On Prem Vs Cloud

[Fringe]

Morning Peeps ,

Recently Started working for a Small Company of around 100 People but only 64 Users are working on devices. Everything in our Business is currently on prem . With there only been so little user base is there any point of being Cloud based ?

Thanks

 

[Fringe]

• What are your main files and applications - Office 365 Full Package , we do use some bespoke software that requires a USB Dongle to use at all times , But this is CAD design stuff
• What are the main systems in use Windows with one Linux Machine
• What is your current system/s e.g. Windows Server 2019 Currently
• What are your requirements from your existing and new system. - We need to be more secure , Make sure was have cold storage and so on for the next 30 years due to a Government Contract.

Sorry for been Vague about things i have been in 2 weeks and been given this as a Project. For me i have always been on Cloud with all my previous companies this is my first on prem in a hell of a long time.

So for me i would like to push cloud but cant seem to figure out how they will use the Dongle side of this CAD application they use.

On another Note they seem to use UltraVNC from home to log Direct in to there machine and and access there dongles for the CAD side. There has to be a better way Surely lol

 

[Fringe]

Thanks so much for the advice. I think hybrid is going to be the way to go for the company tbh
Thanks again

 

[Fringe]

How are they using VNC? Hopefully it's via a VPN.


Don't push cloud just because it's what you know and what you want.

Justify the benefit it brings to the business i.e. it will save £X over Y years, or it will allow everyone to collaborate better (e.g. moving to online multi-user spreadsheets), or it is more reliable than the on-prem exchange that is on it's last legs.


Not everything needs to be cloud based.

I get where you are coming from i think a Hybrid will work best then.

Thanks for the help

 

[Fringe]

As for VNC i have just asked they do use a VPN for it.

 

[Fringe]

I'm retired so my technical knowledge is well out of date so let me raise some semi-technical issues:

How sensitive is the data? It is a commonplace (true or not) that the major cloud providers have been hacked or coerced by China and / or the USA.

Do consider redundancy. The cloud is just another person's computer. So if that computer fails - datacentres do burn down - you need a plan. If the connection to that computer fails you need a plan. Typically you will have a duplicate in a geographically distant datacentre, but that will cost money. And, more locally, consider resilience: what if a workman with a digger cuts your connection to the internet?

You Couldn't have summed this up more for us and we are going to work Hybrid where we can. this works for the company and us.

The only thing we need to now find is Cold storage for 30 years but looking in to using Azure for this unless anyone can recommend any company that is competitive

thanks