Tag Archives: Online Storage

Best Photo Storage and Sharing for Professional Photographers

If you’re a professional photographer, your pictures are both your lifeblood and the most expensive part of your business. Since the size of photos today can quickly fill up even large storage devices, you can easily spend thousands of dollars on external drives and other storage media. In addition to costing more money, managing all that external storage is time consuming and error prone. It’s easy to misplace an important photo just when a customer wants one in a hurry. Sharing photos with clients is also a problem, as it’s usually difficult to email more than one or two photos at a time.

As a professional, you need a backup plan for all your photos in the event of disaster, and making separate copies of everything you own and storing it in another location is costly and time consuming.

Wouldn’t you rather be spending more time with your clients rather than making backups of everything you own? And wouldn’t you rather be making more money off each photo instead of spending it on storage? Online storage and large file-sharing options such as Dropbox can help, but many of these plans lack the security required by professionals. As a professional photographer, you don’t want your photos splashed all over the Internet for everyone to see. To ensure the confidentiality of your clients, you need something more.

Let TappIn enter the picture! Tappin provides a secure and affordable alternative to Dropbox and other online solutions. With TappIn, you can upload all your photos to a secure environment that allows you to easily share large files with your customers for viewing, modification, and selection. Tappin also helps take care of your backup worries and can be part of an affordable and simple disaster recovery plan. In addition, if you need more storage, you can upgrade your plan instantly with a few mouse clicks instead of ordering new storage devices online and waiting for them to show up or wasting your time running to your local bricks and mortar store.

With all that TappIn has to offer, the best part is the price! In addition to being more efficient and effective, TappIn’s prices will be much lower than buying your own storage. The savings in both time and money will make your photography business more profitable and allow you to expand your business or upgrade your equipment. To get started on your savings or to get more information, visit Tappin.com for a FREE 30-Day TRIAL, or call us at 210 308-3267 today!

Cloud Storage Means Security for Small Business Data

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Nearly two-thirds of American companies are using cloud computing for some aspect of their business, according to a survey by Avanade, and that number is increasing by approximately 19 percent each year. If your company hasn’t embraced the cloud yet, or if you have yet to use cloud storage, you’re missing some of the big-company features cloud storage can offer small businesses. The most important of these is security.

How cloud storage means security for small businesses

In addition to being convenient, storing your data online can keep your sensitive client and business information secure for even the smallest business. What can cloud storage offer:

Secure access to all digital files. When you store your data on a server or hard drive, your information is subject to hackers and unauthorized access. What’s more: if your computer is stolen or destroyed, your data goes with it. With cloud storage, your data remains intact and your can access it from any computer.
Secure mobile access. Mobile devices are notoriously easy to hack. While storing your sensitive sales and client information on your iPad or other device many be convenient, it’ also leaves your company information largely unguarded. Cloud storage offers security AND convenience.
Secure file sharing. Unless you’re a one-person business, you likely have sensitive sales data and other information that you share with your mobile sales force or other principals in the company. Security can be an issue with many file-sharing services. With cloud storage, all authorized users can access the information quickly and securely.

Cloud storage offers several levels of security. If your lap tap or company computer system is lost or destroyed in a fire or other accident, your data remains. In addition, your data is protected by a team of IT security professionals, something that is beyond the means of most small businesses when the owner wears multiple hats.

Tappin offers a secure and affordable Dropbox alternative. We feature a variety of cloud storage solutions designed for small businesses, and we use the same high-level security encryption that is used by banks and financial institutions for their Internet transactions. We also use a one-way hashing algorithm that can’t be reversed to protect customer passwords. Content safety is the most important aspect of Tappin products. To learn more about how Tappin solutions can help your business, visit Tappin.com or call our sales department at 210 308-3267.

Comparing Cloud Computing Options – Public vs. Private vs. Hybrid

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When choosing a Cloud computing option, it’s important you understand that there are a few different types of clouds you can choose from. Understanding their capabilities is important to finding the right cloud service for your needs. In this blog post, we’ll discuss the differences between the three different cloud computing options: public, private, and hybrid.

