox, and DocuSign are all in the cloud.

We won’t bore you with the technical details, but it’s important to have a basic understanding of what the cloud is, how it works, and why it makes sense to move at least a portion of your data, applications, and workloads to the cloud.

What Is the Cloud and How Does It Work?

The simplest way to explain the cloud is that instead of having your data and applications sitting on your employees’ laptop or mobile devices or an on-site server, they’re hosted in remote data centers and accessed over the internet. A cloud provider will help you migrate your assets to the cloud platform.

Instead of opening files and applications that have been saved on your devices, you log in to a web-based interface to access what you need. Instead of managing your own infrastructure, you share resources that live in the cloud. However, you have complete control over who accesses your data.

The cloud provider is responsible for managing, maintaining, and securing cloud infrastructure, and they have more manpower to handle those duties than any small-to-midsize business. Every time you log in, you have access to the most updated versions of your business applications.

You only pay for the resources you use. If your company is growing and you want to add more users, applications, and storage capacity, you don’t have to pay for more technology. You just contact the cloud provider and tell them what you need. This is extremely valuable for companies that see seasonal spikes in activity and usage, like firms during tax season.

Why Is Everyone Moving to the Cloud?

The shift to the cloud has been steady, but COVID-19 has accelerated cloud adoption. According to the Flexera 2020 State of the Cloud Report, half of all companies with fewer than 1,000 employees said their cloud usage will be higher than initially planned because of the pandemic.

In the early days of the cloud, the performance was slow and security was a legitimate concern. However, advancements in technology and improvements to the cloud platforms themselves have led to dramatic performance improvements, and data stored in the cloud is typically far more secure than data stored in an onsite server or device.

The fact is, the cloud is a simpler, more cost-effective, more flexible, more scalable alternative to building, maintaining, and managing in-house infrastructure. You trade expensive technology upgrades every few years for one monthly fee and more predictable costs. With more people working remotely than ever, the cloud has become a business necessity.

Our DaaS Solution

Managed Services IT offers a Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) solution that makes it simple for your team to work anywhere with an internet connection. With DaaS, nothing is stored on your device. When you turn on your device, just log in and your virtual desktop, with access to data, applications, and services, is instantly delivered from the cloud to your device. Also, data is automatically backed up in the cloud so you don’t have to worry about data loss.

Your virtual desktop can be accessed on any device. You can work on your phone or tablet while on the road and pick up on your laptop when you get back to the office without missing a beat. We also offer help desk and onsite support if you ever have a problem

In the next article, we’ll dig into our DaaS solution in more detail and show you how Managed Services IT clients are already benefiting from the switch from VPN to DaaS.