Fox Small Business Cener - Whether a small business is looking for e-mail, computing power or storage on the cloud, there are a host of companies ready and waiting to serve. Cloud computing services are exploding in popularity and it hasn’t gotten lost on the heavy hitters in the tech world.
With all the different options to choose from, it can be overwhelming for small business owners to determine which provider is the right fit for their needs.
Here’s a breakdown of five cloud providers and what they have to offer:
The latest arrival to the cloud party is from Microsoft, which unveiled Office 365 just a few weeks ago.
For $6 a month, small businesses get access to all of Microsoft’s Office (NASDAQ:MSFT) applications without having to install the software on their computers or servers. Office 365 users can access e-mail, documents, contacts and calendars from any device that’s connected to the Internet.
According to Microsoft, the $6- a-month plan is suitable for companies that have less than 25 employees and do not have an IT staff on payroll. Under this plan, companies get a 25-GB mailbox, the ability to share calendars and view multiple calendars side by side and business-class security that protects from spam and viruses.
Another perk: Small business owners and employees can work simultaneously on documents and spreadsheets and see in real time who is editing and viewing documents and spreadsheets. Small businesses also get access to instant messaging, PC-to-PC audio and video calls and online meetings.
Many small businesses don’t have the desire, space or financial ability to house servers and storage devices on site, which makes offerings like Amazon’s Web Services popular.
Instead of having to buy hardware equipment, small businesses can pay a monthly fee to access Amazon’s infrastructure in the cloud, allowing them to order computing power and storage on an as-needed basis. More
