Data management has always been the main point of concern for businesses. As people get more involved with different activities on social media platforms and on the internet, there has also been an increase in the amount of data that businesses have to deal with. One of the many things that businesses invest in is cloud services. Typically, this will be in the form of cloud storage and backup. Knowing that this investment will almost always be quite substantial and expensive, managers must know what to look for when choosing a provider for these services. If you are on the market right now for cloud services for business use, you’ll surely find this text to be useful. In this article, we are going to talk about the factors that you need to consider when choosing a cloud service provider, including cloud storage pricing, platform compatibility, and even extra features.
Pricing and affordability
One of the major considerations when it comes to any investment is pricing. And, for most companies, this can already be a dealbreaker. As with most other types of products and services, there will always be a price range. When it comes to cloud storage and backup, some of the most affordable options in capacity-based rates will cost you around $19,500 a year with a 250 TB storage capacity. Other options will cost as high as $69,000 to $75,000 a year for the same storage capacity. From these figures alone, you quickly realize that this is indeed a big investment and that it should be given quite a bit of consideration.
Our main tip in determining the value of a cloud service provider is that you should be able to get the essentials. You should not work with a service provider if you feel like you’re quite limited when it comes to the features or to, the speed that they offer, or even the compatibility of their services with your own set of software and applications. Finally, do consider other factors in this guide to see if the deal you get with your providers will be worth it.
Platform compatibility
The thing about cloud storage and backup is that it’s going to be operated primarily by the company offering the service. In such a setup, you’re essentially renting out a space in their entire cloud storage system, and this space will be freely accessible to you. The main issue is that these companies will have completely different systems. It could vary in the user interface, file type, file compression methods, and other technical specifications. This is where we should consider compatibility. As we all know, a lot of businesses today have their own company software or application. If you find that a cloud service platform isn’t quite compatible with your company’s own software, then consider other options instead. Do not base your decision on pricing alone because you run the risk of choosing a setup that you will have to settle with a lot of compromises. This should not be the case when it comes to these types of investments.
Features
When it comes to features, you should expect more or less the same set of features as regards the basic functionalities of a cloud storage system. Expect some level of portability, transferability, and convenience when it comes to organizing and sorting files. However, some companies do offer a lot more extra features on top of these things. For example, some platforms offer you the ability to do advanced computations and generate reports. This is especially beneficial for those companies who tend to keep a lot of numerical and financial data in their cloud.
Also, some companies offer excellent security through multi-step verification or biometric authentication. And so, aside from the usual stuff you get with a lot of these companies, do look out for the extra benefits that they offer just, so you get a little bit more with the money you pay.
