Cloud Computing
What is Cloud Computing?
Cloud computing is a general term for anything that involves delivering hosted services over the Internet.
A cloud service has distinct characteristics that differentiate it from traditional hosting. It is sold on demand -- a user can have as much or as little of a service as they want at any given time; and the service is fully managed by the provider (the consumer needs nothing but a personal computing device and Internet access).
Innovations in virtualization and distributed computing, as well as improved access to high-speed Internet and a weak economy have accelerated interest in cloud computing. With the Internet being as reliable as power in the Far North it makes sense to move to these services as they are either free or very cheap.
An example is: Schools and businesses historically house their own email servers resulting in high maintenance and power. Cloud services eliminate the need for any onsite server and backup strategies as the company that provides the service takes care of this for you.
Google Workspace (formerly Google Apps) is a cloud service that provides a full collaboration suite consisting of email, calendars, documents, voice and video calling and other tools such as social media i.e. Blogger.
Google Workspaceis free for Education and the basic plan is only $5 a month for businesses, Google Workspace has different levels of services, we can help you decide what service is appropriate for your needs.
Additionally, Google Workspace is tied into the whole Google ecosystem including GMail accounts, Youtube, Google Drive and other commonly used (both commercially and privately) applications. This means that Google Workspace is more familiar to end users, but also means that you can start to add control for employee devices such as Android smartphones or provide employee (or student) Chromebooks that are managed from the Google Workspace admin console.
Microsoft Office 365 is also a cloud service that provides all of Microsoft's office tools (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, OneNote and other tools Microsoft offers. Starting at $7.50 a month but is a common interface for most businesses that have been around for a long time and have been using Microsoft products.
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