As a small business ourselves, we are keenly aware of the unique challenges of small businesses. The Wall Street Journal reports that the key concerns are access to capital, health-care worries, and the uncertainty of federal policies. In the face of these concerns it is ever more important to get the most from every dollar you invest in your business and that includes IT.
Cloud: The Great Equalizer
The rapid growth in Cloud hosted services is an unprecedented opportunity for small businesses to take advantage of highly available IT resources that were once reserved for only the largest corporations. Hosted VoIP, email, spam filtering, file sharing, and more are robust alternatives to the on premises solutions that required significant capital investments.
A World of Many Clouds
Is there only one “Cloud”? Not really.
The term “Cloud” simply means IT resources that are not located on your local network. They can be at a provider where only you have access (Private Cloud), at a provider where you are one of many who consume the services (Public Cloud), or a combination of these (Hybrid Cloud). Each of these has its own unique advantages and best fit use cases.
Private clouds are well suited to situations requiring high security, availability, and serviceability. Public clouds offer reduced startup times and capital expenditures and is the most scalable. The Hybrid model mixes Private and Public to get the best of both worlds as needed.
Is Your Network Cloud Ready?
Migrating IT services to the Cloud means your reliance on your internal network, security, and Internet connectivity becomes mission critical. No connectivity means no access to your business critical applications.
Internet bandwidth and latency become critical as services migrate to the Cloud. Do you have enough bandwidth to efficiently use your applications from the Cloud? Will moving services to the Cloud require additional training? We can assess your requirements and tailor your network to provide the efficiency and resilience needed to make your Cloud migration successful.
The minute you extend your security perimeter to include Cloud providers, the demands on your security infrastructure increases in scope. How do you limit access to authorized users and devices while supporting the ability to work from anywhere at any time and from any device? Our experience supporting secure remote access and mobile devices can ensure that your users can operate effectively and safely.
Small Business Technologies
Windows Server
Many small businesses held off upgrading servers from older versions. Learn more about the advantages of Windows Server 2012.
Cloud Email
Have an aged Microsoft Exchange installation? Learn more about migrating your email to the Cloud with Office 365.
Cloud Ready Network
Learn more about Cloud managed network Switches, Wireless, and Security from Cisco Meraki.
Security & Remote Access
Secure your network and provide safe remote access to enable users to work anywhere, any time, with any device.
Data Protection
Protect your critical data with premises and cloud hosted backups with Barracuda Backup.
Why Choose Forte?
For more than 28 years we have delivered trusted IT consulting to small businesses throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. We understand the unique challenges of small businesses and how to pragmatically leverage Enterprise Class solutions to benefit your small business.
Call us at 510-525-3000 or email us to speak with an experienced engineer!
Small Business IT Consulting for San Francisco Bay Area Companies
We provide remote and on site engineering throughout the greater San Francisco region, including:
East Bay
- Berkeley, Emeryville
- Oakland, Alameda
- Hayward
- San Leandro
- Walnut Creek
- Concord, Martinez
- Richmond, Hercules
- Dublin, San Ramon
- Livermore
- Pleasanton
San Francisco
- San Francisco
- Peninsula
- South San Francisco
- San Mateo
- Foster City
- Redwood City
- San Bruno
- Milbrae
- Burlingame
North Bay
- Marin
- San Rafael
- Novato
- Napa
- Sonoma
- Petaluma
- Santa Rosa
- Benicia
- Fairfield
South Bay
- San Jose
- Silicon Valley
- Cupertino
- Santa Clara
- Fremont, Milpitas
- Palo Alto
- Menlo Park
- Mountain View
- Sunnyvale
- Santa Cruz
- Monterey