Moving to the cloud feels like a big change for some companies. Understanding the ins and outs of cloud computing and where your company can take advantage of the numerous benefits is often a difficult task. We asked you for your top questions on cloud computing and have provided the answers below!
Cloud computing is described as the process of using a network of remote servers, hosted via the internet, to store, manage and process data, rather than hosting it locally. Essentially, cloud computing is using someone else’s infrastructure and hardware, reducing the amount of capital investments your business needs to make.
Companies that choose to shift to the cloud do so for a number of reasons. The benefits of flexibility, scalability, cost savings, etc. are weighed against availability concerns. It is important to evaluate if the cloud is right for you from a strategic and operational perspective. Does your demand for IT vary throughout the year? Are the costs of your IT impacting your ability to grow as a business? If so you may consider a cloud option that can be easily scaled.
You should also evaluate your current IT set-up to understand the benefits of moving to the cloud, especially in the following areas:
- Service – how important are security, reliability and flexibility to your business? Is your current solution meeting your needs? Is there room for improvement?
- Technology landscape – how many business users are there? What is the geographic distribution of your user base? Do your employees require remote access?
- Cost – Are you satisfied with the costs of your on-premises solution? Are the costs to scale up or upgrade services acceptable?
- Ease of migration – when did you last invest in significant capital expenditure? Do you have any contractual and vendor commitments that constrain migration?
Answering these questions can help to understand if the cloud is a good fit for your business.
Developing a cloud strategy begins with outlining your technical and business objectives. Understand what the drivers are for your company to shift to the cloud and what solutions these drivers require. Your cloud strategy may be to start small and gradually, or your business may be in a position to dive right in. Once you identify your needs, you can better understand if your cloud strategy should include public, private or hybrid cloud solutions. lay out a road-map and timeline to execute your shift to the cloud.
Many companies do not take the time to consider what they may need to put into place prior to shifting to the cloud. For the most part, preparing to shift to the cloud is simple and just requires you having a Cloud Service Provider handle the transition. However, one of the biggest things to consider is your network bandwidth. With the strain put on local internet connections from cloud computing, you may consider upgrading your bandwidth or investing in SD-WAN technology to increase connectivity.
There are many options for moving workloads to the cloud and most will depend on your business and cloud strategy. You may choose to slowly move your complete IT environment to the cloud or just one task. Most businesses use the cloud for data backup, both short term and long term. Application-based workloads can also be moved to the cloud (i.e. CRM, Marketing Automation, Etc.). Test and Dev operations can also be outsourced. In fact,the ability to spin up environments in a matter of minutes, scale them up or down on demand, and access data from anywhere is a huge appeal. Other outsourcing can be discussed with your cloud service provider.
By and large the easiest and most common workload to shift to the cloud is backup. Backup as a Service (BaaS) is easy to use and helps to mitigate a major business continuity concerns around downtime and data loss. Cloud-based backup can be used for multiple environments or just one environment – depending on what restrictions your company decides to place on cloud usage.
Since one of the major appeals of working with a cloud service provider is that they handle the ins and outs of your cloud transition, you shouldn’t have to hire additional staff when shifting to the cloud. However, having some IT expertise in house is helpful to make the transition smooth. If you do not have an existing IT team, consider hiring an IT professional to help take advantage of the services that cloud providers offer and provide advise.
These days, with cyber attacks on the rise, security is a major concern. Cloud providers put numerous security parameters in place so that, in the event of an attack, your data is secure and can be restored. These tactics include encryption, identity management, and physical security. Providers should also have business continuity plans in place that utilize redundant hardware, backup generators, and other measures to prevent downtime. Data center locations will also have security in place like badge access restrictions, security cameras, fences and more.
With numerous high profile hacks of personal information in recent years (most notably Target and Anthem) cloud providers have worked to step up the security game for personal information. If a cloud provider has certifications in place for HIPAA, PCI-DSS and SOC, they have been evaluated by a third party and deemed qualified to handle personal/ private information.
Cloud providers will outline your access, security, services and support when you partner with them. To ensure the accessibility of data, cloud providers develop a service level agreement (SLA). The SLA will detail what happens in the event of an outage and protects the customer in certain situations.
There’s not one single answer to this question. A website design is quoted based on the needs of each individual project. Every website is unique and requires different components; we design and develop custom websites specifically for your small business. We’ll ask a lot of questions, assess your needs, and give you a quote based on that assessment.
On average, we shoot for a one to four-week turnaround, but the pace of any project is set by each client. How much input you can provide during the initial stages, your availability with feedback, how soon the content is ready – all this affects the speed of completion. The functionality needs may also play a role – more complex sites will take more time to develop.
Yes. WordPress is a great content management system that now powers more than 30% of the web. Its huge market share is due to its flexibility and ease of use. Don’t worry, we’ll teach you how to manage it and help you along the way.
Nope! We work with clients all over the world. Our whole team works remotely, allowing us to find the absolute best team for our business.
Yes! We love it when our clients take control of their website and learn to manage it on their own. We’ll provide you with a set of comprehensive video tutorials to help you learn your way around, as well provide you with a training session to help get you on your way. (Note: We love to answer your questions!)
We can! We provide on-going support for many of our clients. Check out our WordPress Support Packages.
Absolutely! Having a mobile-friendly website is more important than ever! We work hard to ensure your website looks great on a variety of devices.
