The most talked about buzzword in technology for a while has been the cloud, which promises to transform businesses by enabling complex storage arrangements and drive the move to mobile computing.
However, businesses aren’t the only entities that can benefit from cloud technology. Independent Schools can effectively utilize cloud products, such as Ascendance Cloud, not only useful at improving their networks, but also dramatically improving the way they share data and communicate with their school communities.
So what’s the cloud? Cloud computing uses the Internet to connect to off-site storage, but distributes the data over different data-center locations. Data and business applications are drawn from the Internet when required. The technology supports virtual hardware which are computers simulated by software running on one or more real machines. Since virtual servers do not physically exist, they can be moved around and scaled up as required.
For example, Ascendance Cloud provides browser-based access via PC, Mac, or even tablet to the cloud. A school does not need up-front investments in equipment and just pay a simple monthly fee.
Maintenance, upgrades, and backups are performed invisibly by dedicated cloud engineers. This provides a 24/7 monitoring of the data-center, something that would be expensive for a school to replicate.
All this means that cloud storage systems enable schools to save money and space. A report by CDW Government found that over 40 percent of schools use cloud applications to store their data and by 2016, schools are expected to spend 35 percent of IT budgets on the cloud. The reason for this spending is that the cloud operations save an average of 20 percent on IT costs. It is expected that as the virtual technology improves, by 2016, those savings will reach 27 percent.
As reported by the Huffington post.
Moving to the cloud also provides key benefits to your school communities. Using cloud platforms, teachers have continual access to parents and students regarding assignments, tests, grades, attendance, and projects. This is because a cloud-based structure can be accessed from anywhere. Teachers can post important messages and keep an archive of completed work, which can be easily accessed by parents and students.
Cloud systems are ideal for disaster planning because data is stored away from the school and can continue to be accessed even if the schools networks are destroyed or rendered inaccessible. Natural disasters have caused catastrophes when it comes to student information being lost. Some schools have also found their servers destroyed by hackers. Cloud-based businesses can recover data quickly.
One of the major advantages of cloud-based systems is that they can bring together data pools that were previously unconnected. This gives educators and administrators everything they need in one spot. There is no need to buy extra hardware!
Hardware available to Cloud providers is also in a league above what a school can afford. For example, Senior System’s Ascendance Cloud uses expensive fault tolerant and redundant hardware using industry standards (RAID, Power Supplies, NIC), minimizing any downtime due to hardware failures. It also ensures that data is better protected from mechanical failure.
It is expected that many of the concerns users have about the cloud will disappear in the next few years and it will settle down as the mainstream method for schools to operate their networks.
Ascendance Cloud offers a headache-free environment to Independent Schools. We’ll provide the technical support and hardware allowing you to focus on intelligent reporting for school decision-makers.
For more information on Ascendance Cloud and Ascendance Software, please contact our sales department by fillig out this form.
