What I’m going to write about today is not a plug for a product I don’t get any kickbacks for at all. It’s a write up on a product I have been using for a while which makes my business that little more secure and accessible.
We’ve all heard the term cloud computing, and for the most part; most people I speak to about it are terrified of the idea of having their company forms and details floating around in cyberspace. Well I’m here to say ‘get over it’ it is the future and it does make life easier. One of the main cloud services I utilise in my business is DROP BOX, and I’d like to explain what it can do to save you time and increase security in your business.
Let me begin by explaining what dropbox is. It’s a folder which can be installed on your computer which is backed up and replicated on dropbox’s secure servers. Everything you save into this folder is saved ‘in the cloud’. So if your computer dies tomorrow anything that was in that folder on your computer can be replicated onto any other computer or even accessed using your smart phone. Pretty cool huh? Well that’s the automated backup advantage discussed what else do I use it for?
You can install your dropbox account onto as many computers as you like and have all content from your dropbox folder replicated and updated to and from all of those computers. This works great for me because I don’t need to dial in remotely to any of my cafe computers to view updated reports, they’re updated on my home laptop or iphone immediately after someone else updates them ready for me to read.
Dropbox also has an awesome added service which allows you to revert any file to any previously saved state. What this means is when a staff member accidently deletes a file I can restore it from my laptop or phone. Or if they save over it or damage formatting I can revert the file back to the last save, or any other save for that matter.
I keep my staff contact excel spreadsheet on dropbox so I can access it from my smartphone at any time.
I backup my MYOB files to it, and update staff templates so that all of my stores are using the correct spreadsheets and word documents.
What i’ve discussed here really is only a small amount of detail on what this program can do for you and how i use it.
The great news is it’s free for a small amount of storage and really cheap to get more storage.
For an animated tour of dropbox and what it can do for you check them out at www.dropbox.com
That seriously sounded like a plug, it wasn’t. This is just me sharing another tool to make business easier.
2 Comments
Ash Sanders
I already use this tool, you’re right, its great. I want to add for anyone who is curious, you can also choose which folders and files to make available on what computers. So I only let my managers access the restaurant folder and not my personal folder. You’re really sharing great things here for the uninitiated.
The Hospitality Coach
Thanks Ash,
Seems like everything is moving to ‘the cloud’ now days, great being an early adopter. I’m just beginning to play around with google docs, the cloud equivalent of the office suite. Perhaps a review of my personal experiences will be my next post.