Public Clouds

For a public cloud, the service and infrastructure of the cloud is hosted off-site over the Internet. A public cloud is great for collaborating online with multiple peers. However, many IT professionals are concerned over the security of these clouds as the service is hosted off-site (giving them less control), and cloud security breaches are becoming more and more common.

Private Clouds

With a private cloud, the services and infrastructure are maintained on a (usually on-site) private network. A private cloud is more expensive than a public cloud. However, it gives your IT department much more control over who accesses the cloud and how. A private cloud is perfect for larger companies that must adhere to strict security and data privacy regulations.

Hybrid Clouds

A hybrid cloud allows you to choose which aspects of the cloud are public and which are private by picking and choosing services from different providers. This is a good option for companies who are interested in using the cloud with clients, as it allows you to make some data public to those clients, while keeping the rest of the data you have in the cloud private.

No matter which cloud you choose, make sure that you are consistently monitoring the security of your data and accessing that data with secure tools and apps. To learn more about accessing data from whichever cloud you saved it in, check out our 30 day free trial of TappIn Pro.

Top 4 Cloud Security Trends of 2012 – Keeping Our Eyes on the Clouds

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Cloud security trends 2012 The end of the year is almost here, and there are quite a few cloud security trends we’ve noticed taking shape over the past eleven months that we wanted to share with you. In this blog post, we’ve listed the top four trends in cloud security for 2012.

Cloud Security Trend #1: Breaches are becoming inevitable

It seems each week we hear about a new security breach in the cloud. Dropbox’s security breach earlier this year reminded us all that our data is only as safe as the cloud vendor we use and no vendor has yet been able to claim that they are unbreachable. And because these breaches are now considered unavoidable, instead of ramping up more security to try and prevent breaches from happening altogether, businesses are investing in tools that will help them quickly and effectively detect and combat security breaches when occur.

Cloud Security Trend #2: Increasing malware directed at mobile devices

Malware attacks on mobile devices in the past have largely been considered to be not very serious (as people are more likely to keep their more personal/financial information on their computers than their phones), however, with so many people now using their mobile devices to access the Cloud and the Internet, cyber threats to mobile devices have increased as well.

Cloud Security Trend #3: Cloud security expands to include privacy, compliance and governance

As industries like the healthcare industry (with industry and governmental requirements) are starting to use cloud services, cloud security has been evolving to include compliance and governance capabilities so that those industries can legally start to use their storage solutions. Ramping up privacy, compliance and governance in cloud security is actually beneficial to everyone (not just specific industries).

Cloud Security Trend #4: Management looking at the security of large volumes of data

The idea here is that the more data you store in the Cloud, the more flexibility you provide for those who need to access that data. Companies are now looking for tools or services that will easily and securely allow them to access large amounts of data from multiple sources.

Hopefully, recognizing and understanding this year’s cloud security trends will help you to figure out how cloud security will evolve throughout 2013 and plan accordingly. Cloud storage will always come with risks, and so you really have to decide for yourself if using cloud security is worth taking on those inherent risks. To avoid cloud security issues altogether, check out TappIn Pro, a tool that allows you to securely access and share files no matter where they are saved (in the Cloud or on your computer).

How to Use Cloud Storage – 5 Important Tips

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As we’ve previously written, there are several different ways in which you can avoid online storage fees while still using online and cloud storage. In this blog post, we will share with you five important tips for how to use cloud storage:

Tip 1: Pay Attention to Storage Limits

Because there are so many free online storage offers from top cloud storage services, there is no reason you should have to pay to store files online. However, storing videos and music in your cloud storage solution can cause you to reach your free online storage limits much faster than you would if you were only saving word documents and text files. If you do store videos or music files online, make sure you aren’t exceeding your storage limit, and remove them from the cloud when you no longer need consistent remote access to those files.

Trick 2: Encrypt Your Cloud

Considering how many people are using cloud storage solutions for work and are accessing sensitive work materials from their online storage solutions, making sure that your data is encrypted when it’s in the cloud is important as data ownership in the cloud and cloud vendor security are both serious security issues today. There are a few tools available today that enable you to encrypt your data before storing it in the cloud.

