Cloud Server and Collaborative Tools
Discussion
Looking for some business IT recommendations.
We currently have 40 employees. 35 local and 5 remote.As of next month we will have an international office which, by year end, should have 5+ staff.
Our current server (file and email) is located in our office (3tb storage), remote staff connect via a slow and unreliable VPN, which will not be fit for purpose when the international office opens. I am exploring cloud based file sharing options like Dropbox Enterprise, BOX, or Google Cloud services as a way to host and share files. There is an internal concern about who owns the data if we should choose one of these well known systems, us or the supplier?
It would be fantastic to have cloud based collaboration (like Google Docs) and bring version controls to our documentation.
Has anyone had any experience of these systems?
Also, we run an email server located in our office running from rackspace. Would you keep this or, for the low cost, consider a switch to something like Google business suite?
We currently have 40 employees. 35 local and 5 remote.As of next month we will have an international office which, by year end, should have 5+ staff.
Our current server (file and email) is located in our office (3tb storage), remote staff connect via a slow and unreliable VPN, which will not be fit for purpose when the international office opens. I am exploring cloud based file sharing options like Dropbox Enterprise, BOX, or Google Cloud services as a way to host and share files. There is an internal concern about who owns the data if we should choose one of these well known systems, us or the supplier?
It would be fantastic to have cloud based collaboration (like Google Docs) and bring version controls to our documentation.
Has anyone had any experience of these systems?
Also, we run an email server located in our office running from rackspace. Would you keep this or, for the low cost, consider a switch to something like Google business suite?
Edited by Hoddo on Thursday 16th February 12:59
randlemarcus said:
Personally, I'd be looking at Office365, using a mix of SharePoint and OneDrive for the files, Exchange for the email, and getting Skype for Business for IM and potentially voice.
Your data is definitely your data, regardless of Cloud flavour, at least in terms of IP.
Does Office365 offer a company wide file server or does everyone keep their files in their personal OneDrive?Your data is definitely your data, regardless of Cloud flavour, at least in terms of IP.
I'd be asking why the VPN is slow and unreliable before moving to something cloud-based. If your head office link isn't very good, hence the VPN problems with just 5 people, I wouldn't want to rely on it for email, file sharing and whatever else for 35 people.
Assuming that's not an issue, as randlemarcus says Office 365 does fit the bill. SharePoint Online covers your team/departmental document storage and does check in/out, version control, document approval and lots of other sexy stuff. OneDrive for Business would replace individuals' document folders. Email via Exchange Online.
Dropbox Enterprise is good but if you're already going down the O365 route it doesn't necessarily make sense to use Dropbox when the MS options (SPO and OneDrive) integrate together and with the rest of O365 (OneNote, Yammer, etc.).
I haven't tried the Google options but by all accounts they are absolutely fine and you either make them work or you make your business work around them. The real question is whether or not you want to jump in bed with MS or Google.
The other alternative is something open source but that has it's own drawbacks. Your IT bod will need a more niche set of skills so you will pay more for him, some products seem great but then all of a sudden the unpaid devs jump ship to a different project and you find yourself with no support, or you pay for support which is potentially just as expensive as buying MS licences anyway. I'm generalising a bit here and it's not all doom and gloom, but something to be aware of instead of assuming that just because you don't pay for the software you don't pay for anything ever.
Assuming that's not an issue, as randlemarcus says Office 365 does fit the bill. SharePoint Online covers your team/departmental document storage and does check in/out, version control, document approval and lots of other sexy stuff. OneDrive for Business would replace individuals' document folders. Email via Exchange Online.
Dropbox Enterprise is good but if you're already going down the O365 route it doesn't necessarily make sense to use Dropbox when the MS options (SPO and OneDrive) integrate together and with the rest of O365 (OneNote, Yammer, etc.).
I haven't tried the Google options but by all accounts they are absolutely fine and you either make them work or you make your business work around them. The real question is whether or not you want to jump in bed with MS or Google.
The other alternative is something open source but that has it's own drawbacks. Your IT bod will need a more niche set of skills so you will pay more for him, some products seem great but then all of a sudden the unpaid devs jump ship to a different project and you find yourself with no support, or you pay for support which is potentially just as expensive as buying MS licences anyway. I'm generalising a bit here and it's not all doom and gloom, but something to be aware of instead of assuming that just because you don't pay for the software you don't pay for anything ever.
100% O365 for this migrate all documents to sharepoint and migrate email to it too.
There are scripts available to to the file migration quite easy mail is easy if you know how to change dns and upload the old emails, if you are using exchange already it just all plugs in. I do this as a day to day job any questions just ask
There are scripts available to to the file migration quite easy mail is easy if you know how to change dns and upload the old emails, if you are using exchange already it just all plugs in. I do this as a day to day job any questions just ask
randlemarcus said:
Personally, I'd be looking at Office365, using a mix of SharePoint and OneDrive for the files, Exchange for the email, and getting Skype for Business for IM and potentially voice.
As a new start up this is exactly what we've done, including Skype for voice calls and it's all working pretty well currently. doogle83 said:
randlemarcus said:
Personally, I'd be looking at Office365, using a mix of SharePoint and OneDrive for the files, Exchange for the email, and getting Skype for Business for IM and potentially voice.
