Welcome to the Cloud Computing section of the All Covered Learning Center. In this section of the site, you can find timely articles related to cloud computing. Articles will address pressing subjects in the cloud such as educational opportunities, market trends, opportunities and risks. According to Gartner Research’s Top 10 Strategic Technology Areas for 2011, Cloud Computing ranks #1 for the second year in a row. In addition to All Covered’s existing cloud-based solutions, we are making significant investments in enhanced solutions for our clients.

Cloud computing presents an evolutionary opportunity for businesses to leverage. Cloud computing provides the ability to catapult over competitors while leveraging the best that technology can offer.

In the past, companies needed to build their own dedicated technology solutions. That typically came in the form of dedicated servers, applications, data centers and services. These solutions and methods do meet the business requirements. However, they come at a price from two perspectives:

1. Economic scale and
2. Technological expertise requirements.

Cloud computing presents an opportunity to address both issues while still meeting business requirements.

Small and Medium-size Businesses (SMBs) have similar requirements to their larger Enterprise colleagues. However, the scale is much smaller. Unfortunately, technology solutions only scale down to a point. This means that SMBs often pay a premium for dedicated servers and applications that are capable of much more than they need. For example, you can’t simply purchase ¼ of a server. From a technological expertise perspective, organizations needed to build expertise in data centers, servers, operating systems, applications and services. For an SMB, that is quite a laundry list of skills to find in one person (or two). Again, the breadth and depth of expertise will need balance as well. Outsourcing of IT services with a key partner (like All Covered) can help address the skills and support issues. However, the economic scale challenges still persist.

That was, until cloud computing. Cloud computing presents an opportunity to level the playing field for SMBs on an economic level. Now, companies can share physical data centers and systems without having to pay the premium for dedicated equipment. In addition, companies can now share applications in a Software as a Service (SaaS) based model. This furthers the economic benefit for companies.

Putting both of these together, it allows a company to focus on their core business while leveraging the best technology has to offer…without the premium. Today, All Covered offers a number of cloud-based solutions to meet the diverse needs of our clients. Pairing this with our All Covered Care managed IT services provides a comprehensive set of solutions that can help give your business a competitive technological advantage. To learn more about our cloud services or how All Covered can help you with your technology needs contact us at 866-446-1133.