Throughout 2010, reports have been surfacing, which strongly suggest that SMEs are very much in the frontline of Cloud computing take-up. Unencumbered by existing IT infrastructure compared with their more larger business counterparts, around a sixth of small to mid size companies have recognised the need for a proactive IT attitude which will help them accommodate and work flexibly with the rapidly expanding data/information environment.

In addition to the cost efficiency question, choosing the right Cloud service provider as an integral IT support partner is crucial and a number of key factors will need to be addressed to satisfy concerns over IT continuity applications, access and network security, and disaster recovery.

Key factors:

Applications: SME critical applications will be invariably, focused on word processing, spreadsheet analysis, and presentation tools. Prerequisites extend to email, image, video, small business and personal data storage, extending to Cloud SaaS for publishing, yearly tax-return software, POS (point of sale) systems, and small/medium business bookkeeping tools.

Encryption: A big issue is always secure protection of sensitive data. Encryption is imperative to prevent cloud-vendors or Internet providers (ISPs) from seeing private or personal data on the storage area network (SAN) or network attached storage (NAS) system.

Data Recovery: Another core concern is that no email, small business, tax return or personal data be compromised, corrupted, or lost in an exceptional circumstance. Whereas, SMEs tend to keep data on a DAS direct attached storage (DAS) drive or a small NAS drive which can be vulnerable to crash, Cloud vendor redundant architectures enables quick user and/or recovery of data.

Access:  Granular access controls are essential to restrict access to cloud data. Only the small/medium business or home office user should be able to access their own data stored in the Cloud so that corruption of one individual’s email or personal data will not impact anothers’ email or personal data.

Certification: Web-facing applications such as word processing, spreadsheets and tax data should be annually certified to ensure that vendor applications are protected from data phishing and all known cyber-attacks within the certificated period.

For most SMES, a cost-effective IT and future proof growth solution will be provided by a basic SaaS ( Software As A Service) as the simplest, most direct route to get into “cloud computing”. A DesktopLive thin-client approach offers an external or Public Cloud application maintained by an external cloud vendor and accessed through the Internet.

Remote access computing, whether from multiple offices or geographically dispersed field worker locations, will often be accompanied by some form of basic protection and retention of generated electronic information. The issue of remotely stored data protection and recovery is number one on any SME or mid sized enterprise agenda as the percentage of processed total data in remote offices rapidly increases.

In many instances, the present systems of protection may be in serious need of review and upgrade to more adequately deal with a company’s ongoing, yet expanding data accessing, processing and network security storage. In today’s rapidly changing IT environment a proactive IT policy is now a critical service level constant which maintains deployment efficiency and security standards.

A “remote office” may be defined as a staffed location with one or more Microsoft Windows servers – a file and print server and, depending on the level of operations, may also include:

• A Microsoft Exchange Server for e-mail management.
• An application server running a database program like Microsoft SQL Server.
• Another application server to support business-specific, mission-critical applications.
• A backup server attached to a tape drive or autoloader.

There are many factors to consider when designing an overall solution to the remote data protection problem, including the types of applications to be protected, the potential risks, and specific data recovery objectives.

Applying the same level of protection to all the applications and services running in each office may seem simpler to implement, but it could be cost prohibitive. Each application and the data that it generates or manages needs to be evaluated and relative priorities set for individual protection.

For example, many remote offices probably have a shared file and print server. Losing data from this system probably won’t put the organisation in jeopardy, although it may be inconvenient trying to recover or recreate that data.

Most companies still rely on tape backups for data protection and recovery. However, in remote offices, the manual processes used in operating the tape backup system may not be as reliable as they are often performed by non-technical staff who may have little or no training in backup and recovery procedures. Data recovery in remote offices from tape backups can also be problematic and often require outsourcing IT expertise.

Identifying and implementing necessary data protection is an important cost investment, but beyond hardware and software costs, an overall remote offices solution needs to consider the impact of data protection decisions and the application of an integrated IT support.

Facing a toughening economic climate for the foreseeable future, companies and organisations of all sizes and business sectors must focus more efficiently on client/customer needs, and in today’s ‘onDemand’ information access environment, become more transparent and accountable to flexible resource availability.

By the effective virtual linking of data systems and processes and taking a multi-service solution approach, information barriers can be overcome. Accurate, quality data and its attendant applications and resources can be accessed / archived and processed in the drive to deliver higher standards of business efficiency across dispersed geographical locations.

It has been estimated that only around a half of present IT support systems are able to provide key information required to make well-informed business decisions. Barriers to obtaining and leveraging critical business data include disconnected systems and processes for management decision-making, staffing/productivity, reporting and analytics.

Enterprises tend to rely on information provided by multiple IT systems and solutions where each area solves different, but related, business issues. Typically, they are not coordinated, and consequently, not achieving the full benefit of service solution integration.

Implementing proactive IT principles can focus on key areas of IT services continuity of systems and processes, IT services development and the need for process change, working within budgetary constraints.

