Cloud Computing for Small Businesses

During a routine check of a client’s server and its backup facility I noticed that the amount data being backed up had reduced significantly.

As anyone would, I asked my customer where all the company documents had disappeared to. I will admit that I was quite tentative in asking such a bold question (as their IT provider) almost expecting the response "What do you mean?"
To my shock his response was (with a proud smile) "A computer genius friend moved them to the cloud". Which was then followed up with "I'm hoping to move my accounts system (INTACT) to the cloud too".

While I believe the "Cloud" offering does have its place in business IT, (I use it myself in the form of Gmail and Google Apps for simple things like notes) I believe the jury is yet to return on its long term viability.

Why? Just a few reasons in brief:

Legality – If you are storing your company records in the cloud, chances are you are storing personal information about your customers. EU data protection law would see this as a breach. Perhaps not right now as these laws seem only to come into play when information has been leaked, but you can be sure at some stage that it will.

Trust – Websites, Emails, Newspaper Articles, News Readers, Government Websites all preach to us about how never to give your banking details out to anyone. Do not tell anyone your address, your name, your inside leg measurements because as soon as you do your identity will be stolen and you will be wiped from existence. However, according to a marketing person you should put everything you have on your computer up to a place on the internet on a server that you have never seen and have never spoken to anyone that has ever seen where it is located. Ireland, France, UK, US, Cayman Islands, Iran or all of the above?? I believe there must be a question over giving all this information to a company like Google whos share price is based solely on the amount of information it can get its hands on.

Longevity – How long will it be before Microsoft takes over Google or Apple takes over Amazon, or Roman Abramovich takes over the lot! Where will your data be then? How will you access. Every had a domain name registered with an online company that were taken over by another online company….

Reliability - http://www.creative-seo.co.uk/creative-seo-news/search_engine_news/gmail-down-00174.php

It often makes me wonder how people can get caught up in buzz words like "Cloud Computing", "Virtualization", "Blade Systems" etc while real concerns such as Backups, Malware Protection and Internet Abuse fall by the wayside – Marketing budgets I suppose!

False Economy in business IT

Not too long ago you could buy a house in Ireland FROM €50,000. One assumes, as any sane person would, that when you go to take advantage of such a bargain, you may end up paying a bit more than advertised. If you feel that this is an incorrect statement I would suggest you stop reading right now

OK so you're still here and have realised that the bill boards advertising the prices should have been taken down because those offerings are all sold out. And as your "apologetic" Estate Agent comforts you by informing you that the cheap houses "wouldn’t have suited you anyway"; But while you're here, have a look at these nice houses for €300,000.

In the same land we have a locally written and published broadsheet newspaper called "The Sunday Business Post". It is primarily marketed at people in business, people that have an interest in business, people who work for a business and of course is headlined with obligatory political scandals of who is spending tax payer’s money on €11,000 curtains for their home. So everyone is fair game.

The first Sunday of every month features a supplement called "Computers in Business", which is what I have chosen to focus on today. Yes I do buy it and each Sunday morning I get frustrated with their so called journalistic approach.


This is copied from their site advertising their current issue

"While Irish companies brood about a’ high cost economy', the biggest-ever sale has been taking place in IT hardware equipment. On offer are computers for €250, laptops for €300 and printers and external hard drives for €50.This is no once-off extravaganza, either. Mass production and relentless competition have slashed the cost of IT hardware for Irish firms. If you're thinking of replacing, upgrading or adding to your company's IT prowess, now is the time to do it, writes Adrian Weckler"


Sounds like a very useful article alright. One particular item was a HP Proliant server for about €200 when bought from an online store (the one that probably provides the most advertising revenue for The Post). "Advice on how to save money" I hear you ask, "what could be wrong with that?"

For the thousand of readers that are told, "to run your new software you need a server" this is the ideal advice to follow if you are in the money wasting business.

What sparked this blog post was the recent site visit I had to a potential customer whom like many, had followed the advice of such insightful people as Mr Weckler.
This customer had requirements for 10 users. This server was to run MS Small business server, Symantec Mail Security, Symantec Backup Exec, share printing and file sharing duties and their new accounts and stock control system. The Owner and manager also wanted remote access to their files and their new accounting system using terminal services. The online reseller had as much knowledge of the product in the cardboard box he was selling as he had about his new customer! Zero!

I had the unfortunate task of explaining that you cannot plough a field with a Ford Fiesta and expect it to perform like a tractor.

It's not just servers, it's low powered PCs, with entry level processors and minimum RAM expected to run Windows Vista at an acceptable pace. It’s the masses of Windows XP home edition PCs scattered throughout the LAN unable to access domain shares and printers each time they expect to.

It's the leftovers that the manufacturers and retailers want to get rid of that are being pawned off on naive readers. The only benefit of these "articles" are for the publishers to sell papers, while selling advertising to the on line retailers that are only too happy to sell you a box, that may look like what you need, but is more often a long way from it.

I believe they make our estate agent friend appear quite helpful. At least amongst all the false advertising there was an option to purchase something that perhaps was more likely to fulfil the end users needs.....

It Begins

I've thought about doing this for a long time but used my favourite excuse of "not having any spare time" to avoid doing it. I want to put my thoughts on my day to day working experience where I interact with many people, their businesses and more importantly, their IT "issues".

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that all of a sudden I have loads of time on my hands but I spend most of my time working so I decided I needed a hobby. Anything better than a hobby related to work??