Tabush Group's Cloud & Managed IT Blog

Our team will be in Chicago next week, March 15 - 18, to participate in the ABA TECHSHOW Conference & Expo, hosted by the American Bar Association Law Practice Division. I had the opportunity to attend the show last year, and was very impressed. This year, I'm looking forward to us being one of the exhibitors! You'll find us at BOOTH #806.

Even though I’m the founder of a successful IT and cloud computing company, to my family and friends I’m still just “a computer guy,” who they call on for help with everything from iPhones to printers to DVR’s. Sometimes I feel like a seasoned brain surgeon who still gets calls from people asking him whether they should take Tylenol or Advil for a headache! Alas, I’m still fascinated by technology and love what I do, and thus enjoy answering these questions and being the resident tech geek for my friends and family.

One of the most common questions I get is “I’m buying a new tablet – should I get an iPad, iPad Pro, or a Surface?”

These days, I’m not just the founder and president of Tabush Group, but I’m also the co-founder and a board member of Bill4Time, a volunteer for several non-profit organizations, CTO for all the electronics in my household, and tech support for my immediate and extended families.

Most of my work is done on Boxtop, our all-in-one cloud IT solution (yes, we’re our own customer), which I can access from any internet-connected device. When on the go, I very much rely on my iPhone and iPad.

In addition to being able to access everything work-related securely via Boxtop, there are also a few apps that I consider to be lifesavers when it comes to productivity, so I thought I’d share my current favorites. (FYI: these work across all platforms, with the exception of Scanbot).

It’s hard to imagine that just ten years ago, in 2006, the term “cloud computing” hadn’t been invented yet. By definition, cloud means an IT system or application that lives in a remote datacenter and is managed by a third party provider, as opposed to residing on a server in the customer’s location. Companies large and small had all of their IT systems running on servers and software that lived within the company’s walls.

Fast forward just ten years to 2016, and it’s hard to find a business that does not use the cloud for some part of their IT. While it used to be that decision makers had to be convinced why they should trust the cloud for a certain service, today it’s hard to make an argument why certain things should not live in the cloud. Why the complete shift?

I feel like I say this every year, but I can’t believe it's January and 2016 is already behind us. Last month, at our annual company holiday party, I once again had the privilege of delivering the ‘State of the Company’ speech to our team. In 2015, I focused on the amazing journey of building, learning, and growing the company. While that journey continues on, the theme of 2016’s address was a reflection on some amazing things we accomplished and an expression of gratitude for every single person on our team who helped us reach our goals.

Just about every business today uses the cloud.

Back in 2006, companies large and small had all of their IT systems running on servers and software that lived within the company’s walls. Fast forward just ten years to 2016, and it’s very hard to find a business that does not use the cloud for some part of their IT.

By definition, cloud means an IT system or application that lives in a remote datacenter and is managed by a third party provider, as opposed to residing on a server in the customer’s location.  

When it’s done right, the cloud works brilliantly for businesses. Cloud systems are reliable, secure, and efficient. They easily scale with growing companies. Most companies we surveyed are using a cloud email service, such as Office 365 or Google Apps, both of which are great systems (although significantly different in many ways). But there is so much more than email that small businesses can and should be doing in the cloud. 

Virtual desktops are the big thing for businesses these days. Over the past few years, virtual desktops (also known as VDI, Desktop-as-a-Service or DaaS, and hosted desktops) have proven to be a more secure, stable, and scalable option than the traditional desktop and server model for small businesses, and most importantly, technology finally exists to deliver the right performance at the right price.

If your company isn't already using virtual desktops, instead of looking at a server upgrade or refresh of your desktop computers, consider virtual desktops as the next step to take for your company’s IT infrastructure. In the process, be sure to consider whether you should have your virtual desktops hosted in a private or a public cloud.

Over the past few years, a very common question I’m asked by potential clients and colleagues is “whose cloud do you use?” and when I tell them that we built our own, they’re often puzzled and surprised. “Why not just use Amazon – isn’t it so much cheaper and better?” they ask me. There are several reasons why we’ve built our own cloud and don’t plan on moving to a public cloud anytime soon.

Having helped create, implement, manage, and restore backup and disaster recovery plans for dozens of firms, the good news is that a solid backup plan is very doable; the bad news is that it’s not as simple as you may think. Here are some experience shares and reality checks.