In the not too distant future, gone will be the days when the best options for data storage are on-site servers or external local hard drives. In recent years due to lowering hardware costs, lower bandwidth costs, and the vast amount of data in the world, a newer option became available: cloud storage. Cloud storage is currently the most expensive data storage option primarily due to providers' egress charges'; however, as with most technology, the price is coming down.

Google
Drive, Dropbox, Apple iCloud are some cloud storage solutions for the home and
small business. We'll discuss enterprise-level solutions in a future post but
first, let me talk about what cloud storage really is.

Cloud
storage is essentially storing data in remote data centers. There are numerous
advantages to using cloud storage with your business. They are:

●    Remotely accessible

●    Scalability

●    Disaster Recovery

●    Synchronization

●    Security

1.
Access Your Data

Data
stored in the cloud can be retrieved from anywhere in the world, thanks to the
internet. This alone is a beautiful reason to use cloud storage. Before
businesses had to rely on in-house solutions like external hard drives to share
materials - some still do.

The
ability for remote collaboration is another related benefit. Data files such as
media from production shoots can be edited and annotated by numerous people in
the cloud, no matter where the team may be physically located.

2.
Scalable Plans

How much storage and compute capacity do you need? The amount you require is going to be a sliding scale based on the requirements of the project. The flexibility of cloud computing allows teams to scale their cloud infrastructure on the fly, maintain a large 'footprint' of hardware, or store vast amounts of data, with minimal initial cost, minimal local resources, and no capital expense required.

MelroseINC offers scalable solutions so that we can grow together. Because cloud storage is scalable, you'll only pay for what you need or use.

3.
Recovery if Disaster Happens

Data
is stored off-site when you use cloud storage. Think about natural disasters or
hard drive failures. Computers eventually fail - you may have experienced this
before! When hard drives fail, you can say goodbye to any files that were
stored there. These files may be irreplaceable documents such as financial
records, human resources information, tax files, and more.

Often,
data will be stored on a local hard drive and in the cloud. That's fine! Data
can be automatically stored on both local storage and cloud storage.

4.
Synchronization

Do
you have time to conduct periodic backups of your data? Routine backups are
typically done every week or even every 24 hours. What about your employees?
Imagine if you and they didn't have to worry about doing manual backups. There
are cloud-focused tools that make this possible in real or near real-time.

5.
Securing Your Data

In
our Information Age, it's common for businesses of all sizes to be targeted by
malicious actors online. Many times, these actors access the information on a
computer without the company even knowing. If the company is made aware, it may
not be under the best circumstances.

For
example, ransomware is a financially dangerous type of malware. When a computer
is infected, the operating system becomes locked. A ransom tactic is then used,
and the only way to re-access your files is to pay the ransom. If, on the other
hand, the critical files are stored in the cloud, the company can still access
the files without having to pay anyone.

There
are numerous consumer providers (iCloud, Dropbox, Etc.), enterprise providers
(AWS, Azure, Google, Wasabi, BackBlaze) and cloud storage ISVs (SalesForce,
VMWare, etc.). If you're interested in cloud storage as a solution, MelroseINC
will help you choose the perfect plan for your business. If your company
produces multiple terabytes of data daily, another storage solution - such as
external drives - may be right for you.

MelroseINC is a Southern California based, certified woman-owned technology reseller and systems integrator providing end-to-end Technology Solutions.