10 Reasons to Backup Your Data to the Cloud

In an era filled with conspiracy theories about cyberspace and spying, one can certainly understand the reluctance people feel about hosting their sensitive and usually confidential data in a relatively uncontrolled virtual environment – and that risk is multiplied for corporations.

If we objectively set aside privacy and security concerns for online data backup (which are relatively negligible risks, especially with trusted providers), we can identify a number of major advantages for storing business and personal data in the cloud.

This post highlights 10 major reasons why you should consider storing your data in the cloud. Read on to discover:

1.  Virtualization of Data Storage

Storing personal or business data is a core need that must be satisfied, usually on a daily basis. Backup or storage of data has merits that need no introduction – ensuring that your data is not lost, corrupted, or unavailable when you need it.

With local storage, there are manpower, hardware, and maintenance/upgrade costs that cannot be avoided, even for personal use.

[Related Article: Online Businesses Should Dump Outsourcing for the Cloud]

Storing data in the cloud virtualizes this process so that you don’t have to worry about any of those extra costs. For cloud storage, you only need a trusted platform and dedicated Internet access to upload and retrieve your documents and files at any time.

2. Zero Installed Capacity

The fact that your data is stored and backed up virtually on a routine basis implies that you incur zero installed capacity – that is to say there are mostly no hardware (physical equipment) requirements for cloud backup and storage. 

3. Zero Data Maintenance Costs

The great thing about having zero installed capacity is that you don’t have to worry about maintenance. With local storage, you are routinely faced with the need to maintain your servers or upgrade software, and so on. All these costs can be avoided thanks to the virtualization that the cloud provides.

4. High Data Redundancy 

Cloud storage providers usually have vast storage capacities and your data can be internally backed up several times over with each upload (high redundancy). This ensures that your files simply don’t get lost and are always available, even if the particular facility originally hosting your data is compromised. 

5. Enterprise-grade Data Security and Privacy

This is a very important point – despite the fears that are circulating globally about the privacy and security of data stored online, cloud-based backup still provides one of the safest, most secure, and most private options for data backup.

For one thing, most of the trusted providers use enterprise-grade security (a combination of 256-bit AES encryption at least, with SSL for session security and identity management). And don’t forget that the server-side is always running the latest anti-virus, anti-phishing and network security software combined with multiple layers of physical security.

With cloud backup, you can rest assured knowing that your data is not tampered with or interfered with in any way by third parties.

6. Instant Access from Any Location

One of the most interesting advantages of cloud storage is instant access from any location as long as Internet access is available. This particular advantage facilitates the creation of virtual offices and remote working positions – very useful for SOHO businesses or startups.

7. Lower IT and Manpower Costs

Because there are virtually no IT or manpower requirements when working from the cloud, those costs can be reduced to the barest minimum, allowing you to access higher profitability. 

8. Streamlined Data Operations and Actionable Reporting

Because of the higher degree of automation that is available with cloud-based systems, it is possible to streamline your data operations, improving efficiency and reliability across the board. Another crucial advantage linked to this automation is the instant availability of critical actionable data on the performance of your major IT and data indicators. 

9. Many Providers with Affordable Storage Plans

An added incentive for you to consider cloud storage is the fact that there are simply so many providers – this means the competition is high and you can expect tariffs to be low, and quality of service to be high. Simply pick and choose the features you want and match to available providers.

10. Easier Growth & Scalability

Maybe I saved the best for last – this reason is especially cogent for businesses; with the cloud, you access easier growth and scalability. This is because IT and data needs increase as you grow, and without virtualization, you bear the cost of expanding your internal capacity to accommodate these inevitable changes.

With cloud-based storage and the virtualization it provides, you simply grow without additional related IT or data costs.

So there you have it – 10 powerful reasons why you should consider switching to the cloud today for your data backup and storage. I hope it was an interesting and informational read.

Questions? Comments? Please drop me a line below. Thanks for reading!

Online Businesses: Forget Outsourcing, Embrace the Cloud

Online start-ups used to realize higher profits by leveraging outsourced overseas workers (and the resulting lower wages) to get tasks done cheaper instead of hiring locally. With available cloud technology, outsourcing no longer shines as much as it used to – and online businesses need to rethink their hiring strategy.

Outsourcing vs. The Cloud

Outsourcing can be described as the practice of hiring overseas workers to access cheaper labor as opposed to hiring locally. In setting up an outsourcing arrangement for an online business, an Internet based platform is used to coordinate workers from different countries around the world.

[Related Article: 10 Reasons to Backup Your Data to the Cloud]

As the image above illustrates, outsourcing fails in at least three key areas: automation, overhead costs, and quality.

In recent times, cloud technology has proved to be the solution of choice for micro-scale businesses and start-ups looking to capitalize on lower fixed and operating costs as well as automated business processes to access better performance and higher profits.

The major difference between the outsourcing and cloud approaches for online businesses is the source of labor. 

