Top Cloud Computing Apps

Cloud computing has changed the way business is done and this is facilitated by different apps which are based on the concept of cloud computing. These apps and services allow better integration, file sharing, and accessibility, which are crucial to business success in this age. Which are the tops apps, which have conquered the cloud arena and facilitated business processes the most? Read to find out.

Box.net

Box.net is a constant innovator, which makes it fun and easier to use as time passes. It provides dedicated photo sharing services, which are simply unbeatable by other apps. Businesses use it to centralise their marketing data and it provides options such as customisable synchronisation, uploading photos to discrete folders and the option of unlimited storage.

Joukuu

Joukuu provides a storage maintenance service, which displays the content of files stored in a single list. It can show file content stored to Google Docs, Dropbox, and Box.net. Joukuu is a true time saver when you have employees working on one project and they may be subscribed to different services. This happens in the case when independent contractors are paired together for one project.

Toggl

Toggl allows you to create projects and tasks and make them time bounding. It is a time tracking app, which allows you to assign time it should take or will take to complete a project. It helps companies give direction to their projects when many projects are ongoing side by side. They can know how long certain tasks are taking to be completed and how much time is left in a certain project.

Quickbooks

Quickbooks is an app that gives online accounting services. It helps with accounting tasks such as monitoring cash flow, setting budgets, creating business reports, and creating VAT returns. It is a very useful app for small businesses to fulfil and monitor their accounting needs.

Chatter.com

This app allows in-house social networking for business to facilitate co-workers collaborations. It allows employees to share files easily and collaborate on projects. It also allows cutting down on meeting time and decreases the number of emails sent by allowing to pose companywide questions or notices.

Mozy

Mozy provides backup services to prevent small businesses form losing any files or data. Businesses can continuously back up all computer and server files for a reasonable price. The files are retrievable.

Amazon AWS Security Mistakes to Avoid

Amazon’s AWS (Amazon Web Services) is a popular cloud computing application which is used by people worldwide. It can help business owners reduce their IT costs. You no longer have to purchase expensive machinery and hire extra IT staff. You can use this cloud application to pay as you go to cut monthly costs for IT services.

Being a relatively new service, users do find it a bit difficult to operate. Because of lack of awareness and neglecting the security protocols users make mistakes which can lead to many security risks. These risks can turn into real damaging situations which can harm your business.

PUBLICLY PUBLISHING KEYS

In their guidelines, Amazon specifically asks their clients to not publish their EC2 and S3 private keys publicly. But a research performed in Germany, by Centre for Advanced Security Research Darmstadt (CASED), suggests that AWS users are constantly publishing their private keys on the AMIs (Amazon Machine Images). With the access to these keys, any criminal element can access the data of a particular business and use it to damage the business. They can also use the data of companies to take advantage of their clients at the expense of the company.

Because users utilize their credit cards to gain access to the AWS, their credit card information is also vulnerable when a way to access their clouds is publicly published. When using the AWS, read the provided tips and guidelines carefully to avoid this risk.

CRITICAL IPS ON PUBLIC INTERNET

Some people leave their critical IP address open for public view. This can leave a door open to the cloud application and your important data is at risk of exposure. The critical IPs should be kept secure and access to them should be limited to essential users only.

PUBLIC ACCESS TO AMIS

Amazon Machine Images are created to store your sensitive data. Sometimes users leave it out in the open where anyone can access it. Set the access to private when creating AMI and use security software to keep it secure.

Amazon continually offers webinars and instructive videos to their AWS users so mistakes like these can be avoided. Read the user instruction carefully and take a look at some of those videos so you don’t leave any open doors to your data.