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3 Reasons You Should Add Cloud-to-Cloud Backup Service To Your Portfolio

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Backup Services for Office 365

Every business wants to satisfy its clients and win more customers. But the question is how? For most, quality service is necessary. But is that everything that can be offered? The competition is tough and you have to stay ahead. So, the key to success is to know your competition, use the findings to your competitive advantage, and offer rich value.  Backup services for office 365 are essential for your success.

You may be a reseller of Google Apps, Office 365, or Salesforce like your competitors, but have you ever thought of offering added -value services like cloud-to-cloud backup to your customers? If you hadn’t, you must be wondering now how it fits in. If you have, but didn’t add it yet, then you should have another thought about it. Let’s see how it can help you stay ahead of your competition:

Stand out from the crowd

The success lies not in what type of cloud services your company offers, but how the offering is unique as compared to others. It is very important that you have a Unique Selling Proposition that gives your customers enough reasons to come to you rather than look at the competition.  Any service becomes unique when it is bundled with unique products or services that prove to be valuable in the market and there is a need for it.

Cloud-to-cloud backup service is a good example of a unique offer that can work as a key differentiator between you and your competitors and make you stand out from the crowd. With a cloud-to-cloud backup service added to your list of services, you can be an “all in one place” service for your customers – for example, Google App/Salesforce/ Office 365 implementation/migration to management, support and 100% backup.

Whether it’s Google Apps, Office 365, or Salesforce,every product comes with a time-bound backup feature. You have the opportunity of adding a competitive edge to your company with offering automated secured daily backups like CloudAlly.  knowing the importance of backup to the business continuity of your customers will prove you are on top of your game, and will win you new customers.

Win Customer Trust

Winning customers’ trust is very important. If you offer a solution that appears to be a compelling one, but in fact it really isn’t, your credibility gets hurt and that leads to customer attrition. It’s not just losing one customer, but also losing the opportunity of referrals as well.

Let’s take the example of Google Apps. Google keeps any deleted data for only 30 days. Now, what if a customer deletes data accidentally and never realizes that it needs to be backed up within 30 days—what happens next? The data can never be recovered and Google can’t even help with that. Won’t your customer get frustrated in that case? However, if there is an active backup of that account, data can be recovered pretty quickly. This will not only help you win customer trust, but also establish your credibility in the market.

 Increase Revenue

Increase in revenue also depends on your higher transaction value strategy and understanding what related products or services your customers might be interested in. That means the more diversified your services are, the greater opportunity there is for sales. You can also offer cloud-to-cloud backup solution as a standalone service just by partnering with us, and you can offer value by strengthening customer data protection strategy, and increase your sales.

Another way out is the number of repeat transactions generated from the same customer. If you offer a backup solution additionally as a value-added service, your customers will be satisfied and that would help you to retain a customer for a longer period of time which of course also means increase of revenue.

If you are interested in making your business distinct from your competition by adding cloud-to-cloud backup service to your portfolio, read more about CloudAlly’s Partner Program .

You can also further read more about “Why Backup Online Data” and on “Why do we need to backup Office 365” or “Google Apps misconceptions”

How to Free Up Gmail Storage

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We’ve received quite a few inquiries lately regarding using CloudAlly to free up Gmail storage as users approach their Google Apps for Business or Google Apps for Education Gmail limit of 25GB. In order to free up Gmail storage, your users will need to do some Gmail housekeeping to remove old emails, attachments, trash and spam.

Of course before anyone starts the clean-up process you should first take a complete backup of all users within your Google Apps domain to either local or cloud-based storage to ensure that users can recover any important messages that might be inadvertently deleted during the clean-up process. And that’s where CloudAlly comes in… Read more →

SharePoint On – Premises VS. SharePoint Online (2013)

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SharePoint on premise vs cloud

If you’re having a hard time selecting between SharePoint On – Premises, and SharePoint online of Office 365, this next article is for you.  A reasonable comparison to make: SharePoint on premise vs cloud.

This article provides a basic overview of the primary differences between SharePoint Online and SharePoint On Premises. So let’s begin by taking a look at the different environments needed to run Online vs On Premises:

SharePoint Environments

As with any on-premise vs cloud based discussion, one of the most significant differences is the impact on internal resources. On-premise solutions require an internal IT support structure including people, hardware and software, or the use of a Managed Service Provider (MSP). Cloud based solutions reduce the dependency on internal resources and typically provide better globally deployed failover and redundancy features.

 

On Premises Online
  • The SharePoint server farm is within the corporate network.
  • The IT Support team maintains the SharePoint farm and regularly applies Microsoft patches and updates.
  • On premise Active directory is used for authentication.
  • Full access to use and customize any SharePoint feature as needed.
  • Availability of Enterprise level services such as BCS, Performance Point, etc.
  • The SharePoint sites reside in the Microsoft Data Centre (MDC).
  • Microsoft applies the patch regularly.
  • Microsoft’s SLA ensures 99.9% availability.
  • Microsoft’s global network of data centers provides reduced latency and high network bandwidth.
  • Support for Client Side Object & App model.

