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    What is the Cloud: A Simple Analogy   You use the cloud and don't even know it. Do you go to Amazon and create a wish list? Do you have an email account on Yahoo? That is cloud computing. All your emails are stored on Yahoo servers somewhere. They are on physical servers, of course, but they aren't on your laptop. The advantage is that when you spill your coffee onto the laptop keyboard, you haven't lost all your emails even if you never backed up your hard drive. ( If you haven't, shame on you, by the way.)   Here is a simple analogy to explain how the cloud works and why it might be a very useful part of your business model. Picture the small, very cramped office space of a little start-up. You and a few coworkers sit in tight quarters with messy desktops buried in mounds of papers, files, and pizza boxes. There is absolutely no room for storage. (Throw the boxes out yourself. There are limits even to cloud technology) It will be a long time until you can afford a...

    Loss of Data: Causes and Prevention   The adoption of technology from the simplest of matters to the most complex problems has rendered us heavily dependent on it. We love paying our bills minutes before they are due. We enjoy seeing loved ones face-to-face on our computer screens. We can access and print our extremely sensitive records from government and financial websites in a matter of minutes instead of waiting for the mail for days. The time and resources that technology saves are invaluable, but this convenience has a very ugly side. This convenience brings costs, which could include irreparable financial, professional, and social damage. The technology that is designed to make life easier can also wreak havoc when criminals use it to breach secured, personal information. So how do we tame this beast called 'breach of data security'?   Background: The gravity of the problem:  To look for a solution, we first need to understand how serious this problem is. Breaches in...

    Be Proactive: How to Avoid Potential Network Failures   For small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), an IT network failure can be devastating because they don't have the resources of large corporations to bounce back from such disasters. Preparation against such devastation may be the only course for them to avoid failure and survive with the least damage if failure occurs. SMBs must be proactive in recognizing the eventuality of a cyber attack or human error that can cause data loss and disrupt business continuity. This is what needs to be done to help prevent a potential failure.   Be prepared:  Being proactive is an essential step for preparation against a disaster. There are two ways to determine how to best prepare to prevent potential failure of your infrastructure. First, you need to identify the weaknesses throughout your systems, and second, determine how you are going to eliminate those weaknesses and protect your network.   Identify the weaknesses:  Determine how an...

In the business world, where global communications need to happen instantaneously, having unified communications is a crucial tool that is needed for the success of your business.  So what is Unified Communications (UC)? UC refers to a phone or communication system that unifies or integrates multiple communication methods within your business. Now, thinking about your business and your day to day correspondence with employees, customers and even potential customers, you probably communicate in multiple ways. Phone calls, video conferencing, instant messaging, texts, email, fax and a multitude of other routes are common methods in today’s dynamic business environment.  Unifying or connecting these methods allows each to be connected or able to “talk” to each other, allowing them to work together, which in the long run makes your business more efficient and productive.  It also means having the capability to translate, in real time, both written text and voice comm...