Cloud Machine Manager Blog

For many organizations, be it a start-up or a large corporation, a key strategic goal is often saving money. But finding areas within the organization where savings can be made can be very tricky. The solution might not necessarily be to reduce budgets, but to find ways to be more efficient with the budget you currently have. For example, when we look at the IT department, adopting a cloud infrastructure is often the first step to increasing efficiency in both costs and departmental...

When you’re not in control of who uses AWS within your business, trying to get an accurate picture of your companies’ server usage can often prove difficult. For example, if you don’t work in I.T, but are a manager in charge of multiple budgets and receive an unexpectedly large AWS bill, you’d probably want to know how this happened. But such is the complexity of AWS and its breakdown of AWS billing that analysing an increased server bill may present you with more questions than...

In the past, it wasn’t all that often that you saw a small, possibly start-up business with the same software and technology set-up as a large organisation. The reasons vary but pricing and enterprise-centric software is one factor. There are some software companies that effectively price themselves out of reach for small businesses. They aren’t interested in serving a company who want a cheap package where they won’t make a huge return on investment. This is, however, beginning...

As cloud computing becomes more prominent as a business tool, so to do other variations and forms of cloud and server hosting. Using the cloud for day-to-day business functions has many advantages from flexibility to mobility to scalability. That’s all great. It’s becoming a key business tool and it feels like one day, no business can afford not to have the cloud. But it still has downfalls and for some businesses there are still better or comparable solutions. Particularly...

When an organization moves to the cloud, it’s easy to get caught up in all of the possibilities it provides. But it’s important to spare a thought for making sure that your cloud computing activity stays within the bounds of the law – something that is often overlooked. With various cases of privacy issues cropping up including the Wikileaks case, issues with data privacy on Facebook etc. businesses need to take extra care when deploying their cloud computing activities. This...

In business, many organisational decisions often come down to a cost-benefit analysis – if I spend this much, how much will my organization benefit? And in today’s economy, businesses have to make tough decisions regarding particular investments as they can’t always guarantee a good enough return. But this is where the utilization of cloud computing can help to boost your return on investment. By migrating your activity to the cloud, you can take advantages of lower costs, more...

If we consider mobility to be free movement and the ability to move and then apply this to business, we might see business mobility as the ability, or more optimistically, the freedom to work anywhere. Imagine having no commute every morning because you’re working from home. Gaining an extra hour every morning to sleep, exercise or walk the dog. Taking the luxury to make a proper breakfast rather than a bite to eat and a coffee at the office. Mobility changes how a business works....

If you’ve ever tried looking for a cloud scheduling or management tool, it’s likely that you’ve come across more than a few all offering the same service but each with a twist, from “instantly saving 20% on your bills” to “full automation of cloud servers”. Managing cloud servers is important in ensuring that you are getting the most out what you are paying for. In doing this, you at least want some level of control over your servers and to know that they are being used...

Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides something that many companies couldn’t otherwise afford; servers on demand, scalability and flexibility. Whilst provisioning servers from AWS can be considered a cheaper option than investing in the hardware, there are still cost factors that can easily spiral out of control if not monitored. Some might see the answer to cutting these costs as scaling down some of the servers to save money (this is a great way to cut cost and waste but only if the...

Cloud computing is widely considered to be the ultimate business tool. Its business uses vary from storage and computing power, to enabling remote desktop for a user away from the office, but it is undoubtedly a powerful business tool. The advances in the Internet of Things (IoT) and the cloud infrastructure are also creating a future proof business tool that will collaborate with parts of everyday life. It all sounds really cool and futuristic until you start to add up the...