While most of us have at least heard of “the cloud”, there are several variations on the theme. Which, if any, of these options are right for your organization?
Public Cloud
As the name indicates, this option shares the hardware and software services with the general public. Think of Google for example: Gmail, Google Docs, Google Drive are all examples of a public cloud solution. Microsoft offers public cloud solutions with their Office 365 suite, allowing users to access their own subscription to the Office applications.
Private Cloud
For those who have the expertise and desire to have more control over their data and applications, the choice to build and support their own private cloud may be an option. Because of the technical expertise required and the costs related to owning all the necessary hardware and software, private clouds are generally left to the large enterprise.
Hybrid Cloud
For many small to mid-sized businesses, a hybrid of the public and private cloud may be the right solution. You can partner with a cloud hosting provider to supply the computing infrastructure required, but your applications and data may be hosted on a private server which is not shared with other organizations. This provides much better control over the system, and security for your data.
When it comes to your accounting system and the sensitive information it contains, the security of either owning the system, or at least having it on a private server is an important consideration. Intersoft Systems recommends hosted Terminal Server solutions for the INTERAC accounting suite. Utilizing a hosted Terminal Server allows you to shift the burden of server maintenance to your hosting partner. It should also allow you to quickly and easily scale up or down to meet any new system requirements, an option that isn’t so simple when you own all the hardware.
Additional Resources
Public Cloud
As the name indicates, this option shares the hardware and software services with the general public. Think of Google for example: Gmail, Google Docs, Google Drive are all examples of a public cloud solution. Microsoft offers public cloud solutions with their Office 365 suite, allowing users to access their own subscription to the Office applications.
Private Cloud
For those who have the expertise and desire to have more control over their data and applications, the choice to build and support their own private cloud may be an option. Because of the technical expertise required and the costs related to owning all the necessary hardware and software, private clouds are generally left to the large enterprise.
Hybrid Cloud
For many small to mid-sized businesses, a hybrid of the public and private cloud may be the right solution. You can partner with a cloud hosting provider to supply the computing infrastructure required, but your applications and data may be hosted on a private server which is not shared with other organizations. This provides much better control over the system, and security for your data.
When it comes to your accounting system and the sensitive information it contains, the security of either owning the system, or at least having it on a private server is an important consideration. Intersoft Systems recommends hosted Terminal Server solutions for the INTERAC accounting suite. Utilizing a hosted Terminal Server allows you to shift the burden of server maintenance to your hosting partner. It should also allow you to quickly and easily scale up or down to meet any new system requirements, an option that isn’t so simple when you own all the hardware.
Additional Resources
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