Feature Comparisons

While the basic functionality of SharePoint remains the same, there are a number of significant feature differences between On Premises and Online:

 

Category On Premises Online
Cost Involved Purchase/Maintain Hardware, Software licenses etc. Annual subscriptions for Office 365 Plans billed on a per user basis.
Infrastructure deployment & maintenance IT Support Team to deploy/manage farm, latest updates or patches not always deployed. Microsoft manages the environment and ensures all updates and patches are deployed.
Business Continuity (BC) Dependent on internal capabilities. Microsoft built-in redundancy and failover for data centers, but does not provide end user backups or data recovery.
Product Features Support for enterprise feature, Office web App (OWA) needs to be installed Missing or limited features, pre-configured features
Customization Options Full support for server side code and client side code, App usage from OAC and SAS Full Support- Client Side, Limited Support-Server side, Can use Apps from OAC or SAS
Information Security Dependent on internal capabilities. Information in MDS meets industry-specific security standards
Compliance Standard Dependent on internal capabilities. Verified by third party authors
Storage needs Expensive storage devices, Site Collection -More than 100GB, Scalable Storage Size Cheap storage cost, Site Collection- up to 100Gb, Maximum content in single tenant -O365 plan based
Development Full trust solution can be deployed- Features in farm solutions can have scope as wide as the site collection, web application, or whole farmPublic facing website with much of customization is possibleCustom “Managed Path” allowedMore control can be delegated to power users Full trust solution cannot be deployed- Only Sandbox solutions possible with scope up to the site collection levelPublic facing website with much of customization is not possibleCustom “Managed Path” allowedMore control cannot be delegated to power users and maxim privilege level is Site Collection level.

 

Technical Comparisons

In addition to business features, there are differences in the technical features available to both options:

 

Services Online On Premises
Search Limited access to query Full text Query
InfoPath Form Services Only in E3, E4 and K1 plans Required License to use InfoPath Form Services
Claim Bases Authentication N/A Can use SQL , LDAP and AD authentication
Managed Accounts N/A Provides a Managed Account to user at access the SP Admin Services
Usage reporting and Logging N/A Provides LOGS and Reporting to check the exceptions and System Report.
Alternate Access Mapping N/A Provides a map requests where the URL of a Web request received by Internet Information Services (IIS) differs from the URL that was typed by a user
SharePoint Health Analyser N/A Site collection pre-upgrade health check examines a site collection and then generates a report listing ay potential upgrade issues and how to address the issues

Pros and Cons

SharePoint On Premises

Pros Cons
Control Performance Cost of internal resources (staff, hardware, software, etc)
Scale Up and Scale Out Additional Geographic redundancy costs
Reduces Bandwidth requirements Disaster Recovery dependent on internal capabilities
Fully Customizable Scale Up/Out Cost( SW/HW)
Full Server and SQL Database Patching Servers/farms
Migrate as Needed Extra configurations for External Collaboration
Seamless Single Sign on with Corporate Active Directory

SharePoint Online

Pros Cons
Uptime 99.99% More ISP Bandwidth
Multiple Data centers Limited Customizations
Geographically redundant Possible Storage Costs
Shorted release cycle Recovery SLAs
Managed Services ( SaaS) No Server access
Pay as you go ( Low Cost )
Reduced impact on internal IT resources
Scalability

No matter which solution you decide on using: The one on premises or  SharePoint Online, you need to make sure you backup your data. No matter where your data is, you need a backup.

One thing is for sure: it’s much easier to backup cloud data using a third party solution which enables you to automatically backup your cloud data on a daily basis, and that is always accessible for you when you need it in case of data loss.

Read more about “how to backup SharePoint online” HERE.

 

Why Backup Online Data - FREE overview

Download our FREE overview on data loss in the cloud: what causes it and what you MUST do to prevent it.

 

 

Top Office 365 Resellers In UK

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Office 365 Resellers In UK

Migrating to Office 365  is a critical step and process. You may need some serious hand holding to make the job easy. But don’t worry. We understand your problem and realize your need, so we did extensive research to find the best resellers for you.   This is our second post on top resellers. This time we are focusing on Office 365 Resellers In UK.

So, let’s look at who should be your primary considerations when you’re looking for a UK reseller.

If you’re looking for an Office 365 reseller with a global footprint, then Avanade could be one of your best bets. It is one of Microsoft’s biggest partners with offices in London and a presence in more than 70 locations in 20 countries. Avanade follows a comprehensive approach by assessing first whether Office 365 is really the right fit for your business and then moving to deployment with its accelerated migration services.

Avanade has deployed more than 2million Microsoft Office suites already and handled more than 3,000 SharePoint projects for 600 customers. It also provides other services like application development, CRM, analytics, collaboration, ERP and managed services.Avanade is a trusted Office 365 solution provider for leading brands like L’Oreal, Pepsi and Cable &Wireless Communications. It has also won more than 60 Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards, including seven years as a Microsoft Alliance Partner of the Year.

