With winter well upon us, it may well be worth a brief discussion on Clouds. – Oh, but not the real physical fluffy or rain clouds we see in the sky, but the internet version where a “Cloud” is a remote data facility!

There are many “Cloud” service providers like Microsoft, Google, Amazon and even small local firms jumping on the bandwagon. The service offerings vary substantially with many different levels of service, speed and reliability available -with a price that sometimes matches service and sometimes does not! The options are almost endless from (pardon the jargon) simple storage systems, to auto scaling – multi virtual machine, super-powerful clusters with geographical replication for extreme research or calculations -whew!

Customers First

At ProcessIT we focus on Customer Databases and the Customers’ needs when accessing these. We only use Cloud Database servers when essential to meet our Customers’ needs. Usually this is to provide a means to view or update your information when not in your office.

The key advantage of Cloud systems we utilise is that they are accessible from anywhere with an internet connection, which means you, and others can simultaneously view and edit your information wherever you can connect to the internet. This does come at a price though as the data is no longer stored on your local computer but in the “Cloud” and the service providers need to make a return on their investment, so charge for the use of these services- usually in monthly blocks.

For many the small monthly fee is easily offset by the convenience and timesaving of anywhere accessibility, while there are many others that only need access to their information when in the office, so may not require a Cloud Database. These Local Databases traditionally offer faster speed and, without needing to send requests to far away servers then await their return, can be more efficient -but the lines are blurring. Well optimised systems coupled with rapidly increasing network speeds are making remote database more and more compelling.

ProcessIT can help

A recent project of ours for a local business allows Field Staff to update Customer Information and Work Performed as soon as it is completed, while still on site, avoiding the highly inefficient return to the office to enter the details. These details are naturally immediately available to Office Staff for reporting and analysis purposes.

ProcessIT can help you resolve your data and process requirements and provide options or recommendations that suit your needs. Please call ProcessIT  now for your FREE Initial Consultation.

Tech Tip

Should I upgrade to Windows 10?

Now that the time-frame for the free download of Windows 10 is rapidly coming to an end, it may be an opportune moment to consider what you could be missing out on if you do not upgrade. -Some are still on the fence deciding if the move to Windows 10 is worth the risk and effort, especially businesses who potentially have more to lose should something go wrong.

For starters, Windows 10 is a free upgrade from Windows 7 or 8, but be quick! The Free upgrade expires on the 29^th of JULY! The price, should you miss out on the free version, currently sits around $200 for the professional version.

Advantages

For those laptop slingers out there, Windows 10 has a much better Power Management system than its predecessors, giving your laptop more usable life between charges! Much faster start-ups are sure to impress as will many of the File Explorer updates like the Recent list showing all your newly accessed files.

Security is always a big issue and now that Microsoft is moving away from their older operating systems and completely backing Windows 10 the focus on security has improved dramatically with more regular security updates.

One of the downsides however to Windows 10 is its Forced Updates. Unless handled appropriately Windows can restart as soon as an update has been installed, which can lead to data loss if you were in the middle of doing something at the time, but this is an easily adjusted setting.

Overall though we’ve found Windows 10 to be feature rich, easy to use and welcomed improvement to all previous versions of Windows. 350 million users can’t all be wrong!

 

Regards,
Brian