It would seem, in the light of recent technology, that an approach involving a cloud-based work platform and local workers beats the outsourcing alternative in at least the following ways:

1. Automation

Let us describe automation as the degree to which work processes can be handled by software with visible benefits including reduced human involvement, lower task times, integrated working, streamlined processes, better tracking and reporting, and so on.

In a typical outsourcing arrangement, you are dealing with workers in different countries around the world – and consequently different levels of available technology. 

Certain cloud systems may not be available in certain countries, and Internet facilities in certain regions may not meet the minimum requirements for certain applications.

Also there may be varying rates of technology penetration, resulting in the varying availability of required devices such as laptops, tablets, smartphones, and so on.

All of these factors result in lower overall automation of work processes – meaning tasks are completed less quickly and far less efficiently. Compare this with a scenario in which local workers use the same cloud at its optimal technological profile.

What you have is a faster, more streamlined, more efficient, and fully automated work process. Cloud wins here, clearly.

2. Overhead Costs

Overhead costs are always significant in any outsourcing arrangement because everyone is not on the same level. An outsourced team is hardly ever homogenous, and certain modifications to your core business processes would inevitably have to be made in order to accommodate certain outsourced workers.

This adds complexity, as well as additional overhead costs, to your work process.

Let’s say you would like to use PayPal exclusively for settling your workers’ wages. PayPal is not available in every country, and it may just be that your key outsourced talent exists in a country that does not support your preferred payment option.

In this case, you would have to consider using other payment options, say Western Union, or bank wire, and incur extra charges or liability in the process. If you were dealing with local workers, something like this would almost never come up.

3. Quality

Perhaps the most important drawback of outsourcing is that the quality of your finished work may not always be 100% as required. This is because you are drawing talent from a mixed pool of professionals with widely varying training, experience, and skills.

Let’s say you own a web design company. Web design as taught in European colleges may be at a higher level when compared, say, with some colleges in Asia. In this case, outsourcing your web design positions to Asia may mean hiring lesser-skilled or lesser-experienced talent, than say, when hiring from Europe.

The same also applies in the case of a Copywriting company that hires writing talent from non-Native English speaking countries or territories. 100% quality cannot always be expected in such a situation.

Consistent quality is more achievable when utilizing local workers, except the required skill or talent is simply not available locally.

Roundup

Outsourcing is no longer the ‘miracle solution’ it once was – thanks to cloud technology. With available cloud technology, certain major fails of outsourcing can be avoided – not least in the areas of automation, overhead costs, and quality.

It seems now, more than ever, that the use of highly skilled local workers under the same cloud platform approximates very closely to the ideal working arrangement for micro-scale businesses.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to weigh-in with your questions and comments.

 

How To Setup and Successfully Run an International Virtual Office

The challenges are greater now than ever for startups and growing businesses to stay competitive, and more and more of these companies are leveraging available technology such as Virtual Offices to scale-back on cost, complexity, and liability, in order to access better economies of scale and have competitive advantage. 

Virtual Offices are a leading way in which new and growing businesses access lower costs – and this article goes in-depth to explain how you can setup and (successfully) run your own international virtual office.

Our goal is introduce you to the world of international virtual offices – how to set them up, and how to run them successfully. It’s a lot of information, so we’re going to break it down for you and approach it step-by-step.

Let’s start by discussing what a virtual office is and how it compares to a physical office.

The Virtual Office

Virtual technologies are based on computers and the Internet. Today we talk about virtual classrooms and virtual libraries. We even have virtual supermarkets and bookstores like eBay and Amazon.

In a similar way, a virtual office is an office based on computers and the Internet.

You still have people working together like in a physical office, but:

In a virtual office, people work remotely from different locations around the world while being connected by devices (computers, tablets, smartphones, VoIP phone systems, etc) and the Internet.

Advantages of a Virtual Office

Startups and growing businesses are focused on keeping costs low. This is because lower fixed and operating costs allow them to record higher profits – giving them the advantage they need to not only be competitive, but also to grow and be successful.

•  With a virtual office, businesses avoid fixed costs like rent and maintenance because there is usually no physical building or equipment

• Operating costs are also drastically reduced in virtual offices because of the reliance on software and hosted (cloud-based) services as opposed to actual office equipment

• There is a leaner and more efficient operational and administrative model in a virtual office

• Overhead costs can be avoided (such as travel or meeting costs)

• There is greater automation of business processes as well as extensive access to performance data, analysis and reporting

Virtual offices essentially allow businesses to do away with the ‘middleman’ and focus on productivity and core work processes.

Setting up an International Virtual Office

 

All virtual offices are international by default because they can be accessed by people from different countries around the world (since they are based on the Internet).

 

How is a virtual office setup? Well, the first thing is to recall how a physical office works:

In a physical office, people come to work in a building. They have their own desks and equipment, and they have roles or job functions, which they perform for the agreed number of hours daily or as required. Employees follow laid-down administrative procedures (work hours, deadlines, reporting, meetings, etc) and there is operational hierarchy.

