Tag: Cloud

How Does Cloud Disaster Recovery Service Work?

Three focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. If you’re running a business or organization, you must think about protecting your data and back it up, even if you have cloud storage. The following sponsored post is entitled, How Does Cloud Disaster Recovery Service Work?

* * *

How does cloud disaster recovery service work? This article explores cost-effectiveness, scalability, compliance requirements, and SLA. The benefits of cloud disaster recovery service may surprise you, and these benefits can help you determine if it’s the right choice for your business. To help you make the right decision, consider four questions before selecting a cloud DR service. This article was written for business owners looking to save money and applies to individuals.

Cost-effectiveness

A cloud disaster recovery service like https://portworx.com/kubernetes-disaster-recovery/ is a smart choice for businesses that need to bounce back from a cyber-attack or ransomware attack. Cloud backup helps minimize the time it takes to get back online, and it can also reduce the overall cost of a system failure. Unfortunately, while most companies recognize the need to use a disaster recovery service, only a tiny percentage of them do so. However, the benefits of this service far outweigh any cost.

The cost-effectiveness of a cloud disaster recovery service depends on many factors. Several factors to consider, such as the level of protection the service offers, its scalability, and the TCO of dedicated DR infrastructure. Some cloud DR providers have several tiers, and some are better suited for specific data types than others. As a result, a cost-effective cloud disaster recovery service will serve a wide variety of data loads, and it may even be more suited for some companies than others.

Scalability

With cloud disaster recovery, your organization can get the scalability and flexibility needed to meet its current and future recovery needs without causing a significant resource drain. Depending on your needs, a cloud DR service may include some or all of your organization’s infrastructure. In this case, your recovery provider should have options to tier the infrastructure with longer-term storage solutions. In addition, you can restore your data and infrastructure remotely.

To choose the right size, you need to determine how much capacity your business needs. There are two main ways to scale up or down. The former involves upgrading memory, storage, and processing power. A vertical approach to scaling usually has an upper limit, and rising beyond that can lead to downtime. The latter method involves:

• Adding more servers.
• Spreading the workload across these machines.
• Enabling scalability to meet your needs without significantly impacting performance.

Compliance requirements

A cloud disaster recovery service can protect your business’ data and resources, but how do you determine which one meets compliance requirements? This article examines the factors to consider when choosing a cloud DR service. To begin, select the type of data you’d like to protect. Do you need to protect sensitive data, or is it enough to ensure your business’s continuity? The answer to these questions can vary by industry and provider, but there are several key factors to consider when choosing a cloud DR service.

SMBs must adhere to specific regulations, such as the PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) and HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). The requirements vary, but they all require cloud backup solutions to be secure and encrypt data. Also, under HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act), cloud backup providers must sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with their clients to provide backup services.

SLA

A good SLA for cloud disaster recovery service must specify what normalcy means to the customer. In other words, how quickly can the service be restored to the previous state? In short, what is a “recovery point objective”? This article will explore what that is and how you can find out if the provider is meeting its SLA. After all, when disaster strikes, you’ll want to know that you’ll be able to recover your data as quickly as possible.

When evaluating cloud disaster recovery service providers, it’s essential to look at SLAs for the different stages of the recovery process. For example, continuous replication is critical in cloud disaster recovery as a failure during the replication process could compromise the integrity of your standby backup system, thereby inhibiting the recovery process. So, in addition, continuous replication should be included in the SLA.

Cloud Computing Technology: Why Your Business Needs It

Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. In our new digital age, the cloud has become a major piece for many businesses. Learning to maximize its usage is key to any business that wants to survive as the years go on. The following guest post is entitled, Cloud Computing Technology: Why Your Business Needs It.

* * *

Over 83 percent of business workloads will be done on the cloud by 2020, according to a recent report by infrastructure monitoring firm LogicMonitor. Despite concerns with security and implementation, cloud adoption continues to grow, as the industry is projected to earn 17 percent more in 2020 compared to last year.

A lot of articles and experts that talk about the importance of technology in business cite cloud computing is the future. This is because it has a wide variety of cost, collaboration, and efficiency benefits to companies, especially small and medium-sized ones.

How does the platform work and what are its benefits to your company?

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing involves using applications and storage on the internet instead of your computer’s hard drive or office servers. Think of it as renting computing capacity from an outside provider.

It comes in three categories:

• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) – This involves renting the servers, virtualization, and other network hardware and software of your provider to create software based on your chosen platform.
• Platform as a Service (PaaS) – PaaS has everything that IaaS has, but with development and business intelligence tools built-in. All you need to do is to develop your enterprise software.
• Software as a Service (SaaS) – Here, the provider hosts applications on its servers and makes it available for customers to use immediately. This includes applications you probably already use in your business, like Salesforce, Google G Suite, MailChimp, and more. For small businesses, it’s best to stick with SaaS since all you need to do is learn and use the software instead of developing it yourself.