Cloud computing, with low cost entry, as with a DesktopLive thin-client application, enables SMEs and similar sized organisations, to immediately achieve high-quality, unified and integrated data access provisioning on a ‘needs basis’ expenditure. Tangible ROI is realisable by the minimising or eliminating of the ongoing costs of traditional on-premise applications, such as software maintenance and upgrades.

This means businesses can tap into ‘clouds’ of resource and computing power, without necessity of operating or the complexities of managing a physically located cloud. Consequently, small and midsize organisations gain better redundancy and continuity than they presently obtain for internally managed applications.

Cloud-based applications are scalable to changing trading conditions, accommodating both company growth and consolidation. Freed from lengthy implementation projects and moribund legacy applications, Cloud is reliant only on localised cloud provision, e.g. IT support London or IT support Manchester.

The widespread increase in remote working from multiple workplace and human resource locations is driving a fast pace, work-anywhere mentality underscored by collaborative instincts and intolerance of both data/ information and budgetary barriers.

The shift towards the concept of Cloud began with the ready mass acceptance of hosted email, progressing to online shopping and banking – all without a physical database or application software on personal or workplace computers.

Today’s widespread rapid deployment of mobile apps brings the acquaintanceship with relinquishing control of data utility another step closer. Faster broadband, mobile devices, remote working and data growth signal that the computing concept is shifting away from the late 20th century on-premises IT model and the way we handle information. Cloud computing is essentially defined as ‘clouds’ of on-demand, computing power applications – which are both server and data centre – accessed over the internet at dispersed locations, typically a thin client, DesktopLive system.

Present computer network management is commonly a muddled mix of  inhouse with outsourcing IT. The latter, a reflexive policy to address unexpected or ongoing system problems rather than taking a fully monitored, proactive IT approach to pre-empt network security compromise or disaster recovery. Cloud computing opens up the vital IT support and maintenance cost question which currently prevents many budget conscious enterprises constrained by the imperatives of additional software license and hardware purchasing for new employees and new locations.

Key daily business activities such as document sharing and setting up temporary project working groups can be easier with cloud-based applications where before additional software tools would need to be purchased. Adopting a cloud computing concept brings the immediate benefits of low start-up costs plus low cost for irregular use, especially to the SME and medium sized organisation. In addition, some cloud-based business services, e.g. Google Apps, do not require to be purchased for one-off or infrequent computing.

Scalability allied to device and location independence allows for the differing ways a cloud can be accessed, e.g. desktop, smartphone and the expansion of the number of users and locations – at modest cost. The data protection issue is one hotly debated but essentially, in a cloud-based software environment, physical security is actually stronger because the loss of a client side system does not compromise data or software as would be the current scenario. A third-party Cloud supports high availability, continuity, disaster recovery, power consumption, and the ongoing technical and physical infrastructure management.

It has been estimated that worldwide, there are currently over one billion computers and five billion mobile phones in active use. With 226 million new Internet users this year, 162 million of whom are from developing nations, it is predicted that the number of Internet users will exceed 2 billion before the end of 2010.

Given that the current world population is estimated to be 6.9 billion, this figure suggests that 30 per cent of planet Earth’s population will be online by New Years Day, 2011.

Looking ahead, it is further predicted that by 2020, a staggering total of 20 billion computing devices will be hooked up to the Internet. Cisco, however, forecast that fifty times the predicted figure – one trillion devices – will be connected by 2013, seven years earlier and only 25 months away!

Undoubtedly, the Internet has in just two decades, established itself as the dominant communication and information exchange system for how our economy and society operates. The predicted, uncontrollable explosion of growth will be the driving factor to accelerating the next evolutionary step – the inevitable move into the Cloud.

Already we are witnessing the unprecedented rise of mobile apps and the Smartphone, a mini computer ‘thin client’ in its own right, capable of sending and receiving multi media data from a central provider. The spectacular growth of closed platform, aggregation sites like Facebook alongside the likes of Google and Apple, are already positioned as the predominant, controlling global network and content provider to most of the world’s online population.

For SME and mid-sized company alike, the urgency for IT managers to forward plan to accommodate the expected rapid expansion of data transfer and storage requirement is now time critical. The recent Virgin Media announcement of their Superfast fibre-optic broadband rollout of 100Mbps capability to homes and businesses is bound to be followed by competitors. Trying to keep up with the explosion of data will be impossible, both technically and financially for all but the largest organisations.

The recognition that outsourcing IT services to an external storage provider, e.g. through regionally supplied IT support, is now very much on the horizon for the overwhelming majority of enterprises of whatever size, has to be confronted. The provision of a proactive IT cloud supplier to partner is essential to creating an integrated data strategy for individualised, business requirements.

In addition, the necessity of a flexible infrastructure providing needs-based cloud as a resource, will be vital when network data and application structures demand to be sustained at increasing levels of speed and capacity.