When South California business owners and managers think of the cloud, they often first think about mainstream hosted business applications like Microsoft Office 365. But business software can also be more fine-grained — business software for individual business units, departments, or even specific tasks.
Deploying cloud-hosted business software has some notable benefits. It reduces upfront costs because you only pay for it as you use it, helps with regulatory compliance because your data is hosted off site, and improves security by eliminating local data storage and administration on business computers.
Here are 12 of the most popular and useful software you can host on the cloud:
Acquia
Type: Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)
What does it do? If your website is built on the Drupal 8 content management system, Acquia is perfect for you. Acquia is a cloud platform designed to accommodate Drupal 8, specifically to ensure that website builds remain developer-friendly and streamlined. Several big companies like Whole Foods, BBC, IBM, and Panasonic all use Acquia to update and innovate their websites.
Atlassian
Type: Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
What does it do? Atlassian is a SaaS development company known for Jira, Confluence, Bitbucket, and most recently, Trello. The company provides cloud-powered collaboration and progress management software with the necessary support services needed by organizations of all sizes.
Related article: 4 Essential considerations before moving to the cloud
Carbonite
Type: Data protection
What does it do? Carbonite offers a secure cloud platform that protects business information from data loss and ransomware. It is known for its secure cloud data endpoints, which help minimize breaches and make irregular data traffic easier to spot. Carbonite also offers secure virtualized environments, as well as a fast data backup service called QuickCache.
Civis Analytics
Type: Big data analytics
What does it do? Civis Analytics is a big data analytics company that provides proprietary cloud-based technologies and services that help businesses identify, attract, and engage various stakeholders. Civis is best known for its involvement with the Discovery Channel, Verizon, and the 2012 Obama presidential campaign.
Datadog
Type: Big data analytics
What does it do? Datadog is a scalable cloud-based monitoring and analytics tool for business IT and development operations (DevOps) teams. It is used primarily to generate performance metrics, but it can also be used for monitoring the performance of servers, databases, and tools.
DigitalOcean
Type: Infrastructure-as-aService (IaaS)
What does it do? DigitalOcean is a cloud computing infrastructure provider that offers business solutions for managing and scaling new products. It is a popular infrastructure among open source developers due to its ease of use and attractive pricing. Many DigitalOcean users rely on it for running multiple virtual machines and managing data storage and traffic to scale.
Dropbox
Type: File sharing and data storage
What does it do? Dropbox is a cloud storage service that allows users to save and share large files. It’s a great way to send and share files that cannot be accommodated by email attachment limits. Dropbox can also be configured to sync changes to files and folders so that multiple users can collaborate on the same file seamlessly.
Finix
Type: IaaS and payments facilitation
What does it do? Finix is a cloud payment infrastructure provider that offers companies a way to own and monetize payments without having to build an in-house payment system from scratch or rely on third-party payments services. Businesses use Finix to simplify payments, reconcile ledgers, manage customer accounts, and more.
Salesforce
Type: SaaS
What does it do? Salesforce is a well-known cloud-powered customer relationship management tool that leverages artificial intelligence to help sales teams identify sales leads and close sales. It is widely lauded for how effectively it streamlines sales and marketing operations.
FREE eBook: Managed cloud services: Cost savings that business owners often overlook
Slack
Type: SaaS
What does it do? Slack is a digital collaboration tool that teams and companies use for organizing conversations and managing communication. What’s great about Slack is that it integrates well with Dropbox and Salesforce, helping create a seamless experience.
Vimeo
Type: File sharing and data storage
What does it do? Vimeo has long been a favorite of directors and filmmakers, and it has a long-standing reputation for being the artist’s version of YouTube. Many businesses use it to store video data, grow interactive audiences, and showcase professionally made content related to their products and/or services.
Zscaler
Type: Data protection
What does it do? Zscaler is a cloud-based infosec tool designed to protect data on cross-industry collaboration and remote work platforms. It works on a zero-trust system for filtering data traffic, and is known in the cybersecurity industry for its ability to neutralize over 100 million threats every day.
Properly integrate any business software you need with the help of USWired’s expert technicians. Contact us today to set an appointment.
