It has been estimated that the global cloud computing industry could be worth nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars by the end of the current decade, with cloud storage playing a major role in that growth. The overall benefits of cloud storage and processing are increasingly well known: Cloud computing reduces up-front investment in hardware and software; it provides flexible levels of storage and service as your business requirements change; it offers tremendous flexibility for data access, especially important for companies with scattered facilities and mobile employees. However, for small businesses that have yet to tap into the cloud, concerns about data security often obscure important advantages of the cloud when it comes to natural or manmade disasters.
Cloud computing, first and foremost, can provide a disaster recovery capability far in excess of what many small businesses can themselves afford to put together. The scale of affordable security and recovery capabilities available on the cloud is greater than on-site options for small companies. The pay-as-needed environment of the cloud can make even the most sophisticated recovery plans viable. Cloud based disaster recovery, now becoming a separate aspect in its own right, offers dependable business continuity, through greater assurance of data and processing survival. Users can, for example, easily disperse data over multiple geographically separated data centers if needed.
Hurricane Sandy was one of the first major tests of cloud operation in the face of a widespread disaster. Some data centers were indeed damaged or lost power, but were often quickly brought back online with battery backup. The bigger issue turned out to be the loss of power of users, which would affect both in-house and cloud operations.
In the case of GlobalWise Investments, and its Intellivue subsidiary, providers of Enterprise Content Management (ECM) as a cloud based solution for document management, clients are dealing with critical documents, often public and legal documents, for which secure recovery is a key priority. Clients can require rapid access, covering large document databases, on a 24/7 basis, from virtually anywhere in the world, and can’t afford to have weather or other disasters threaten daily operations. The diversity of the GlobalWise customer base is a testament to the company’s ability to satisfy a wide range of disaster recovery and security needs.
For additional information, visit www.GlobalWiseInvestments.com
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