Cloud services can help your business. With the cloud, small businesses, in particular, have access to many needed programs, servers, and storage systems. All of this can occur without the company investing large amounts of money into software and infrastructure.
A few benefits of cloud services include:
- Increased ability to collaborate, either through the service itself or by the ability to access cloud services from any location.
- Access to the same levels of technology as larger competitors.
- Cost savings since most cloud based services are less draining on personnel and development budgets than proprietary systems.
Cloud computing covers a wide-array of terms. PCMag author Samara Lynn summarizes a few of these categories, along with their definitions:
- Software-as-a-Service – “a specific application or service is offered to a customer as a subscription.” Examples include Dropbox, Highrise, and HootSuite.
- Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) – “allows businesses a platform on which they can create and deploy custom apps, databases and line-of-business services.” Examples: Windows Azure and Google App Engine.
- Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) – “businesses purchase infrastructure from providers as virtual resources. Examples include Amazon EC2, Rackspace, and Google Compute Engine.”
Wondering which cloud services would be best for your organization? Luckily, PCMag has indepth reviews for each of their picks on the 20 Top Cloud Services for Small Businesses list. Learn about services such as OfficeTime, DocuSign Pro, and Gliffy, among many, many more.
Which cloud services do you use for work? What features do you like best?