Convenience is one of the most important things in society today. Whether it’s something personal or professional, everyone seems to welcome a smarter, faster, or more efficient way to do things. Craving convenience shows that we are constantly on the hunt for ways to better ourselves, our lives, and our productivity. There aren’t enough hours in a day to do everything we wish we could, so why spend our valuable time doing something the hard or tedious way when there’s an alternative available? The Cloud has become a major player in the push toward convenience, particularly for organizations and businesses. Really, the Cloud is the epitome of convenience – data is accessible from anywhere, anytime without taking up any room in a physical building or clogging up private servers. All the ImageSoft products can be hosted in the Cloud because we are strong believers in efficiency, productivity, and accessibility. Let’s take a look at why Cloud access is so important to us and our customers and discuss a few benefits of Cloud hosting you may not have considered.
More organizations are adopting remote or hybrid environments
The first reason to adopt the Cloud is perhaps the most obvious – work environments look very different these days. In just about every industry you’ll find a few (if not all) job roles that have gone remote to some degree. Clearly, if an employee is not in the office, they cannot access materials located in the office. By moving all relevant data to the Cloud instead, even remote workers can view the documents they need in real-time. It’s unrealistic to expect remote workers to be able to complete their tasks if they are constantly relying on in-person coworkers to send scans, pdfs, or other forms of documents their way. As soon as that third party is added into the mix, delays are inevitable. Not to mention some data is too sensitive to leave the organization, meaning remote employees might be out of the running for certain projects solely on the grounds that they are not local. When you adopt the Cloud, nothing ever “leaves” the organization; you can bring the organization with you wherever you go.
Should an issue arise outside of work hours, it can be dealt with
It isn’t just remote workers that can benefit from 24/7 access to data. All organizations have experienced a “fire drill moment” where something needs to be dealt with immediately even though the business is closed for the day. There will always be issues that require a staff member to head back to the office, but many “code red” situations involve broken code, urgent emails, hacking attempts, or a need to immediately update information. In theory, all of those problems can be handled from anywhere, so long as the data is accessible. In practice, that is only possible for organizations that trust the Cloud to house their business systems. We are firm believers in a work-life balance, but anyone in business understands there will be things that pop up which cannot be put off until tomorrow. A Cloud environment gives employees the ability to handle these urgent matters from the comfort of their homes without the need for the commonly used Virtual Private Network (VPN). VPNs can be used to route traffic through the headquarters’ network; however, they can cause serious latency which is not ideal for any time-sensitive problems. The Cloud will not cause lag within the organization because users can access any cloud-hosted data from their own network – they will have the data or information needed to remedy the problem available at the tip of their fingers.
All data is housed in a secure environment with multiple levels of protection
The convenience of working from anywhere is not to be argued, but we’ve encountered
many business professionals whose fear of security issues overrides their desire to enjoy remote work. It’s a fair thing to be concerned about, especially if your business has sensitive information, confidential data, or secrets to protect. Bringing work home is not typically an option if said work relies on anything sensitive being removed from the office. Even if it’s going home with the most trusted employee, there’s no way to guarantee its safekeeping. By transitioning to a Cloud environment, businesses house their data in a centralized, digital location. Clouds are far safer than many people tend to believe, backed by several levels of protection. For example, ImageSoft offers Cloud hosting through the Microsoft Azure Cloud (some products even utilize the Government Cloud) which prioritizes safety and security over everything else. A few safeguards include encryption, user authorization, password/code protection, firewalls, and more. Regardless of who is accessing the data, it is protected just as fiercely. Sharing is still an option and you don’t have to worry about the security of any “transaction.” Files cannot be misplaced, lost, or damaged as they never leave the Cloud. Organizations can feel confident that leaving their files in the Cloud is more secure than a filing cabinet could ever be.
The Cloud is disaster-proof
This has always been a benefit of Cloud hosting that gets organizations thinking. You never really consider the possibility of disaster striking until it does. What type of disaster can affect your data you may ask?
- Fires – If all your files are stored as physical copies in the office in a wall of filing cabinets, there is always the risk of the building catching fire and all that data going up in flames with it. Even fireproof filing cabinets have their limits, and that’s not to mention any files that are out while being actively referred to.
- Flood – Once again, storing physical documents is risky in the event of bad weather or a broken pipe. Water and paper do not mix, nor do water and electronics that might be housing your data on-prem. If a computer gets flooded or the server goes down, does your organization have a reliable backup plan?
- System malfunctions – less of a natural disaster and more of a professional nightmare, system failures are a very real threat. If your company’s information is housed internally or on a private server, you run the risk of losing everything should those technologies fail. The Cloud is internet-based, so even if your computer crashes, your data is kept safely out of the crossfire.
By housing your data in the Cloud, all important business information and systems can avoid disasters. The internet exists everywhere and cannot be fully destroyed. You have infinite “backups” should something go awry, all without having to make copies, manually backup programs onto secondary devices, or duplicate information. Whatever disaster may head your way, the Cloud can help avoid it.
There are, of course, plenty of other benefits to moving to a Cloud Hosted environment, but these are a few that we tend to prioritize. ImageSoft is proud to offer our services through the Microsoft Azure Cloud including Vault for Digital Evidence Management, TrueSign for eSigning, TrueFiling for eFiling, SafeEncounter for Community Protection, and Resolve Disputes Online for Online Dispute Resolution. In addition, we offer Cloud Hosting and migration of business systems. You can partner with us to get access to the Cloud and maintain control yourself or opt for Management where we handle the upkeep and backend on your behalf. If you’re interested in learning more about the Cloud, feel free to contact our team to set up a meeting to discuss your organization’s needs. We look forward to hearing from you!