The vast majority of computer users routinely use cloud services of some description. Whether it’s a Gmail account or a file transfer service, almost all of us use free cloud-based tools. This might be OK for personal use, however, in a business context, such an approach is highly questionable. Why?
The world is full of meanings, some explicit and some more subtle. In the language of business, there is a need to project a sense of credibility and trustworthiness. Just like qualifications and certifications are important in establishing the credentials of individuals, organisational accreditation is essential for determining the bona fides of a technology services provider.
IT security is a topic of conversation that is likely to be a cause for concern for companies of all sizes. There is a perception that larger businesses have superior security, but this isn’t always true. Just ask telecoms giant TalkTalk who were hacked in 2015 and had significant amounts of data stolen, leading to some customers falling victim to fraud.
This shows that it isn’t necessarily size that determines the vulnerability of a company to an IT security breach. It’s the perceived risk, the culture of the business and the security measures that are in place. Big businesses may be at least as vulnerable as their mid-market and SMB counterparts when they don’t have the right safeguards in place.
When it comes to new infrastructure, capital investment has long been seen as an immovable object. Whether it is transport, utilities or IT, taking a conventional approach to infrastructure requires CAPEX. This brings with it the often tricky question of financing.
Recent years have seen the phenomenal growth of cloud computing. The cloud really took off when the credit crunch strangled the supply of capital. This led those that needed to replace obsolete and legacy IT systems to turn to innovative cloud solutions which require little or no capital funding. The business model includes payment by monthly subscription, effectively shifting IT from the CAPEX to the OPEX budget.
Relocations, in any aspect of life, are a stressful undertaking, and even with careful preparation and planning, they cost time, money, and energy. When it comes to moving offices, a lot has to be taken into consideration; furniture needs to be moved or replaced, important documents and files are to be shifted securely and valuable assets have to be relocated without being damaged, all whilst keeping the business up and running and enabling employees to continue working as best as possible.
One major headache for businesses is removing their existing IT infrastructure including PCs and servers and rebuilding it at the new location as quickly as possible in order to not disrupt ongoing business too much. Many companies merely shift their old system from one office to the other when in fact they could not only move offices but also move their IT to the cloud, resulting in various business benefits and a smoother, easier relocation.
Hosted desktop is one of the most interesting cloud-based services on offer to businesses that want to obtain better value. However, many are uncertain about what Hosted Desktop provides.
Essentially Hosted Desktop lets the business eliminate servers, their software and related hardware, and management requirements such as storage, backup and antivirus. You can read more about hosted desktop by following the links to other information on this website at the bottom of this post.
Service providers of technology solutions are a necessity for today’s businesses. Even if an organisation has technical expertise in-house, it’s impossible to operate without service provision from an external company. It may be internet connectivity; offsite data backup; or cloud applications; but it simply isn’t feasible for an organisation to be self-sufficient and operate in complete isolation.
Hosted desktop provides great benefits, allowing businesses to offload a number of burdensome issues. For small businesses without IT expertise in-house, it provides the essentials to keep your people productive and free from niggly IT issues that soak up time. For larger businesses with IT skills in-house, it lets the tech team concentrate on higher value strategic or customer facing tasks that are of significantly more value that administrative management and support of desktop computers.
Typically, when a service provider carries out an on-premise upgrade to replace server or storage hardware, it often quotes for carrying out installation work. Some of this may include charges for data transfer from legacy devices over to new storage. This may accrue significant costs, especially where the charge is based on the volume of data that needs to be transferred.
Our guide 'Back to the future: The advantages of hosted desktop computing for financial sector firms' discusses why the solution is a good choice for finance sector firm and others in the scope of FCA regulation. HTL Support is able to deploy a Hosted Desktop solution in 1 week. Here we look at how you can start exploiting the benefits of cloud technology PDQ...