Cloud services are growing more common to the world of small and medium-sized businesses, to the point where almost all businesses take advantage of the cloud in some way, shape, or form. However, a business’s specific cloud needs vary, and the same solution doesn’t work for everyone. Still, there are a few notable qualities that most SMBs want for their cloud in 2016.

According to Forrester Research, there are three major goals that businesses want to achieve with the cloud. Keep in mind that these might not apply to all small or medium-sized businesses, and every organization has their own specific wants and need for their cloud computing solution.

• Decreased administrative burden: Businesses that need to take advantage of the cloud generally want to handle the least amount of management. This is especially true for small and medium-sized businesses that have a limited budget and even more limited time and resources. Businesses that don’t need to focus on the management of their cloud solution can instead devote that time to being productive with their cloud, increasing the return on their investment.
• Increased implementation speed: Businesses wanting to use cloud computing, want to implement it as quickly as possible. They don’t want to spend time planning out the structure or deployment; rather, they want a fully functional solution that’s already planned out and ready for deployment within a moment’s notice.
• Enhanced security, with minimal expense: Businesses still want the most security possible out of their cloud solution, but they want it at a reasonable price. The ideal cloud solution will have a quality amount of security, with the least amount of work and expense on the administrator’s part.

What these guidelines tend to describe is a public cloud hosted by a service provider. The public cloud is designed to provide the most functionality with the minimal amount of work on the business’s part. This means that the management is often handled by a third party, rather than an in-house IT management team.

In contrast to the public cloud, a private cloud is one that’s usually hosted in-house, which provides a business with more control than is normally possible with a public cloud. The private cloud allows for businesses to add external security features that minimize data leakage. Furthermore, the private cloud is generally designed specifically for your business, so you know that your business can maximize its return on investment over the long term.

However, organizations can still take advantage of private clouds by working with a managed service provider, like Argentum IT. We can host and manage your private cloud solution for you, allowing your business to reap all of the benefits of a private cloud, without sacrificing functionality. Better yet, we can equip your business with a hybrid cloud, which takes the best aspects of both the private cloud and public cloud, and combines them into one convenient package.

For more information about how to approach and implement cloud solutions, give us a call at (502) 473-6407.