A virtual office is based on the same rules, but is designed differently:

• In the first place, instead of having a building you have a collaboration platform or project management system, which is a kind of special website  that your staff can access on the Internet from anywhere in the world and work from accounts that have already been setup for them – ActiveCollab is a good example

• The project management system will be client-facing as well as staff-facing, with full-service options for both sections

• Each staff member can view assigned tasks and projects as well as record time, bill accordingly, or submit deliverables from their account, while clients can monitor the status of ordered projects, pay or take other actions

• Dedicated Email is used to facilitate communication between staff, with each staff member having a dedicated email account like: john.doe@virtual-company.com

• Email Notification Systems provide real-time updates on tasks, projects, and meetings, and are usually built into the collaboration platform or accessed as a cloud application (e.g. Google Calendar)

• VoIP Softphones like Microsoft’s Skype and Cisco’s Webex are used for real-time meetings with full voice and multimedia support

•  Cloud Apps are used for accounting and billing (e.g. Freshbooks), document creation, collaboration and sharing (e.g. Google Drive), online data backup (e.g. Backblaze or SugarSync), and other work functions

•  Each staff member is expected to provide their own dedicated Internet connection, computers, and other work equipment

• Where deliverables are non-digital and can’t be sent over the Internet (very rare), postal mail or courier mail is used, usually according to a special arrangement between the company and the provider

So, to summarize, you would need these seven things to setup your virtual office: 

1)      Project management platform

2)     Dedicated Email

3)     Email notification systems

4)     VoIP softphones

5)     Cloud apps

6)     Computers and devices

7)     Dedicated Internet connection

Tip: One of the best things about having a virtual office is you can set it up right at home using your existing Internet connection (Broadband and better) and your computers at home without ever buying new equipment!

With virtual offices, it’s entirely a software affair. Some of the software required can be purchased or activated online (e.g. the Project Management Platform, Skype or Webex). Others are cloud apps that are accessed as services (Software as a Service, SaaS) like Google Calendar, Freshbooks, and SugarSync.

Dedicated email can be obtained through a Google Apps account – this allows you to enjoy access to Google’s business services including Google Drive and Google Analytics at the same time.

At the end of the day, businesses gain tremendously by only having to commit a few hundred dollars annually for all of the online services they need to run their virtual office.  

How to Run Your International Virtual Office Successfully

We’ve seen how you can setup your virtual office using nothing but your home computers, Broadband Internet connection, and a set of online software.

Setting up your virtual office is only the beginning – running it successfully, like running a physical office successfully, depends on having the right business skills and the right people.

Being Tech-Savvy Helps

Like we’ve already seen, building a virtual office is a little on the technical side with the Internet and cloud apps – things you can get comfortable with if you’re willing to put in a bit more time online.

If you decide you don’t have the time to spend a couple of hours online a day getting used to these technologies, you can always get some help. Having an intern or recent college grad on your staff is always a good idea to get the hard work done affordably, or at least to get you acquainted with the technology.

Hire the Right People!

This point can’t be stressed enough – people drive business. You have to take the time to build an international team of people that are driven and talented, with the right outlook you need for your business.

In fact, qualities like honesty and reliability are more important than ever when setting up a virtual working environment – you need people you can trust and count on to get the job done.

Build Teamwork with Regular Communication

One thing you can’t afford to do without in an international virtual office is regular communication – you will typically have people working from different countries and time zones, with different things going on in their lives.

You need to touch base regularly to ensure that everyone is on the same page, and that you are aware of their particular circumstances at any time. This will provide a sense of engagement and commitment for your workers, fostering teamwork and better productivity.

Have a Great Work Strategy

Just like in a physical office, you need to have a great work strategy that makes the most of your available resources. You need to coordinate your remote staff properly to make sure that their skills are being put to the best use.

Come up with team schedules, brainstorming sessions, and even the occasional social event to keep your team motivated and engaged with your process. Organize workflow to make sure everyone is always engaged doing something – and always take care of your people!

Major Points

So there you have it – we’ve discussed how to setup and run a successful international virtual office.

Hopefully, we’ve been able to demystify the concept of a virtual office and establish the advantages for your businesses. 

• We’ve learned that a virtual office is simply an office based on the Internet and computers, as opposed to a physical office with a building and equipment

• We’ve also seen the advantages of virtual offices including lower fixed and operating costs, more scalability, and greater automation

• We covered the seven things required to setup an international virtual office, and we mentioned: project management platform, dedicated Email, Email notification systems, VoIP softphones, cloud apps, computers and devices, and a dedicated Internet connection (Broadband or better)

• We also gave some advice on specific software you might need when setting up your virtual office such as ActiveCollab for project management, Google Calendar for notifications, Skype or Webex for meetings, Google Drive for documents and collaboration, Freshbooks for accounting and billing, and SugarSync for online backup

• Finally, we gave some advice on how to successfully run your virtual office using time-tested principles like hiring right, building teamwork and regular communication, and having a great all-inclusive work strategy

We hope you have enjoyed reading this article and that you have found it beneficial. 

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