Cloud services for El Paso businesses

TechBit Solutions moves El Paso businesses to hosted servers, files and backup, runs what is already hosted, and says plainly which systems should stay in your building.

Call (915) 629-8888

What this covers

TechBit Solutions moves El Paso businesses to hosted infrastructure, runs what is already there, and is honest about the parts that should stay in your building. That covers hosted servers, virtual desktops, cloud file storage, cloud backup, and the connection that has to carry all of it.

Microsoft 365 is a large enough subject to have its own page.

Who it is for

• A business with a server that is out of warranty and about to need replacing
• A company with staff working from more than one site who need the same files
• An office that has run out of room, power or cooling for another server
• A business that wants to stop making a large hardware purchase every few years
• Anyone who has been told to move to the cloud and would like to know what that actually means for them

What is included

• An assessment of what you run now and what it would cost to host it
• Migration of servers, files and applications, scheduled around your working hours
• Hosted file storage with proper permissions, so people see what they should and not more
• Cloud backup that is tested by restoring from it, not by reading a green tick
• Identity and access management, so joining and leaving the company is one process rather than six
• Ongoing monitoring, patching and support of whatever ends up hosted
• A review of your internet connection, because cloud services are only as good as the line reaching them

Moving to the cloud

1. We inventory everything: servers, applications, who uses what, and what depends on what.
2. We separate the things that move easily, the things that move with work, and the things that should not move at all.
3. We price it properly, including the monthly cost three years out, not just the migration.
4. We move in stages, starting with whatever gives you the most benefit for the least disruption.
5. We stay close for the first fortnight after each stage, because that is when people find the things a plan does not.

What stays on site and why

Not everything belongs in the cloud, and a provider who tells you otherwise is selling rather than advising.

• Machinery and equipment controllers that expect a server in the same building
• Applications with licenses that only work on hardware you own
• Anything where a few milliseconds of delay causes a real problem, such as some point of sale and production systems
• Very large working files, where the connection cost outweighs the benefit
• Sites where the internet connection is not reliable enough to bet the business on

A mixed setup, with some things hosted and some on site, is the normal answer for most businesses this size.

The problem it solves

A server in a cupboard is a deadline nobody has written down. It will need replacing, it will fail eventually, and it is one flood, fire or theft away from taking the business with it.

Hosting removes that deadline and replaces it with a monthly cost you can plan around. It also means the people who need the files can reach them from a job site, a clinic, a warehouse or home without a connection that breaks every third day.

Getting started

The useful first step is an inventory, and it takes about a week. See also business continuity and server and infrastructure management.

Call TechBit Solutions at (915) 629-8888.

Questions we get asked

Is the cloud cheaper than buying a server?

Sometimes, and it depends entirely on what you run. Cloud swaps a large purchase every five years for a monthly bill that never stops. For some businesses that is plainly better and for some it is not, and we will tell you which one you are rather than steering you toward the answer that suits us.

Is our data safer in the cloud?

The building it sits in is far more secure than your server room, and that is not the same thing as your data being safe. Most losses come from an account being taken over or a file being deleted, and moving to the cloud does nothing about either on its own. That is the part vendors tend to leave out.

What happens if our internet goes down?

You lose access to anything hosted elsewhere. That is the real cost of cloud anywhere service is uneven, so we look hard at your connection, and at what is actually available at your El Paso address, before recommending a move. Often at a second connection alongside it. It is a much cheaper conversation to have now than during an outage.

Do we have to move everything at once?

No, and you almost certainly should not. Most businesses move email first, then files, then whatever line-of-business application is left, over months rather than across a weekend. Slow migrations are boring, and boring is exactly what you want here.

What about the software that only runs on our old server?

It stays where it is, or it gets hosted somewhere it can keep running. There is nearly always an answer that does not involve replacing an application your business depends on, and we will find it before we suggest you rip anything out.