Today’s busy world is full of new opportunities and opposing challenges. And if you’re looking for ways to make the most of your time, there are plenty of solutions vying for your attention.
They typically show up in the form of software, gadgets, smartphone apps, and experts in any given field. As we look for ways to do things better and faster, technology is usually the tool that helps us leverage the improvement we seek. But it’s no guarantee.
This month I’d like to share a success story from an ongoing research project at IDeACOM. We were in search of a better way to store our data, and make it accessible from anywhere and on any device, including our smartphones. We were also looking for an easier, more reliable, and secure way to keep this data synchronized between users and devices. And have it all backed up off-site in case of a disaster or equipment malfunction.
For years, we logged onto our company network, locally or remotely. And that remote desktop, client-server model worked fine for everything we did. Like preparing proposals and presentations, creating customized doc’s, storing pdf’s and brochures, writing letters and reports, invoicing and paying bills, etc…
But when we needed to access this information from another device, like a smartphone or tablet during a meeting, it was possible but quite challenging. In some cases, we may have even emailed the file to ourselves, or saved it to a USB thumb drive (not very secure). And we had a backup procedure that only included the real critical stuff (very concerning).
When Hurricane Sandy struck a few years ago, despite not having power for about a week, we were still able to receive inbound calls thanks to our VoIP services through Intermedia and Zultys. And as a result of migrating to Intermedia’s cloud-based Hosted Exchange email service, sending & receiving email on our smartphones was easy.
But without power, our file servers were offline and we couldn’t access any data. That sucked! There’s no other way to put it. We were at the mercy of Superstorm Sandy and the restoration process. And this main concern: What would happen when power was finally restored if our data was compromised, or if hardware failed.
Fortunately, power was restored about a week later and everything came back online. But not without a lot of worry, stress, and lost time. So over the past two years we’ve been trying to minimize our risk of disaster and improve our business continuity process. We researched and tested a few solutions, including some makeshift ones. Like trying to make Dropbox work for business. But it wasn’t until recently that we discovered the right fit.
The latest solution we’ve been testing and have now deployed is an application from Intermedia’s Office In The Cloud suite called SecuriSync. SecuriSync is a cloud-based file sync and share service for business. I’m sure you’ve heard of DropBox. You may even have it for personal use. Well, think about a secure, enterprise-grade Dropbox, and then some.
SecuriSync lets us work online or offline and then sync files across desktops, mobile devices including smartphones, and anywhere we can access the web. We can easily share files and folders, both inside and outside the company, with full control over sharing permissions. And best of all, everything is backed up automatically in the cloud. And we secure our logins and passwords with Intermedia’s AppID application. One login with two-factor authentication provides the highest level of security.
Intermedia really nailed it for us! The next step is to move away from our in-house Microsoft Office programs and enable Intermedia’s Office Apps in the cloud.
We are so happy to have found a reliable and secure cloud-based technology that fits our file sync & sharing, and data backup needs. Intermedia made it a worry-free experience for us. And it’s all backed by their 24/7 phone support.
If you would like to learn how Intermedia’s Office In The Cloud suite can help your organization, contact your IDeACOM representative for more details.
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