Across the world, companies in every industry have already embraced the cloud computing revolution. Flexible, customisable and secure, the cloud has much to offer to local businesses and many are already benefitting from the advantages that a cloud server offers.

Cloud servers give you total control on the resources that are available at your disposal, allowing companies of all sizes to fine-tune the cloud to fit their needs.

The cloud is dynamic and small companies can quickly ramp up their service to meet a peak in demands whilst maintaining full control on the costs involved. When demand on your servers slows down, you can scale down your cloud use accordingly.

Many business owners think that the threat to data security will be dark cloud in their horizon, and therefore think twice before trusting their precious information on cloud servers.

Here at BMIT we take data security very seriously and the cloud services that we offer are all backed up with the support offer by our dedicated team of a professional IT engineers, ready to step in at a moment’s notice.

There are different types of cloud server architecture to meet the needs of every business. At BMIT we offer:

Our team is always on the ready to provide you with contingency planning and data disaster recovery plans. Having a cloud-based backup service gives you extra reassurance in case of a data disaster.

Recovery is easy and immediate, ensuring the least amount of inconvenience and disruption for you and your clients. All the data on the cloud is transferred in an encrypted format and stored in our state-of-the-art facilities with various physical security measures in place.

Your business has a lot to gain from harnessing the power of the cloud.

BMIT offers companies both a flat monthly subscription rate, as well as a unique pay-as-you-go option for greater flexibility. Our company will provide you with technical assistance 24/7, so that your business can start soaring on the cloud and never losing its ground.

Go cloud, now!

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Some believe that cloud computing’s only value is in reducing IT costs, however the cloud’s flexibility in providing infrastructure, services and processes means that it is also perfectly able to drive innovation.

The problem with IT in its current form is that it is too slow, while the cloud offers us an opportunity to be faster, better and cheaper. A cloud approach allows businesses to deliver IT services and applications at the speed the business demands, essentially delivering IT ‘on tap’ just like a utility.

In today’s high speed business spectrum, we need IT resources at the speed of our highest velocity operation. This is simply unachievable using traditional IT methods, especially owing to the prohibitive costs but also to spatial constraints and time limitations. The cloud allows businesses to be agile and rapidly respond to the needs of the business as new IT resources can be released faster, with considerably less effort
For many businesses, the term ‘innovation’ means understanding product offerings or key processes, then determining what needs to be changed so as to get a better result. The implementation part of innovation usually becomes an IT project, essentially meaning that the really important part still falls into your IT department's lap.

The question to ask oneself here is “How long does it take to obtain and set up new servers set-up, and applications? How much will it cost and most importantly, can we afford to increase spend on IT personnel and equipment to support short-term experiments? Should we host in-house or use a data centre?”

The cloud is a revolution in how we deliver IT. By shifting responsibility of tasks that keep the company operating but don’t actually add value off the IT department, your resources are freed up. When developers and users end up troubleshooting internal systems instead of designing new products, that signals a lost innovation opportunity. When IT infrastructure bottlenecks slow down development access to new resources, you lose your competitive edge.

By moving to the cloud, with the same budget and resources, your IT can be run by experts whose business is concerned with just that, while your best minds can do what you hired them to do, not troubleshoot and carry out maintenance. Furthermore, by using the cloud, your business will benefit from the collective innovation of all the companies that are coming up with new ways to make the cloud more useful and efficient.

Additionally, although some think that moving to the cloud spells the end of innovation in the infrastructure side of things, this is patently untrue. Cloud companies shoulder the cost of upgrades to systems, leaving more of your cash flow free for innovation. Cloud providers regularly find new ways to make cloud infrastructure more efficient, although the process is invisible to the customer. However, the benefits soon become obvious: speed, lower costs, easier access, and elimination of upgrade hassles.

Of course, if IT can be deployed, configured, and adapted faster, it will spearhead innovation, which is why adopting cloud-based IT in one of its various forms is an important factor in accelerating innovation. Adoption of cloud computing frees time and resources while accelerating innovation. The cloud lets businesses scale and innovate using heavy-duty computing power without having to buy or lease it long-term.

Do you want to advance innovation at work? Contact us for a free consultation now.

The possibility of reducing costs by migrating data from private machines to the cloud is a thrilling proposition for many companies and businesses. Cloud services can not only help to reduce infrastructure costs, they position a company uniquely so as to increase its ICT responsiveness and efficiency, providing greater flexibility and transparency, all while freeing up ICT resources for innovation.