Benefits of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing usage continues to grow, and it’s because of the following advantages:

• Work Anywhere, Anytime – Cloud applications can be used on any device with a browser and an internet connection. Some providers even provide mobile apps. As such, you can check on your company’s productivity or even get some work done from anywhere you are in the world.
• Better Collaboration – Gone are the days of passing files manually either through hard copies or email. Cloud applications, like Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides offer collaboration tools that let you and your team edit and comment on the same live document. This provides one source of truth instead of multiple revised files.
• Scalability – Cloud providers often have a pay-as-you-go model, which means you only pay for the resources you use. If your company is still starting out, you can get a basic subscription that provides usage for a few users. As you expand, you can scale up your subscription to accommodate more employees. Because you don’t need to install any kind of software or hardware, the modifications to your plan happen immediately.

If you want to improve and save on your business processes, try to look for ways to take them to the cloud. Apart from freeing up your office space of large stacks of servers, it provides you with flexible, scalable, and collaborative applications that can increase the productivity, quality, and efficiency of your work. As long as you have a trustworthy and experienced cloud computing provider, your business is sure to enjoy these benefits and more.

Making Your Business Future Proof With The Cloud

Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. Inventions such as the cloud have changed the world and how business is done. There are certain protections that the cloud can provide. The following contributed post is entitled, Making Your Business Future Proof With The Cloud.

* * *

When you’re just starting up and getting your team together, chances are you saw yourself working in a bright, airy office with plenty of natural light, the latest technology and perhaps even a handful of office plants to add that green touch.

The problem is that office space is expensive, technology is expensive and the plants need a lot of maintenance. While working together certainly adds to a sense of team cohesion, it might not be the only solution for collaborative working.

In this blog, we take a closer look at what it means for teams to work remotely using the latest Cloud-based technology, of which you’ll find more information on this website.

Staff First

As the boss you know that your staff are your greatest asset and finding fresh new ways to motivate them and boost productivity is an on-going challenge.

But rather than relying on gimmicks to keep them interested, take a look at what your staff value best. Chances are that a good balance between working and home life is going to come close to the top, if not top every single time.

It’s a brave move but why not give them that choice? Remote working is proven to be an option that enhances the lives of employees. It gives them more control over their working hours, it gives them the chance to balance family life around their job and spend more time with the people they love and care about. It also motivates them and pushes up productivity.

Image courtesy of Pixabay: CC0 licence

Money Second

It also saves you money. That beautiful office and all its associated costs and technology can disappear. The daily commute in whether on public transport or in the car goes away, helping your pocket and the environment. It’s a win-win in so many ways.

You probably will still want to meet with staff every now and again and there are options for this with co-working spaces and the chance to hire out meeting rooms on an ad hoc basis.

Your Security

It will have crossed your mind that Cloud-based working might not be the safest way of sharing and storing files but a lot has changed since this concept first started. Today’s Cloud services are fully managed and secure.

It will rely on your staff avoiding the use of open networks and sticking to password protected options but that doesn’t mean you should encounter any problems. On managed sites help is just a phone call or an email away, so any routine glitches should be sorted out quickly and easily.

Put your trust in the Cloud and take a chance on a new way of working that will save you money, inspire your staff and ultimately make you more efficient. Do your research and find a Cloud service provider that offers you great value for money and ticks all the right boxes when it comes to making your business future proof. Your wallet, your staff and your customers will all thank you for it.

Exploring The Key Issues With “The Cloud”

Two key focuses of my blog is Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), and Business and Entrepreneurship. Many businesses and organizations are moving towards cloud-based storage systems for increased efficiency of operations, but what are the issues with this new technology? The following contributed post is thus entitled; Exploring The Key Issues With “The Cloud”.

* * *

Over the last few years, a lot of companies have been touting their cloud data services. Offering the chance to have all of your work, emails, and other important information stored on servers across the world, these businesses promise to be able to make it much easier to access and use these important parts of your work. Of course, though, like any new technology, the cloud isn’t all fun and games, and there are some serious issues with some of the services which can be found out there. To help you to see these problems, this post will be exploring some of the most prominent.

(Image Link)

Getting There: Data migrations are a notoriously challenging part of enterprise computing. Moving all of your on-premises information to servers isn’t an easy process, and most people will need the help of a cloud migration solutions company to help them. While this makes it much easier to get information where it needs to go, it will also cost some money, and this is rarely factored into the quotes which will be given out when you are approached by a cloud service.

Downtime: While a lot of work has been done to make sure that the servers hosting your data are able to run all the time, with plenty of redundant power and storage space, along with multiple networks in case one fails, a cloud company can’t control your internet connection. If you find yourself without this for a day or two, you could be left completely unable to do your work. These issues often come by surprise, making it impossible to save the data you’ll need as a precaution.

Security: Along with keeping servers running all the time, most cloud companies invest a small fortune into their cyber security. You will probably be accessing your data wirelessly at some stage, though, and this puts everything at risk. Of course, data breaches have become commonplace in the modern world, too. If this were your business’s information, you could be left to deal with some very unhappy clients or customers as a result.

Training: Finally, as the last area to consider, not a lot of people feel confident to use systems like this. When you have everything online, the process of accessing data can be a lot more complicated than what users are experienced with. This means having to train any employees you have to make sure that they can use the cloud securely and without wasting any time. There are loads of companies out there which can provide this to you, but it is something a lot of businesses would rather not have to pay for.

With all of this in mind, you should have the chance to think a little more deeply about the choice you have to make when it comes from moving from your own servers to the cloud. Of course, it isn’t all bad, the benefits it can provide can be huge, but it might not quite be the right time to make the switch if you’re worried about it.