Tip 3: Understand Your Cloud’s Streaming Capabilities

There are different cloud storage solutions for different forms of data. Many online storage and cloud solutions don’t offer comprehensive music streaming or video streaming features. Understanding which cloud storage solutions are right for which data will better help you to store more data online for free in the proper cloud storage solutions. For example, Google Drive, Dropbox and SugarSync are all great cloud storage solutions for documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, while Cloud Drive and Cloud Player are better cloud storage solutions for streaming music.

Tip 4: Use Secure Devices to Access the Cloud

Do you know how secure your mobile access is? When using cloud storage solutions, not only do you have to worry about the security of the cloud storage solutions you choose to use, but you also must consider how secure your devices for accessing that sensitive data are. One way of doing this is to have your IT department install security features onto your mobile device. Another way of doing this is to use secure tools and apps like TappIn every time you access that data.

Tip 5: Bring Your Clouds Together

Recently, tools and services have been developed specifically designed to make it easier to access your data no matter where it’s saved. Use a tool or service (like TappIn) that will enable you to access all of your data no matter which cloud or network attached storage device it is saved in.

3 Tips to Avoiding Online Storage Fees

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Avoid online storage fees If you are someone who uses multiple mobile devices (smartphone, computer, iPad, etc.) to access your files (music, documents, photos, etc.) you already know how convenient online storage solutions can be for remote file access and sharing. If you are someone who requires a lot of online storage, you also probably know how expensive online storage solutions can get.

Here we’ve listed three tips to help you avoid paying online storage fees so that you can access and share files remotely from anywhere without spending extra money.

1. Take advantage of free online storage offers

All of the top online storage solutions offer a certain amount of free storage to start users off with. Microsoft SkyDrive, Google Drive, Sugarsync and iCloud all provide users with 5 GB of free storage, with paid plan options for more storage. However, depending on the file types of your digital property, only certain online storage solutions are capable of storing certain media files.

2. Use your hard drive and network-attached storage (NAS) devices for extra storage space

NAS devices can be expensive as well, but they usually come with more storage space as well as more control over your digital property. NAS devices and external hard drives also don’t have strict file specifications for what file types can be stored on them. So you can store everything from documents to photographs to music and videos.

3. Use remote file sharing and remote file access tools

Many online storage solutions require you to save or sync all of your data in one location. With online collaboration tools with remote file access and file sharing capabilities, you can access data no matter where it is saved, even if it’s saved in a number of locations like a Dropbox, iCloud, and/or a NAS device.

The bottom line is, with so many online storage solutions offering vast free tier storage options, paying for online storage isn’t necessary if you find the right remote file access and file sharing tools capable of accessing all of those storage solutions from one place.

Putting Businesses at Risk – The 3 Big IT Problems with Online Storage

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The world’s workforce has changed drastically over the past few years with the advent of the internet and mobile technologies. Tools, services, and programs that enable people to store data online and help facilitate online collaboration are becoming more and more popular as more people join the BYOD (bring your own device) movement.

However, using these tools, services, and programs like the Cloud and Dropbox, that facilitate both online storage as well as online collaboration, has proven a major problem for many businesses’ IT departments. The primary role of the IT department in any business is to protect the digital content, data, files, ideas, etc. that belong to the business from cyber security threats.

The three biggest problems for IT departments whose employees use online storage are that:

1. Employees Choose Programs Differently than IT Departments

Employees usually adopt and use programs that are A. easy-to-use and B. inexpensive, and they don’t usually consider the security threats associated with using that program. IT departments choose programs that are first and foremost secure.

2. Employees Don’t Ask Permission

Many employees using these online storage and online collaboration programs don’t seek any permission or clearance from their superiors or IT department before they decide to use the program. How can an IT department keep sensitive data protected when they don’t know where it is being saved?

3. Employees Often Don’t Set the Right Privacy Settings

Because it is often the employee who decides which program they will use and not a member of the IT department, many employees using these programs don’t know how to set the proper security settings. Businesses don’t necessarily have to stop the use of these programs altogether, but if they do use them, the IT department should be in charge of setting the proper security settings for employees.

