Are You Communicating Securely? 6 Tips to Keep Your Conversations Safe

Labels: communication, security, small business tips

Weatherproof Your Business: Take Shelter from the Storm in the Cloud

So starts an article dated April 29^th 2011 on the international news site France 24.

There can no longer be any doubt that we have entered an era of increasingly volatile weather conditions. The tsunami that has wrecked havoc across the island of Japan just last month and the recent ‘spate of tornadoes’ (as aptly put by the author) are just the latest affirmations of a definite global climate trend.

Just imagine the immediacy when such a misfortune strikes. Natural disasters are unruly beasts, and even modern climatologists with all their sophisticated knowledge and equipment are often thunderstruck by their sudden onslaughts. Sometimes the best they can do is give us mere days—if not hours—of notice.

If, god forbid, such mad winds started blowing in your neck of the woods, you’d throw your family in a car and get the hell out of there—as far and as fast as you could!

Naturally, your first concern is to protect yourself and your loved ones.

But once the worst of it has passed and only wreckages remain, how would you figure in the aftermath?

Your house may have been damaged or destroyed. Perhaps even your office. Any equipment and infrastructure you may have owned have likely taken a dip and didn’t take well to swimming. Your insurance may or may not cover the damages—depending on how well you’ve read the fine print—but even if it did, it would take weeks, months even, to get everything back on track.

Now, it’s bad enough to suffer a loss of your physical possessions, but imagine losing your business too, and with it your means of rebuilding your lost wealth...

You’d obviously find consolation in the fact you and your family have made it out with your skins. You’d tell yourself that you can always start fresh—in a different town, different place. That you still have your skills, your years of experience, perhaps even some of that old youth... But deep down inside, a single question will be wrenching your guts out: “Could I not have done anything better?”

You see, as human beings we have the gift of foresight, and therefore the privilege of preparing for the unexpected. To decide, when bad news come lashing at our doors, if we’d have the ability to act, or only to react.

In some situation, only a reaction is possible—this is where we need to act well in advance to protect ourselves. That’s why you don’t keep all of your money in a single place, or even in a single currency.

Sometimes still, the best we can possibly do is only curb the damage—limit what and how much can be lost—and this is where cloud computing becomes invaluable.

Think about it: if most of your business was powered up in the cloud rather than from your office it would have been infinitely easier for you to bounce back up on your feet following such catastrophe. Sure, your physical possessions would’ve suffered a beating—but at least you’d still have the ability to earn a living. Wealth can be rebuilt. That’s why your first concern is for your life, and the second is for your livelihood.

Moreover, being a business owner, you’d probably have the foresight to buy insurance. So most of the assets you’ve owned will be reclaimed in value.

The main concern is therefore not for any assets owned by your business, but rather for your business itself. Every day your service remains down is a day that sets you back and gives your competitors an advantage. Your customers might tolerate a reasonable interruption—but not a prolonged shutdown.

So it’s crucial to get your business back up and running as quickly as possible. It should be apparent how the cloud can give you an advantage: if most of your business depended on your self-owned infrastructure and your infrastructure went up in smoke—you’d be out of luck. However, if the main aspects of your business, such as data storage and communications, were powered from the cloud—the most you might have to do is to buy a new laptop (assuming your old one got damaged) and you’d be back in business!

At this point you might wonder ‘but hey, if my infrastructure can be damaged by a natural disaster, who says theirs can’t?’

This is a legitimate concern, and here is a simple answer:

The following video shows the Google Data Center where Synclio, for instance, host their servers. Have a good look and listen. If, watching this presentation, you feel that your infrastructure security is on par with theirs, you probably don’t need it. But Google spent $2.3 BILLION building this state of the art facility—the most advanced of its kind. I somehow doubt that your basement can be a match (Unless, of course, you are Bill Gates—then I’d probably be happy with my basement too)

So just in case all this doomsday talk has spoiled your appetite, take a look out the window for a moment, sip on that tall glass of freshly squeezed orange juice, and rejoice in the pleasant sunshine. Thankfully, we’ve only been talking 'what ifs'. But remember that the bright sun can just as quickly be covered by a passing cloud, and it’s always better to be prepared.

To quote Nathan Muir from the movie ‘Spy Games’: “When did Noah build the ark Gladys? Before the storm.”

Labels: cloud computing, data center, data protection, google, IT, phone system, security, severe weather, technology, tornado, tsunami, virtual PBX, virtual phone, web management

5 Reasons Virtual Systems are taking over the Physical World

It’s no secret that Cloud computing is taking over the world in a storm with a myriad of virtual solutions ready to address all of our modern IT needs, leaving the vendors of traditional systems moaning: “don’t rain on my parade.”

As a small business owner you want to stay ahead of the weather, so let’s take a look where the winds of change are blowing. Here are 5 reasons virtual solutions are fast replacing their physical counterparts:

Flexibility

In the virtual world, your work and data are no longer confined to a single machine or location and instead 'float' in the cloud—a figurative way of saying reside in centralized servers conveniently accessible via your own web portal. This gives you the freedom to work anytime, anywhere, and on any device.

Productivity

Because your work is up there in the cloud, it's now easier than ever to stay on top of changes in a team-environment, share files, and collaborate with co-workers. It also makes on-site backup a redundancy, as all your work is already backed up automatically in the safest place on earth (er...in heaven)

So if your equipment catches a bug or your if office burns down, at least the safety of your work will NOT be one of your worries.

Upgradability and Maintenance:

Since both the physical infrastructure and software components are now centralized in a single location and maintained by a company whose sole business is to provide the service it has chosen to specialize in—upgrades are simpler, smoother, and far more frequent than if you had to wear an IT hat (on top of your other office apparel). In plain speak, this means that the user always remains on the cutting edge, and with minimal interruptions.

Security:

There are many reasons that make Cloud Computing at least as safe, if not safer than, traditional systems. Not the last of these is the fact that companies who’ve made it their business to offer a virtual service have far greater resources than the average user to invest in combating security threats and coming up with solutions.

Furthermore, since such companies usually host their servers in state of the art facilities, they're far better protected against hardware failure and natural disasters.

Affordability

The essence of specialization in any industry is reflected in the bottom line, and here is no exception. The savings are vast because users have no need to purchase any additional hardware or software components, or to worry about installation, configuration, maintenance, and upgradability issues. What’s more, a single low monthly fee can often buy our access to services we would have otherwise simply not been able to afford.

For this reason, the advantages of going virtual are perhaps most evident in hardware intensive operations, where just the costs of getting in is often beyond the means of most average users.

A virtual phone system such as the one offered by Synclio is a perfect example of how cloud computing brings the sky within reach of virtually anyone.

Labels: affordability, business, cloud computing, cost saving, customer service, efficiency, flexibility, IT, productivity, security, technology, virtual PBX, virtual phone