Practical Cloud Technologies for Small Business

For many businesses the term “Cloud Computing” is this ethereal concept, pressed upon the business community as the new and greatest thing by IT powerhouses such as HP, Microsoft, Dell and others.  As is the case with almost all new technologies, however, cloud computing isn’t really the greatest thing – at least is certainly isn’t at this point, anyhow.  In my opinion, a more accurate description would be:  it’s an evolving thing that has large potential value for business.  There is no doubt that lots of small businesses have made the decision to invest in cloud technologies over the past couple years, and many of them, I’m sure, have invested quite successfully.  But if that’s the case, what technologies have they invested in and what has made that investment successful?  The answer to that question depends on the specific business of course, however, I believe there are 4 uses of cloud technology that are very likely to provide value to small businesses today.  Check out my four-part series on some of the cloud solutions that could be valuable for your business, today: 

1. Spam Defense

2. Web & Spyware Defense

3. Automated Offsite Backup

4. Email

What’s New At ITP….

What’s new at ITP

The new year brings us new challenges, new opportunities, and of course, new technologies for us all to review and consider.  For many businesses this constant expansion of technology is both a blessing and a curse.  Technology can be a great tool in fostering greater efficiency, productivity, and competitive advantage for businesses, but it can also be incredibly time consuming to navigate through, deploy, and maintain.  As strange as it may sound, it’s no different here at ITP.  Certain technologies like Microsoft are staples within the business world, but most others require rigorous investigation and testing before we can recommend them to our customers.  As 2011 begins, ITP has added to our portfolio one of the most exciting technologies we’ve come across. 

ITP is proud to announce its partnership (link to press release) with Stratus Technologies.  Stratus Technologies’ Avance  product guarantees 99.999% network availability.  Yep, that’s 99.999%.  With today’s need for businesses to be instantly responsive and “always available” to customers, this is great news for small and medium-sized businesses.  See more about our partnership here www.itprosusa.com.