A 2011 study by Clabby Analytics, an IT research and analysis firm, demonstrated that almost 50% of data center costs are due to management labour, as well as the costs associated with equipment. While in the past we used so-called dumb terminals to access our applications and data on the mainframe, today in majority of cases, we use an Internet browser to access all our applications and data on the Internet. However, our back-end, instead of evolving accordingly, has become a server farm, which in and of itself is expensive both to set up and maintain. The cloud, on the other hand, can assist organizations in their drive to reduce several expenses, including those related to system administration and operations, power and cooling, as well as those of space and real estate.  

Over the past few years, cloud providers’ research as well as the lowering costs of dependable technology, have allowed the cloud to become versatile, powerful and affordable. Its reliability is now second to none, yet it requires fewer administrators and at less costs to the user.

A cloud provides highly scalable cloud services that are flexible and subscription-based, so you only pay for what you use. In this way you can predict costs and keep funds allocations on-track even when your requirements change rapidly, as is wont to happen in many business scenarios.

Cloud services help your business meet its goals for a well connected, secure and reliable yet cheaper infrastructure. Collaboration is eased across the organization, while focus can be placed on business-critical needs, while reducing ICT costs. Perhaps most importantly, however is that one can remain confident in a crisis as cloud applications don't depend on your own servers or on-site staff.

The implementation of cloud products is relatively cost-effective when compared to on-premises software, owing to the fact that cloud apps are multi-tenant, meaning that the IT platform and its related costs are shared by customers. Moreover, the large variety of commercial cloud products ensures a better fit right out-of-the-box, which in itself cuts implementation costs. Furthermore, several cloud providers, such as BMIT, don’t charge any implementation fees.

Most cloud apps are often ready to be used immediately or in a few hours, which is another cost cutter and time saver. Moreover, most cloud providers don’t charge for maintenance and provide 24x7 support. Many operate on a subscription model and, since they want you as a long-term customer, they will spend time and effort to keep your company satisfied. Choosing the right cloud provider helps to avoid maintenance and cut costs in many ways.

 Not sure how this applies to your business? Contact us now and we will help you reduce your IT costs.

 

 

One of the best analogies to illustrate ‘the cloud’ is electricity. If I asked you what you’d prefer, to build a small power plant in your garden and make your own electricity, or buy what electricity you need from a company, you’re very likely to say you just want to pay for what you use. The same argument applies to the cloud; you don’t need a server farm in your office, you just need someone who has lots of server farms to let you rent out space or resources in theirs.

While the cloud is conceptually simple, the biggest reservations most people have about cloud computing are those of security and privacy. A number of people find the idea of handing over important data to another company extremely worrisome and they might hesitate to switch to cloud based systems simply because they can't keep their company's data under lock and key.

Of course, what one needs to understand is that the companies who offer cloud computing services have their reputations to lose and having reliable security in place is beneficial to the companies themselves first and foremost. Without excellent security and a reputable track record, the company would lose all its clients. Furthermore, owing to the scale of the cloud, users can achieve better security than if they tried on their own behalf, as the provider’s investment in better security costs less per consumer.

This does not mean that you should not ask the question ‘Where's my data?’ Bear in mind that different countries have different requirements and controls placed on access and that even though your data is in the cloud, it still resides in a physical location, somewhere. Ensure that you choose a cloud company which hosts somewhere sensible and with good security checks in place. At the end of the day, the cloud provider should agree in writing to provide the level of security that you require.

Privacy is another concern many have. The argument is that if a client can log in from any location to access data and applications, it's possible the client's privacy could be compromised. However, cloud computing companies adopt myriad ways to protect client privacy, one of which is using authentication techniques such as user names and passwords. Different levels of authorization also help in minimizing risk; if each user can access only the data and applications relevant to his or her job, the risk that huge swaths of sensitive data are lost is reduced.

 While cost and ease of use are two great benefits of cloud computing, there are security concerns that need to be addressed when considering moving critical applications and sensitive data to public and shared cloud environments.

To address these concerns, the cloud provider must develop controls to provide the same or a greater level of security than the organization would have if they were not using the cloud. However, if you are considering using the cloud, you will need to step back and look at who is managing your data and what types of controls are applied to these individuals and the data itself.

Have you got any other concern about cloud adoption? Contact us now. We are willing to help.