Figure out how to design and implement an effective BYOD policy
Learn more about the risks of BYOD
Find out why this senior storage analyst chose TappIn over cloud storage

Cloud Backup – An Examination of the 6 Best Online Storage Services

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Data backup has been one of the biggest concerns/demands in computer technology since the birth of computers. Before the internet and online storage solutions became available, network attached storage (NAS) devices (on-site external hard drives) were really the only viable option for extending storage on personal computers.

As computer and internet technology evolved, the desire for online storage solutions that could securely hold sensitive data, files, media, pictures, videos, and such grew as well.

The primary benefit of storing data online is obvious. By storing your data online, you don’t run the risk of losing that data if anything were to happen to your computer. For example, if your computer crashes, or if your computer contracts a virus, or even if your computer is physically damaged in some way, your data will still be safe online.

But, with all the choices available, how do you choose the best online storage service? To make your decision easier, we have examined the six most popular online storage services available today:

1. Cloud

Perhaps the most popular online storage service currently, the Cloud from Google offers a free trial with 5GB of free storage. Once the data storage limit is reached, you have the option of purchasing more cloud storage through paid plans.

The main issue with using the cloud is that it can become expensive, depending on how much online storage you may need.

2. Dropbox

Dropbox offers 2GB of free storage to start, as well as paid extended storage options if you exceed the 2GB free storage limit. Once you download Dropbox onto your desktop, you can immediately start saving files to the Dropbox folder.

The only issue with Dropbox is that a Dropbox folder must be created and you are only able to access data that was specifically saved to that Dropbox folder.

3. Mozy

Fast becoming a real player on the content collaboration and online storage scene, Mozy, like Dropbox, offers you 2GB of free storage to start (not as much as other alternatives). However, unlike many other online storage solutions, Mozy allows you to encrypt the data you store to add an extra level of security to that data[M1] . Where Mozy lacks in online storage capabilities, it makes up for in its security features.

4. Sugarsync

Perhaps not as well-known as these other online storage solutions, Sugarsync starts you off with 5GB of free storage. Instead of requiring you to create a folder to store your data, Sugarsync has you sync files, data, and folders, which can be time consuming and lead to file versioning issues.

5. Google Drive

Google Drive is one of the most popular (if not the most popular) online storage solutions offering content collaboration capabilities available today. Right up front, Google Drive gives you 5GB of free storage.

The problem with Google Drive, however, is that it saves all of your documents as .gdoc files that are web links, which require access to the internet to view, edit, or share them.

6. Skydrive

Skydrive from Microsoft leads all of the online storage solutions with storage size, offering 7GB of free storage to start. Skydrive also differs from the other storage services in that it provides you with editing tools and limited Office applications on its website.

However, like Dropbox and Cloud, you have to save all of your files in a Skydrive folder for them to be backed up/stored online and to be accessible from other devices and/or locations.

Wherever you choose to store your data, whether it be with an online storage service, or a network attached storage (NAS) device, TappIn is one of the most secure ways to remote access that data, from anywhere, at any time, no matter where it is stored.

Have you used any of these services? Which one is your favorite? Which service would you recommend? Which service would you not recommend?

Tag Archives: Online Storage

Comparing Cloud Computing Options – Public vs. Private vs. Hybrid

Public Clouds

Private Clouds

Hybrid Clouds

3 Tips to Avoiding Online Storage Fees

1. Take advantage of free online storage offers

2. Use your hard drive and network-attached storage (NAS) devices for extra storage space

3. Use remote file sharing and remote file access tools

Putting Businesses at Risk – The 3 Big IT Problems with Online Storage

1. Employees Choose Programs Differently than IT Departments

2. Employees Don’t Ask Permission

3. Employees Often Don’t Set the Right Privacy Settings

Related

Cloud Backup – An Examination of the 6 Best Online Storage Services

1. Cloud

2. Dropbox

3. Mozy

4. Sugarsync

5. Google Drive

6. Skydrive

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