As a new start up this is exactly what we've done, including Skype for voice calls and it's all working pretty well currently. There are other options at getting at on premise content without VPN but its price might be prohibitive given the user base. You can file host in the cloud and the IP is yours and you own the document however you have to be careful of data at reset regulations etc. Not a massive issue as Azure now has a DC in the UK and AWS is fine as well.
The other considerations include what type of device has access to the content. If you go down the O365 route look at some of the EMS/intune stuff as a bolt on.
geeks said:
doogle83 said:
randlemarcus said:
Personally, I'd be looking at Office365, using a mix of SharePoint and OneDrive for the files, Exchange for the email, and getting Skype for Business for IM and potentially voice.
As a new start up this is exactly what we've done, including Skype for voice calls and it's all working pretty well currently. There are other options at getting at on premise content without VPN but its price might be prohibitive given the user base. You can file host in the cloud and the IP is yours and you own the document however you have to be careful of data at reset regulations etc. Not a massive issue as Azure now has a DC in the UK and AWS is fine as well.
The other considerations include what type of device has access to the content. If you go down the O365 route look at some of the EMS/intune stuff as a bolt on.
Appreciate all the help folks. My IT knowledge is basic so I'm getting most of your comments but some of the IT specifics are going over my head, for example, what is EMS/intune?
Hoddo said:
geeks said:
doogle83 said:
randlemarcus said:
Personally, I'd be looking at Office365, using a mix of SharePoint and OneDrive for the files, Exchange for the email, and getting Skype for Business for IM and potentially voice.
As a new start up this is exactly what we've done, including Skype for voice calls and it's all working pretty well currently. There are other options at getting at on premise content without VPN but its price might be prohibitive given the user base. You can file host in the cloud and the IP is yours and you own the document however you have to be careful of data at reset regulations etc. Not a massive issue as Azure now has a DC in the UK and AWS is fine as well.
The other considerations include what type of device has access to the content. If you go down the O365 route look at some of the EMS/intune stuff as a bolt on.
Appreciate all the help folks. My IT knowledge is basic so I'm getting most of your comments but some of the IT specifics are going over my head, for example, what is EMS/intune?
O365 is great. I work in the EUC/Mobility part of IT so I spend alot of time integrating the solution into other solutions (VMware, Citrix etc) EMS/Intune provide MDM functionality and other items for Email etc. I am at work at the moment but will drop you a PM with some info.
O365. I'm not a massive MS fan, but I've been very pleased with my O365 experience. Handy on a Mac as well and they allow you to download the Mac apps FOC.
Your IT guy/gal may be seeing it as a threat, and therefore pulling together something that makes/keeps them indispensable?
The more you grow as well, if your internal server is on premise, the more you'll rely on that inbound data connection and bandwidth for your overseas staff - just put it in the cloud.
Your IT guy/gal may be seeing it as a threat, and therefore pulling together something that makes/keeps them indispensable?
The more you grow as well, if your internal server is on premise, the more you'll rely on that inbound data connection and bandwidth for your overseas staff - just put it in the cloud.
Before you go cloud, how good is your connection? A few years back I worked in a Reading office that could only muster 5mbs best and other rural offices that were 2mb
Bonding worked in those cases, but going cloud means all your eggs are in one basket so factor in connection redundancy
Bonding worked in those cases, but going cloud means all your eggs are in one basket so factor in connection redundancy
TwistingMyMelon said:
Before you go cloud, how good is your connection? A few years back I worked in a Reading office that could only muster 5mbs best and other rural offices that were 2mb
Bonding worked in those cases, but going cloud means all your eggs are in one basket so factor in connection redundancy
Great point but thankfully we have a dedicated line so this would not be an issue.Bonding worked in those cases, but going cloud means all your eggs are in one basket so factor in connection redundancy
Hoddo said:
Great point but thankfully we have a dedicated line so this would not be an issue.
Unless some idiot in a JCB breaks your line or you provider goes bust (both have happened to clients of mine this year). I would always go for a solution where your files / data is replicated to local storage as well as being on the cloud. It's even possible to replicate between two different cloud providers.plasticpig said:
Unless some idiot in a JCB breaks your line or you provider goes bust (both have happened to clients of mine this year). I would always go for a solution where your files / data is replicated to local storage as well as being on the cloud. It's even possible to replicate between two different cloud providers.
There are some tools to sync O365 to a local server as well.Doesn't resolve lack of email, but it at least helps local productivity.
plasticpig said:
Hoddo said:
Great point but thankfully we have a dedicated line so this would not be an issue.
Unless some idiot in a JCB breaks your line or you provider goes bust (both have happened to clients of mine this year). I would always go for a solution where your files / data is replicated to local storage as well as being on the cloud. It's even possible to replicate between two different cloud providers.randlemarcus said:
Hoddo said:
Our IT would always keep a local backup of all files regardless of what solution we went with. Don't think he could sleep at night if he didn't.
Then your IT needs a head wobble. Backup is good, local backup of cloud hosted data on application platforms is just daft.Gassing Station | Business | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff