“We chose to work with TSG because of their breadth, depth and expertise across solutions, coupled with excellent support services.”
- Emesh, Group IT Manager, Sport Industry
Endless opportunity for your cloud computing solution
According to Aberdeen Group’s Computer Intelligence Dataset, when it comes to cloud computing solutions, there are more than 1.6 billion permutations to choose from in the cloud.
So what, on the face of it, appears to be pretty simple is actually both complex and dynamic whether you’re in the market for networking, storage, servers, DR and backup, virtualisation or applications.
What is the cloud?
In essence, it’s actually racks of servers in remote datacentres connected to users and devices via the internet or private networks.
Those servers offer a myriad of different services and an extensive range of different delivery models as the distinction between infrastructure and apps becomes increasingly blurred.
One thing that is clear is that cloud computing is here for the long-term and actually most of us have been using cloud computing services for some time, especially in our personal lives.
The catch-all term ‘cloud’ itself has the potential to confuse and that’s before you throw in IaaS, PaaS, private, public and hybrid to add to the mix.
Unravelling the jargon
SaaS
Rather than the traditional model of buying software, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) allows you to subscribe to the applications you need. It removes the need for hardware and operating systems and the provider is responsible for keeping everything up-to-date.
PaaS
Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) allows you to run your own applications but rather than building and maintaining the servers, operating systems and databases required to run them in your own location, you rent them from a datacentre provider.
IaaS
With Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), you rent the computer resources – or virtual machines – only and you’re responsible for installing and maintaining operating systems, databases and the applications you require. So it removes the need for investment in hardware.
Public
Services such as Office 365 are delivered through a public cloud with multiple customers taking advantage of shared resources rather than dedicated hardware or virtual machines, often referred to as multi-tenanted. Your services remain secure and exclusive to your organisation.
Private
You can either own or rent the systems in a private cloud but in either case they are dedicated to your sole use. You typically retain control of at least some elements of the infrastructure but a private cloud can be IaaS, PaaS or co-located.
Hybrid
Hybrid describes a mix of delivery with some services through public, such as Office 365, with others either in a private cloud or on premise – typically line-of-business applications. The key is that they are in some way integrated to provide a connected experience.
In a business context, it’s critical to ensure that your cloud computing strategy is aligned to the wider business strategy, with due consideration around integration and the technology roadmap. Speak to our experts today for help in creating a cloud computing strategy to suit your business needs.
Cloud readiness assessment - what you need to think about
Compelling reasons
Current situation analysis
Compliance requirements
Seasonal requirements
Disaster recovery
Planned IT projects
Critical business systems
Business aims and plans
Connectivity
Applications
Our aim is to guide you in making the best decisions and choices for your business, helping contribute to improvements in uptime, availability, efficiency and agility – and, in most instances, cash flow and accelerated return on investment.
We’re constantly evaluating new technologies, looking to identify those that will have a genuinely transformational impact on our customers.
It’s crucial to be confident that these ‘disruptive’ models offer robust, long-term alternatives before adopting them as part of our broad technology offer.
Cloud Applications
Built from the ground up as a genuine cloud application, Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a complete business management system (BMS) bringing together CRM and ERP with productivity to create a seamless working environment.
Far more than simply email and traditional Office applications in the cloud, Office 365 is evolving into powerful suite of tools that allow users to work more effectively, collaborate with colleagues and automate processes.
Accessed wherever you need it, Sage 200 Online is a single solution to manage your finances, stock and reporting, giving you greater control and improved business efficiencies.
Pegasus Business Cloud delivers flexibility and adaptability, allowing you to adapt to the changing nature of technology in an ever increasingly 'mobile' world.
Built specifically for membership organisations, TSG Tribe 365 combines easy-to-use wizards with integration to websites and leading finance systems.
TSG Traveller is the cloud evolution of the highly respected TOCrm solution that has transformed customer care for rail operators over the last decade.
Cloud Utilities
Sophos Cloud
Provides a central console to manage security across your entire technology environment, alerting issues and tapping into Sophos Synchronised approach to security.
A truly innovative hybrid solution combining backup and business continuity that allows instant recovery at both a system and file level.
Protects your users from new and emerging threats by stopping spam and virus-riddled emails with multi-layered detection technologies.
BTL powered by Asigra
As the leading specialist in the cloud backup market, Backup Technology reduces the risk of your business falling victim to the unexpected.
Cloud Hosting
Pulsant owns and operates 10 datacentres across 7 locations in 5 cities in the UK, aiming to achieve a target availability of 99.995% with ISO27001-certified management systems.
Colocation Services
Our partner Zen provides a cost-effective way of securely hosting your mission-critical IT infrastructure, together with providing reliable and flexible internet access.
Hosted Telephony
As the deadline for ISDN switch off approaches, an increasing number of businesses are considering Hosted Telephony, which brings flexibility and disaster recovery as key benefits.
Cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g. networks, servers, storage, applications and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.
National Institute of Standards and Technology