EACS is a 20-year-old, award-winning IT solutions and managed services provider serving businesses throughout the UK. EACS has successfully built partnerships with market-leading manufacturers over the years, which enables the service to provide businesses with the highest level of expertise and quality. It is headquartered in Huntingdon, Cambridge with regional offices at Temple Road, Rotherham, and it offers a variety of other services like training, project management, and security management to name a few.

EACS has received multiple awards such as the European IT and Software Excellence Award 2013 by IT Europa, Corporate Reseller of the Year 2009 by CRN Channel Awards, Mimecast Business Partner of the Year 2012, and it was selected as one of three finalists for the Microsoft Partner of the Year 2012. Some renowned brands that have used EACS services are Essex police, CHS group, Dako and Chard Robinson.

Specialist Computer Centre or SCC is Europe’s largest independent technology solutions company, mainly catering to mid-sized enterprises and public sector organizations. It is headquartered in Birmingham with 11 offices across the UK and has an international presence in France, Spain, and Romania. SCC has been in the business for more than 40 years and is one of the most accredited Microsoft partners in the UK. It has more than 100 consultants trained in supporting Microsoft solutions and technologies, and their competencies include security solutions, unified communications solutions, information worker solutions, and networking infrastructure solutions. SCC also offers other services like flexible resourcing, managed print services, data centre, supply chain services, and many more. It has won some prestigious awards like Best Staff and Community Schemeand and the Oracle excellence award.

Advanced 365 is a division of Advanced Computer Software Group and has been in the business since 1987. It has four offices across the UK in London, Somerset, Cobham and Langley and has an international office in Georgia, US. Advanced 365 offers a variety of other services like IT outsourcing, collaboration, security and compliance, application development, business intelligence and data services and IT strategy consulting. Advanced 365 was the first service in the UK to attain the new Gold Level Virtualization Competency. It also holds multiple silver level competencies for numerous other Microsoft technologies including Dynamics CRM 2011, SharePoint 2010 and Microsoft Business Intelligence. Recently, it was awarded with Microsoft Cloud Accelerate Partner Status. It has several leading brands amongst its clientele including Siemens, Oxford University Press, Mitsubishi and Mercerto name a few.

If you identify Dell as a leader in desktops, notebooks and peripherals manufacturing only then you would be surprised to know that it is also one of the largest distributors of Microsoft software worldwide.It has served major UK brands like Coats Plc where the challenge was to migrate 7,500 users in 70 countries from IBM Notes to Office 365 within five months. Dell completed the project successfully within deadline and reduced costs significantly by automating the migration process.

Dell has released a couple of tools like Notes Migrator for Exchange, Coexistence Manager for Notes and MessageStats, which enable businesses to migrate from Lotus Notes to Office 365 seamlessly. Recently, Coca-Cola Bottling Company United, Inc. (CCBCU) selected Dell’s migration solutions to move 1,100 user mailboxes and 2TB of data from IBM Notes to Office 365, and it was completed successfully within a weekend!

Migration is a challenging process, and you must choose a reseller carefully. Read our recent blog post on Office 365 Migration Best Practices to learn more about it. However, while you plan to migrate to Office 365, you should also consider the important point of backing up your Office 365 data. You may feel that it’s a default service provided by Microsoft, but if you loose online data the only back you have is the recycle been, and even that’s only good in case of a user error, and not for other possible reasons for data loss such as virus, or phishing and more. The recycle bean is a good backup only for 30-90 days. If you don’t recover your data within that period, you will lose it forever.

 Read more about the need to backup office 365 on CloudAlly’s  Office 365 Backup blog post.

SaaS Data Loss: Your Online Data Isn’t Safe.

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SaaS Data Loss

Your organization might have important data stored in the cloud. From important statistics to data required for daily needs, your organization might rely heavily on the cloud for its day-to-day work. However, what if this data stored in the cloud is lost? Getting a cloud provider for storing your applications and data might just not be enough. Having a cloud provider for your application and service does not mean that you are protected from ALL types of data loss and actually you are much more vulnerable than you were when you worked on-premise. SaaS Data Loss is an issue for most organisations.

Here is a look at some of the possible reasons for data loss in cloud.

1. Data center of your Cloud system won’t  always retrieve your data

A Spiceworks study reported that over 45 percent of respondents had reported data loss in their organization. Fourteen percent of those respondents said that they were unable to retrieve the valuable information they had lost. This is a common misconception. The data center of your SaaS provider won’t always retrieve your data. Read more →

Google Apps or Office 365?

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Google Apps or Office 365

After being a faithful Microsoft customer for years, is it time to switch over to Google when choosing between Office 365 and Google Apps? As a business owner, what do you trust more—the age-old wisdom and IT expertise of Microsoft or the innovative skills and service providing ability of Google? Google Apps or Office 365 – a tough choice.

The questions are aplenty, and as business owners, it is important to have answers that help you make a decision. The requirements for cloud services are only increasing everyday, and with Microsoft and Google being the top service providers, you need to determine which one would best suit your storage needs. Read more →