Remote access

No Worries Tracy - Hope you feel better soon.

Hi Tracy

one thing to check if you go with a true cloud based solution is that you aren't holding any data there that could see you violating the data protection act.

I'm not an expert in that field although there are a few lawyers in the network that are, but I do believe that if you are holding any customers personal details that at a minimum it needs to stay within the EU.

I dont believe that services like 365 can guarantee that.

Just something to keep in mind.

Cheers

Alan

Don't worry - we've got that covered :-)

See here.

Hope you're well Alan, would be good to catch up.

Stuart

Thanks for that link , Stuart. 

I posted these 2 on another thread back in November, but it's good to see that Microsoft have now come out with something explicit

Information Commissioners Office : http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/data_protection/the_guide/principle_8.aspx
US  'Safe Harbor' list : http://safeharbor.export.gov/list.aspx

Reviewing these not my speciality guys so back to you as the experts.

Are they saying with 100% certainty that going with MS is now fully compliant under EU and UK regs?

I've worked with a lot of big companies in the past who were great on driection and working towards type statements but when you dig right into it the things weren't actually signed off.

My concern came from a conversation with a good friend working in a government field who said they were actually dropping 365.

Cheers

Alan

First, you need to decide on the type of service. In general, there are two types 1)hosted (or so-called cloud service) and 2) appliance or software.

Hosted service comes with recurring montly fee. All your data will go through the third-party service provider's server. But it is easy to use and always update. Citrix and LogmeIn all has service in this category.

Appliance and software does not come with recurring fee. For small business (as you mentioned, you have 3-4 team members), this is a cost-wise choice. For software solutions, you need do some configuration and set up work. You also need a dedicated PC to host the software to serve as a server.  Appliances are easier to set up. Most of them are plug-and-play and will update automatically. Bomgar and RHUB TurboSupport are both in this category.

Once you have chosen the service types, it is time to think about functionalities. Whether you need remote access, remote support or web conferencing, video/audio conferencing, or all of them? Some vendors bundle different functions in one software or appliance (such as RHUB), while others charge for each function (such as Citrix).  It is really up to what you want to do with remote team members.

Well you have given us plenty to think about and once again thank you for all your kind help, some of you who have offered us to contact you direct, we will be doing very shortly. This is an amazing forum.

I am not associated with either Office 365 or Logmein in any way, but find both of these fantatic options.  I have used Logmein for many years (various versions as I also use it to support my customers) and recently switched to Office 365.