Constructing And Keeping The Cloud In-House

What's not to love about the Cloud?

Easy access to all data at all times, whether from behind your desk or 500 miles away at a conference. Leaving that all-important file on your own computer when you need it for a meeting across town is a thing of the past.

With more than half of U.S. businesses switching to the Cloud, it's never been more important to plan how your company can use the Cloud, whether you are just getting started or have been using Dropbox or Google Docs for years.

But is a third party cloud service really the best option for your business? What are the advantages of maintaining your own Cloud in-house?

How Difficult Is Building a Cloud?

If you're considering hosting your own Cloud, this will be one of your first questions. In fact, building your own Cloud may be easier than you think.

Services such as Openstack and OwnCloud offer downloadable solutions that make building your own Cloud relatively easy. If you have an I.T department who already take care of your in-house servers and computing needs, they should be able to turn their talents to building your Cloud.

The key is good planning: Work out what you need from your Cloud, and what you will need to implement that. By laying a good foundation in terms of your physical equipment, servers and web hosting, you will be making it easier to build your Cloud.

More Secure Cloud

Security concerns and the internet go together like coffee and bagels.

With well-known Cloud services Dropbox and Google Messaging being hacked recently, businesses are starting to wonder how safe is the Cloud? The answer is that in general, the Cloud is pretty safe, but the fact still remains that when you entrust your data to a third party Cloud hosting provider, you are relying on their security to keep your files safe.

By hosting your own Cloud, you are taking full responsibility for your own security. Sound daunting?

To begin with it is, but once your Cloud is up and running to your own very high security specifications, you will feel at ease knowing your Cloud's security is in your own capable hands.

More Flexible Cloud

What happens when you simply need more Cloud?

Company expansion is a great thing, but you might not love the increased Cloud costs. If you're using a third party Cloud service, the chances are you're already paying a monthly fee, one which increases if you need to add more devices or users to your Cloud. If you run out of storage space, you will typically need to upgrade your package, or buy more space from your Cloud host.

When you host your own Cloud, you can build in the flexibility you need to be able to expand as and when it becomes necessary.

The initial outlay may be more, but in general it's worth it, saving your company a small fortune in future Cloud fees. Once your Cloud is up and running, it's all yours and you can expand it as much as you need to.

Tailor Made Cloud

When you build and host your own Cloud, you can make sure it is the perfect shape for your business. If you need to integrate a calendar or text editor, you can. If file storage is all you need, then you can focus on that. Your Cloud can be tailored to fit your business needs exactly, with no extraneous features taking up space, and no frustrating missing features either.

Keeping your Cloud in-house means you can shape it to be what you need it to be, while retaining the flexibility to bend and reshape it if your company's needs change in the future.

The data-at-your-fingertips ethos of the Cloud is revolutionizing the way businesses worldwide manage and access data.

By bringing the Cloud in-house, you can have all the advantages of the Cloud personalized to best serve your business.