If your business has made the leap into the cloud, then it is very likely that IT processes have become transparent and business productivity is improving.

The whole idea behind the concept of cloud computing is to remove the backend maintenance and inconsistencies that may happen with even the best in house server systems.

Users should have less functionality issues, as many that would formerly stem from any number of hardware or software related issues are mostly eliminated as cloud computing generally only requires a web access through a browser and a functional computer.

Unless an organisation purchased a subscription through an underdeveloped cloud service provider, business has the tools it needs to optimise processes. So now the question remains, is your cloud service being utilised to its fullest potential?

As of this point in time, no cloud is impervious to disaster. There are events that can cause serious problems …

Using the cloud to store your data via virtual datacentres is great! You can have lots of space for a cheap price, which you can access virtually anywhere. You don’t get issues such as threat of contracting aggressive malware and snooping software etc. However, having an account on the cloud does not mean total safety, and it is easy to forget this. Here are 10 tips to ensure total security, even if our entire data has been put there.

1. Passwords

This should seem obvious, but try and create a unique username and password for every account. At least, create a unique password including various symbols. Cracking a password takes significantly longer where symbols and upper-case are used, compared with a lower-case alternative.

2. Security Questions

Choose a question which isn’t obvious, something which can’t be found on Facebook for instance. Choose a question and answer it …

The CCN has now started a Meet Ups group to organize a regular schedule of networking sessions for entrepreneurs and corporate users to learn more about Cloud Computing.
The first of these is Efrem Habteselassie, Founder of one of Canada’s most exciting Cloud start-ups, Cloud Search Portal.
As the name suggests the venture demonstrates the fundamental value of the Cloud – A hosted version of very powerful software so that you can access it in an on demand, utility manner, harnessing the benefits without having to be troubled with the challenges of installing and managing it all yourself.
In this case the powerful software is Search technology, like that of Google, but in this case based on the Microsoft Sharepoint FAST system.

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The Windows Azure Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offering supports running Windows virtual machines and Linux virtual machines in the Cloud. In this article, I provide step-by-step guidance for running a new Linux virtual machine in the cloud using our Windows Azure platform.
Windows Azure runs Linux VMs as a first-class citizen on our cloud platform, with support in the Preview offering for four common Linux distributions.
If the standard Linux platform images don’t meet your exact needs, there’s several options for leveraging or customizing other images for Windows Azure VMs …

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The cloud is changing the way enterprises consume IT infrastructure and applications. Networks and application deployment strategies are being re-architected to manage an increasingly hybrid network where storage, utility compute and applications are being designed to move seamlessly across private and public cloud infrastructures.
In this Lunchtime Focus Keynote at Cloud Expo Silicon Valley, Todd Paoletti, Akamai’s Vice President of Product Management, discussed how the trends, new products and roadmaps will help increase cloud adoption and business agility.

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By, John Zanni, Vice President Service Provider Marketing and Alliances, Parallels

Parallels just recently released the first research on cloud adoption at small and medium businesses (SMBs) in Europe and Northern Africa (EUNA). We saw a diverse mix of cloud service opportunities in the SMB marketplace, ranging from replacing companies’ in-house IT solutions, to acquiring new adopters who currently have no in-house solution, to upselling current customers to more advanced services.

For the major hosted services—hosted infrastructure, web presence, hosted communication and collaboration, and business applications— Parallels estimates the 2012 EUNA SMB to grow from $12.6B USD in 2012 to $29.4B USD in 2015, representing a year-over-year growth rate of 33%.

Use of hosted communication and collaboration services is still small across all EUNA countries, but it’s the fastest-growing of all cloud-service categories.

Although more than 50% of SMBs in developed countries with mature cloud services are using hosted email, the vast majority are using free options: only 10% to 20% of them are using hosted premium email. In the remaining EUNA countries, fewer than 50% of SMBs are using hosted email of any sort—and, again, only 10% to 20% of them are paying for the premium option. Nonetheless, there is ample opportunity in this market, with our research showing that up to 50% of those currently not using hosted premium email are considering adding the service in the near future.

We suggest two main strategies for expanding the current low usage of hosted premium email:

Encourage adoption among micro and small SMBs using in-house email servers.

Our research found that around 10% to 15% of micro SMBs and more than 20% of small SMBs in developed EUNA countries are using in-house email servers. This is an expensive and complicated solution for small companies, particularly those without dedicated IT staff. And since, depending on the specific country, anywhere from 20% to 50% of SMBs with in-house email servers are either definitely planning to switch to hosted premium email over the next three years or are considering doing so, these SMBs represent a sizable opportunity.

Upsell small and medium SMBs currently using free email

Another opportunity lies in upselling the cloud expanders currently using free email, whether from a hosting service provider, an ISP, or a provider like Google. (We consider SMBs that upgrade from free hosted email to hosted premium email to be cloud expanders, even though their current use of the cloud service is free.) Upselling these SMBs to hosted premium email should be easy—particularly for small and medium SMBs—since they can benefit both from this service’s team collaboration aspects and from a “pay-per-seat” pricing model. These SMBs represent a significant opportunity, as our research shows that over 30% of small and medium SMBs currently using free hosted email are either planning to add hosted premium email in the next three years or considering doing so.

There are already more than a dozen hosting companies from all over the world such as LuxCloud (www.luxcloud.com), Blacknight Solutions (www.blacknight.com), Irish Domains Ltd. (www.irishdomains.com), Ovaleye (www.ovaleye.com), PacHosting (www.pachosting.com), ReadySpace (www.readyspace.com) and Triple Cloud (www.ccc.co.il) that are using Parallels’ products to provide their customers with Open-Xchange´s email and collaboration software as hosted service.

Contact a Parallels or Open-Xchange representative today to understand how this trend can improve your business right now!

Recently, McKinsey & Company released an article entitled Protecting information in the cloud which discussed the increased use of cloud computing by enterprises of a variety of sizes and industries and the benefits and risks cloud usage entails. The article recognizes that many organizations are already using cloud applications and realizing the efficiency and cost benefits and, in fact, most are looking to increase their usage of the cloud in 2013 and beyond in both private and public environments. But there are issues that are inhibiting adoption, such as risks associated with data security and concerns around privacy and compliance.
The McKinsey article rightly points out that allowing perceived risks to bar further adoption of the cloud is not a realistic option for most organizations, given the many compelling benefits offered. Enterprises must determine ways to embrace the cloud while also being able to satisfy important questions concerning security, compliance and regulatory protection that are hampering aggressive movement to the cloud.

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The cloud is commonly envisaged as a utilitarian service, enabling those companies using it, to experience ease of access to data in various accounts, homogenisation of such accounts, the external management of servers, negating the need for expensive hardware, and so on.

This utilitarian approach has, broadly speaking, meant that some cloud services lose a certain personal element with their clients.

The cloud has been associated with a lack of customer service, with some of the large providers simply erecting web pages and FAQs to tackle customer problems. It is often very difficult to phone up and talk to a human being.

For a fair few businesses, customer service is something which takes a back seat.

However, so long as dissatisfied customers reject bad customer service, such offenders will invariably lose business or be bought up by companies which do regard customer satisfaction as paramount.

The cloud’s growth was …