Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/303798
GET YOUR HEAD INTO THE CLOUD! A t One Horn, we were an early adopter of Cloud computing. We started by moving our phone system, a traditional PBX (Private Branch Exchange), from our basement office to a Cloud server way back in 2007. From there we added our fax, email, QuickBooks, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) System, and eventually the core database of StrateboTM, our proprietary TMS (Transportation Management System) to our Cloud platform. Our original motivation was to increase our operational efficiency as we were moving to a paperless environment and to give access to our system to our growing agent network. However, one New Year's Eve, we lost power at the office while we were out of state and realized that we had to speed up the process of getting the servers out of the office and into a safe environment. Everything has been running smoothly for years, but I still oen get comments like, "Aren't you scared to lose your data?" or "Isn't it risky that someone will steal it?" Most of the time, the people who make these comments have very little understanding of the risks involved with Cloud computing, yet they shy away from taking advantage of this modern technology. So let's delve into the two main fears I hear from those reluctant to adopt Cloud computing and do a reality check. FEAR OF LOSING YOUR DATA As a computer engineer, I find it difficult to understand why people would think their data is safer where they can see it. We use Rackspace as a Cloud provider (any of the leading Cloud providers offer similar services), and as you can see from our comparison on page 21, the risks of losing data are far greater when your data is stored on the computer under your desk. BY LOUIS BIRON I FIND IT DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE WOULD THINK THEIR DATA IS SAFER WHERE THEY CAN SEE IT. " " 20 IT MAGAZINE Vo l . 8 , N o . 3