References to the cloud are ubiquitous today, but what does it mean? What is the cloud?
The cloud, in the simplest terms, takes the multimillion-dollar business hardware currently sitting in your server rooms and moving it into a web-based environment. There are two versions of the cloud available today: hosted and tenanted.
The half-cloud is the hosted version, where a solution provider takes your hardware and puts it in their environment. The billing model is generally very similar to what is referred to as a premise-based solution, or having the hardware physically on your site. This isn’t considered the true cloud, as you are just moving the location of your hardware to a different place and accessing it via software and the Internet. Upfront costs, maintenance and replacement remains a reality with this model, you are only in the cloud in name only.
The true cloud is a tenanted environment where a hardware and network infrastructure exists that you access on a subscription-based billing model. This is the future of technology today. You have access to free upgrades, only need an Internet ready device and connection and you are up and running! This is exciting news for anyone who has had to make a large upfront investment or has had to leverage antiquated hardware in their business environments.
A few years ago, businesses were still leery of being early adopters of cloud technology. Hardware was an accepted business expense and few CTO/CIO/IT Directors were willing to put their careers on the line for an untested and unproven solution. That time has now past. The cloud is safe, secure and accepted as the future of business solutions.
NICE is the leader in ACD/IVR technology and the only true tenanted cloud solution available on the market today, so come and see how our SAAS billing model, world class patented technology and cloud experts can help your business break out of the cycle of hardware upgrades, maintenance, server rooms and internal staff to manage the hardware.
