There’s been a deluge of articles lately on the subject of IT hardware and services for business, specifically start-ups. IT Donut published another today, a good common sense gallop through the key considerations of IT purchasing.

Points four and seven caught our eye particularly: managed services and cloud computing. These are our babies – we host and manage online services for business, so we combine the two things.

Managed Services

Managing services means that companies don’t have to struggle with administering an IT system if it’s not their forte; someone else is responsible for day-to-day care and maintenance of the system and will make the changes you ask for – extra email addresses, additional software packages, domain name purchases and so on and so on.

Cloud Computing

Cloud computing has become something of a bogeyman and many ‘experts’ will warn you off it, but cloud computing is not just one thing. There’s no firm definition, but cloud computing is based on separating physical hardware from the use of the resource. Usually that refers to a third party cluster of equipment and services offered in chunks to meet computing needs, but you can create your own cloud using existing equipment if you have it.

So, cloud computing doesn’t have to mean dancing to the tune of a massive, impersonal company and having headaches over who owns your data and having to play by someone else’s rules. Create your own, or go to a smaller company such as ourselves who provide the same resource but tailor it to your needs, providing the combination of software you want (rather than ‘you’re on our servers, you use what we provide’) and give you absolute ownership of your own data at all times, including if you decided to leave us – I mean please don’t, but we wouldn’t make it difficult if you did.

Keeping Up

As the IT Donut article says, embracing cloud computing absolves a company of worries about server upkeep, “replacing a costly and complex piece of hardware with an external service and a manageable monthly cost.”. The article goes on to point out that using a managed service makes it a doddle to keep up with swiftly-moving developments in IT.

Does it sound like a good move, or a leap into the unknown? If we can answer any questions on cloud computing please email info at opensure dot net, or leave us a comment below.