Chris: Hi everyone. I’m Chris, Technical Services Supervisor here at Exigent Technologies and I’d like to welcome to our very first edition of small business tech talk. Today, I’m joined by company President, Dan Haurey. Without a doubt, Cloud is one of the most transformative forces in our industry today and we thought we’d go over some of the most frequently asked questions on the topic. Sounds good, Dan?

Dan: Absolutely .

Chris: All right, let’s get started. We hear the word Cloud used so much these days. It’s advertised, you read about it, but what exactly is the Cloud?

Dan: It means many things to many people, but generally, what it means is software in computing resources that is not installed locally within your office or on your computer. It’s running somewhere else .

Chris: And where is the Cloud located? Where does everything actually go to?

Dan: Generally, when you are accessing applications like Gmail or Facebook, those are Cloud applications and those Cloud applications usually live in data centers and data centers are purpose-built facilities that are geared towards very high availability and up time and they’re purpose-built for computer servers and high availability equipment.

Chris: And what about safety and security?

Dan: Well, generally, it’s very safe. I know there’s been some highly publicized security breaches such as those with target stores but generally, it’s going to be much safer and more secure in environment than you could ever create in the typically small business office.

Chris: Great. What are some of the key benefits of Cloud? What’s in it for the customers?

Dan: Well, it depends who you are in the organization. What’s in it for the customers is possible cost saving, ease of accessibility. A lot of our customers are still using VPNs to connect back to their offices to access their equipment. Many times with the Could, we’re able to simply get them into their software and other applications through a web browser. If you’re a business owner, what’s in it for you is eliminating that upgrade cycle that seems to never end. You know, we’re going back to our customers every three to five year and we are saying, hey, you need to replace this server or you need to upgrade this operating system. With the Cloud, you’re consuming these services as they service as a monthly fee and therefore, you always have access to the latest and greatest stuff.

Chris: So you’re saying a small business who come to us with all of their software, email application move it into our Cloud and then never have to worry about buying a server ever again?

Dan: Conceivably, yes, they can do that. You could take everything that you have, servers, software, etcetera and put them into the Cloud. But more often than not, what we’re seeing these days is a hybrid approach. With the hybrid approach, customers are taking pieces of their environment and slowly migrating it to the Cloud as it makes sense for them to do it. So for example, maybe you have a server that’s five years old and its running your email, you could take email only and move that into the Cloud leaving the other applications behind and then when the time is appropriate, you could slowly move those services to the Cloud as well

Chris: And how about pricing cost?

Dan: A lot of times, people think Cloud is always the cheapest option. It’s not always the case. Many times, we’re able to save customers thousands of dollar by moving to the Cloud. It all depends on the applications they need moved and what kind of horse power those applications and services need so it’s not always the cheapest option. Indeed, sometimes, it’s more expensive but it really depends and you have to look at each customer as a unique entity.

Chris: Great. Why would a small business in the New York, New Jersey area choose Exigent Technologies over some of the other Cloud providers that might be out there?

Dan: Well, I think the short answer to that question is transparency. When we built our Turnkey Cloud offering, we knew it was going to be important to our customers to be 100% transparent. We talked about Facebook earlier. When you’re accessing Facebook or your Gmail, you really don’t know where that’s located. We thought it is was very important for our customers to know exactly where their data and computing services were located so we built out a data center right here in Morris County, New Jersey where we could take our customers by the hand and actually show them the operation. So again, transparency is the main reason .

Chris: Before we close, any finally thoughts about Cloud for our viewers?

Dan: I would say that Cloud is happening. It’s here to stay right, so if you’re not in the Cloud today, you probably will be in the next year or two and even if you are opposed to it, you may even be forced into it. For example, if you’re using a line of business applications to run your organization, the next version of that application may be in the Cloud so you may actually be forced into the Cloud even if you don’t want it. It makes sense for people to reach out to us and explore the possibilities to see if Cloud is right for them.

Chris: Well, there you have it. To learn more about our Cloud offerings, be sure you check us out on the website, exigentstg.wpengine.com. Also, don’t forget to hit subscribe, check out some of our other videos . On behalf of Dan and the rest of the Exigent Technologies team, thanks for watching and we’ll see you next time.