12-27-21 | Blog Post
The Tech Industry is growing at a break neck pace and shows no sign of stopping. New waves of innovation keep hitting the market, and IT and Software Development jobs are growing at 2x the rate of national job growth.
As the tech industry booms, so do technology products and business services. Cloud Services in particular have seen a surge, as the “as a Service” (or “aaS” for short) offerings continue to take the market by storm.
For businesses, “as a Service” solutions offer many benefits; but wading through all of the services to understand which might align with your business needs can be challenging. We’ve outlined the top 6 Cloud “as a Service” offerings that every business should know.
The first, and most commonly seen as a Service solution category is Software as a Service. Unless you’ve been stuck in the stone age, you have most likely used a SaaS application in the past or are currently using one. A SaaS product is any software application that is hosted entirely via the cloud (or on the internet) and does not require an upfront purchase of hardware. One of the biggest benefits of utilizing SaaS solutions is that users can access the applications from anywhere on any connected device. Services like Adobe’s Creative Cloud, G Suite, Slack, Salesforce, etc.
Any time you copy data onto a hard drive with the express purpose of keeping your information safe and secure, you are . Data backup ensures the protection and integrity of your data. Backup as a Service (BaaS) allows companies to quickly and efficiently backup their data to an offsite environment without the added cost of purchasing the necessary hardware. Cloud backups can then be accessed as needed via the internet. BaaS lays the foundation for keeping your company’s data safe by introducing the 3-2-1 Rule – Obtain 3 copies of the data, Have the data in 2 different types of media, and keep 1 backup copy offsite.
While we can all agree on the benefits of technology and data accessibility, it does not come without its fair share of risks. Now, more than ever before, personal and company data needs top level security from impending cyberthreats. Security as a Service offers cyberthreat protection for your data and, ultimately for the success of your business. Data breaches and downtime can be an absolute PR and financial disaster for your business and SECaaS protects you from those disasters. SECaaS solutions include, among other things, Firewall Protection, SIEM, Email Security, and Identity Management.
Natural disasters, like the very recent 6.4 magnitude earthquake in California, can occur without warning and pose a very unpredictable threat to your business. Other disasters can come in the way of a data breach, human error, or even an unnatural disaster like a building fire. No one is safe from the possibility of their data being lost in the chaos of a catastrophe. Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) ensures that, even in the worst of events, your company’s data will be safe.
When a disaster occurs, your business can easily failover to its Cloud DR site to ensure availability. Simply put, DRaaS could be the difference between your company going under or staying afloat during the worst of situations.
It is no secret that more work is being done through mobile, personal, and remote devices than ever before. This poses a unique challenge to IT Administrators who must keep company data secure as well as updated and available to the employees who need it. Having a Virtual Desktop as a Service (DaaS) mitigates this issue for IT. By implementing a DaaS, you can rest assured that your company’s data is secure on a server but also available and up-to-date for any employee who needs it. Still worried about the security of a mobile desktop? Look into the possibility of Multi-Factor Authentication.
aaS, DRaaS, DaaS, etc. are all amazing tools with amazing benefits for your company. However, all of them require physical and virtual resources to create. That is where Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) comes into play. Infrastructure is provided by cloud service providers, like Otava, and used to deploy your other as a Service solutions. IaaS affords businesses greater flexibility when it comes to cloud deployments.
These days, nearly everything that is available on premises is also available in the cloud; and companies continue to make the shift away from expensive hardware deployments in favor of cloud services. The peace of mind, the versatility, the security, and the convenience of cloud-based services speaks for itself and, with the dawn of the 5G computing era, is absolutely vital to the survival of the modern business.
Understanding the basics of cloud services is the first step to implementing it yourself. Now that you know some of the basics of the 6 most common as a Service offerings available, you are ready to take the next step. Contact Otava today to find out how we can help with your Cloud Computing needs.
