As important as cloud computing can be for your business, it is equally important to choose providers that offer the services you require at a price you can afford. As with any product or service innovation, there are several vendors, all vying to grab your attention, and take a piece out of your wallet. The goal is to find a company that meets your needs without breaking the bank.
Cloud has Stepped It Up
Of all the cloud services the company's offer, storage will be the most common need. We've taken the liberty of looking at several major cloud services vendors; among them Google Apps Open Drive Dropbox and iCloud. As the push for providing more cloud services has increased, these companies and others have stepped up the amount of space and lowered the price of the service they offer. Cloud storage can encompass everything from e-mail to business contact information, documents, music, photos, videos and even slide show presentations. Features offered relating to data security include password protection and file encryption as well as convenient features such as automatically syncing a file every time a user accesses it so that they can be sure they always have the most current version.
Among all the cloud service providers, we've examined, the overall leader in product quality versus price paid for cloud is Apple's iCloud service which offers 15 GB of storage for a price that factors out to only $1.66 per month, with the purchase of additional storage space being available. iCloud allows you to store and share just about everything you can imagine, whether it be for business or personal use. However, there are some notable drawbacks.
To begin with, since iCloud is an Apple product. It only functions on Apple devices such as the iPhone and the iPad. Naturally, if your employees are aware of the cloud solution that your business uses, they will also be aware that they can only access it through their Apple devices. This could also be a way to generate company loyalty if you were to offer your employees who needed it company-personalized devices. It would give them a sense of uniformity and loyalty, however, if you would rather that your employees have access on every possible platform, and then Google Apps is the way to go. Although Google Apps offers far less storage, 5 GB file storage and 25 GB for e-mail at increased minimum cost of five dollars per month. Depending on your company's data accessibility goals, the increased price and lower storage still may be a better option.
Other Things to Keep in Mind
Another important consideration is who you can contact when things go wrong. Both iCloud and Google Apps offer an impressive array of technical support options, but again, this is one area where Google Apps edges out its competitors because it offers phone support, e-mail support, and a user forum that has a knowledge base but you can also chat with someone live if your issues are not resolved. This is something that the iCloud team does not offer.
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