For most projects, equal payments are made at the start, midway, and the end of the project, but we can work with you to set up a schedule that meets your needs. We understand that this is a big investment and want to help you budget for the expense in whatever way possible.
We accept checks, PayPal, and all major credit cards.
A lot! Your input and feedback is crucial to this process. We’ll start with a lot of questions about your needs, your likes, your wants and work with you to develop just the right look and functionality.
Usually that is you. You are the expert on your business, so it’s usually best if it comes from you. If you need help, we can recommend copywriters who can help clean up or write original content for you at an additional cost.
Hosting is super important! When it comes to hosting, you get what you pay for. We’ve developed a list of our absolute favorite hosts to help you find the right host at the right price. Check out our list.
We are only an email away! We’re here to help you as much or as little as you need, and we won’t disappear once the site is launched. We’ve been doing this for many years, so we aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.
An IT Managed Service Provider is a company that assists organizations with the IT infrastructure, maintenance and other technical assistance, along with handling end-user systems, remotely. Offering services such as technology auditing, remote desktop support, application managed services, among others, IT MSPs ensure business continuity that is key to improving business performance. Unlike outsourcing, MSPs take a holistic approach in offering technology services that meet excellence.
These are the two leading models in the area of IT business support. The break/Fix method is the process of offering IT service support through a fee-for-service model. Under this model, the client is serviced on demand and billed only for that specific service received. Whereas, Managed IT Services refer to the shared responsibility pertaining to an organization’s entire IT ecosystem. Unlike on-demand assistance in break/fix service, MSPs work off-premise to keep the client’s systems and networks well maintained, monitored, secured and updated on time well before the need arises.
Wide range of services is the prime reason that is driving the IT businesses towards Managed IT Services. Owing to the rising demands and pace of releases, organizations are taking a closer approach to maintenance and monitoring. This is when the IT operations demand increased efficiency, improved dependability, enhanced security and compliance, advanced access to emerging technologies, predictable pricing and more. MSPs take care of these aspects as a shared responsibility-taking up some part of the organization’s maintenance and operational burden. These advantages make Managed IT Services the businesses’ choice.
IT MSPs assist companies with a wide range of services including network monitoring, backup and recovery, data storage, CRM, technical support among others. With these range of services, IT MSPs promise IT businesses improved business continuity, enhanced IT posture, core business focus, enhanced security posture, technology expertise, improved efficiency, standardized processes, operational efficiency, improved responsiveness, among other business benefits.
Managed Services applies to all businesses looking for IT support. From startups to multinational companies, the Managed IT Services have become the need of the hour for almost every enterprise. In the wake of growing cloud adoption, the IT MSPs are finding relevance among SMBs who often refrain from spending on complex assets and critical storage maintenance. Moreover, staying updated to the changing technology trends and security updates is often a serious challenge that most companies face. MSPs take care of this. So, MSPs work for every organization, irrespective of their size.
Choosing one from the widely available options of the US IT Managed Services market is not an easy task. But as a common strategy, finding a right MSP begins with self-assessment including evaluation of existing gaps, improvement areas, technology usage and overall IT posture. Once you do this, you will be clear of what exactly you want. Then comes the point of finding a partner that exactly fits your requirement followed by an assessment of their portfolio and market presence. Worldwide Cloud Solutions is one of the early adopters of Managed Services in the US IT industry.
Managed services and outsourcing share commonalities but are different in offering and the approach. Experts in both the areas provide you the needed technology and IT infrastructure support. While a consultant service ends with the implementation of a specific requirement, an MSP helps your company’s IT for a long-term improving your organization’s overall IT posture. While an IT consultant lays down the path for effective utilization of IT, an MSP proactively manages and operates the client’s IT infrastructure and end-user systems. While IT Consulting has more to do with advice, managed services deal with the implementation required to run a specific application or a service.
As a US-based Managed Service Provider, Worldwide Cloud Solutions (WCS) caters to the business requirements in various US locations including Irving, Seattle, Houston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, St. Louis, among others. Worldwide Cloud Solutions holds a rich expertise in Consulting and managed services and has been actively serving IT companies of all sizes, including Fortune 500 firms, since more than a decade. WCS team of IT experts offer expertise in all areas of IT infrastructure support, along with backup and recovery, cloud infrastructure maintenance and other support services.
WCS has been one of the early adopters of the Managed IT Services in the US IT market. With rich technical expertise, we take a comprehensive approach to Managed IT and have a proven record of delivering high-quality IT support services. We believe in 100% customer satisfaction and gauge our success by this factor. We maintain a competitive edge in dealing with every new technology while being abreast of the changing regulatory changes across the verticals we serve.
Worldwide Cloud Solutions (WCS) Managed Services include a wide range of offerings such as Application Managed Services, Cloud Managed Services, Network and Infrastructure, Security as a Service and Support Services. With these service offerings, WCS ensures enhanced IT posture, improved business continuity, technology expertise, operational efficiency and improved responsiveness.
There is no standardized pricing as such for managed IT services. That purely differs from the service offered and the duration of the service. Pricing in IT MSPs usually involves per using and per-device pricing. Sometimes, services begin with low pricing and later on involves high variable costs. Mid-range services are often considered the best value for most businesses. And, high-end services involve higher costs and are more suitable to certain circumstances.
Yes, The Worldwide Cloud Solutions (WCS) provides 7x24x 365 support.