What is the return on investment for cloud-based solutions?
Cloud services can be very cost-effective — you only pay for the data you use and/or store. This could range from as low as $5 or $6 per month, depending on the amount of storage used, type of service, or features you choose.
Think of the monthly fees like an insurance policy for your data. The cost is relatively low, and the peace of mind you get is priceless. In addition, you can take advantage of economies of scale, which means the cost-per-user is less.
Also, you don’t have any hardware to buy or install and you don’t need any resources to manage your IT. In the cloud, the vendor takes responsibility for maintaining the software and servers. In an on-premise environment, you would pay for the hardware, storage space and IT personnel to maintain the system, in addition to the software.
In a cloud environment, the vendor pays those costs, so a larger percentage of the total cost of ownership by you shifts away from hardware and people and toward the service.
What qualities should a company look for in its technology partner?
Choose a technology partner that can bundle services — phone, TV and Internet all interconnected. But at the same time, you want a vendor that is providing solutions for your business based on its needs, not just selling you products.
You also have to look at the technology partner’s data network. Does it have the speed and capability to keep up with your business? If you have a lot of data to back up, it could take a lot longer than it should if your business is on a slow network.
Finally, you want to find a technology partner that’s a serious player in the field, that will be around 10 years from now. It’s very difficult to move from one vendor to another because of the initial setup, so you want to choose wisely so that you’re not jumping from vendor to vendor every year.
Alina Montano is senior director of product management for Time Warner Cable Business Class. Contact a Time Warner Cable Business Class account consultant at (877) 612-7474 to discuss your communications needs.
