Cloud computing has and continues to be in the news a lot these days.  It seems to mean a lot to some people and little to others.  So what are cloud services and what the heck is Office 365 (and why you should care).

Simply put, cloud services are computers running programs hosted and managed in someone else’s data center.

Cloud services are nothing new and have been in use for many, many years.  You are probably using cloud services right now depending on where you get your e-mail or where your website is hosted.  I certainly do.  I use a lot of Google services including Gmail.  I am extremely grateful NOT to manage my own mail server.  The engineers at Google do this year round to ensue my email is available to me.  If a server goes down I have no knowledge of it.  My e-mail is just there, so much so that I simply take its availability for granted.  On top of that,  had rather significant spam problems for years that would consume a big chunk of my day.  That is no longer an issue because of how they continually improve their service offerings.  It just works.

It is common for a business to have their own data center.  That may be as small as the wall of cables where the internet router lives next to the copier machine to a dedicated building with its own power grid.  The reason’s are the same, the perception that running these services yourself will make them more secure and, well, “better”.  This can be true if you are willing to pick up the initial and ongoing price tags.  Servers and disks cost money.  So do the network routers and switches that connect them to your computers.  The software running on all needs to be licensed and properly configured.  And when that is all working as we would like, there are additional costs to ensure to remains working correctly.  I’ll pass on the topic of how these systems need to grow as your company does, or your electric bill to keep the equipment powered and not pulling double duty as the heat for the building.

Office 365 is Microsoft’s cloud services.  For roughly $6 per month per user you get exchange e-mail services, SharePoint services, Office web applications, 25GB of storage, and enterprise grade instant messaging.  That’s $72 a year.  If you wanted to build those services yourself (or have me do it for you), I am not sure it could be done for less than $5,000… which would cover hardware and software purchases before my time.  Even for an office with a dozen employees, that is just $864 a year!

For a few dollars you are getting a lot of services.  More importantly these are services that are available on the Internet, not just in an office network.  So people can connect to these services from home as well as in work.  So can your customers.  And as long as you keep your passwords strong, there is little chance of being hacked.

Microsoft isn’t the only game in this town. Google Apps today offers competing services for document sharing and e-mail hosting that is quite good. And free in some cases.  There are a lot of Office365 vs. Google Apps reviews already and I encourage you to read as many as you have time for.  I personally look at it this way. 

• If you are a small company with basic needs, such as e-mail and document sharing with remote sites, and/or mostly use Apple devices and software, go with Google Apps.  Office 365 is a Microsoft platform that integrates best with Windows, Office, and Internet explorer.  Microsoft claims that Office365 works with “virtually any device” but the reality is you will receive the best service when you use the recommended apps and platforms.
• If you a growing company with more advanced needs for collaboration AND are a Microsoft shop, look seriously at Office 365.  You get effectively a managed SharePoint 2010 server where you can create multiple sites to your heart’s content.

Office 365 has a free 30-day trial. So does Google Apps. Go sign up and give it a shot yourself.  If it works for you, great!  If not, you aren’t out anything but some time.