What are Cloud Services?

Cloud hosting services on local, secure servers.

Cloud hosting moves the infrastructure your business runs on (servers, memory, processing power and storage) off your premises and onto a Virtual Private Server (VPS) that Solid Systems sets up, manages and maintains. Your software, apps and data stay securely accessible from any device, anywhere, and you no longer rely on a single physical server in your office.

You choose the memory, CPU and disk space you need, and upgrade them as your business grows. Because your VPS is separate from your own devices, it is also a safe place to test new apps and systems without disrupting your work. Our cloud hosting services run on local, independent servers, which gives us control over the resources available: SSD drives and no overselling. Your data sits on interconnected servers, so your services stay online if a single server fails.

Not sure whether cloud hosting or a Microsoft Azure virtual machine suits your workloads better? Book your IT consultation and we’ll compare them with you.

Cloud backup that keeps your data recoverable.

A cloud backup is a copy of your data stored in the cloud as a failsafe against hardware failure, natural disaster, human error, data breaches and load shedding. It is not the same as cloud storage: storage lets your teams work with their files online, while a backup keeps a separate copy on another server, so you can restore a single file or an entire server when something goes wrong.

Solid Systems’ cloud backup covers anything from one workstation to a whole server. After the first backup, only the changes to your files are uploaded, so backups run faster and restores are quicker. With hybrid storage you can keep a copy on-premises as well, for faster restores. Your data is stored in secure data centres with end-to-end encryption, backup and recovery come as one service, and you pay per device, so your monthly fee never changes without you knowing.

Microsoft 365 backup for email, SharePoint and OneDrive.

Many businesses assume that because their email and files live in Microsoft 365, they are automatically backed up. They aren’t, in the way most people expect: deleted items only stay in the recycle bin for a limited time, and once something has been permanently deleted there is very little Microsoft can do to bring it back.

A Microsoft 365 backup from Solid Systems keeps a separate copy of your email, SharePoint sites and OneDrive files, so you can restore what was lost, even after it has left the recycle bin. It covers the gaps when retention policies change or aren’t maintained, protects your data from ransomware and from former employees or contractors who still have access, and keeps everything safe while you migrate. With POPIA and GDPR in mind, it also helps you avoid the penalties and lost trust that a data loss can bring.

Disaster recovery planning that keeps your business running.

Disaster recovery (DR) is the restoration of an entire IT system: hardware, cloud servers, virtual machines, applications and databases. Backups of critical data and applications are stored in the cloud so that, should a failure occur, the whole system can be restored. Storing data in the cloud is not foolproof on its own, because power and internet outages, cyberattacks and data breaches can still interrupt your business. That is why every business needs a disaster recovery plan.

A DR plan sets out what your IT team does to recover data and applications after a problem, and how data is backed up and stored beforehand, for example at a secondary DR site. We put it together with you around three questions: how often you need to back up, how long you can run without each application, and which business-critical applications must be restored first. Book your IT consultation to review your recovery plan.

Cloud migration services, planned around your business.

Moving to the cloud is not something to announce on a Monday and hope for the best. A cloud migration strategy moves your apps, infrastructure and data across in a structured way, with the systems your operations depend on going first, so downtime stays low and problems like duplicated data and incompatibility are avoided. The right approach depends on what you’re moving: rehost systems as they are, optimise them for the cloud, replace them with cloud-based software, rebuild them, keep some on-premises in a hybrid setup, or retire what no longer serves you.

Our cloud migration services follow three steps. We assess your existing environment: the services and software you use, how they are configured and integrated, and which migrations come first. Our IT pros then move your databases, servers and apps with proven tools, scheduled for the least disruption. Finally, we optimise the new environment so you see the benefits in practice. Our cloud migration checklist walks you through the planning.

Cloud VoIP and cloud phone systems for teams.

Cloud VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is a digital phone system that manages and routes your business’s incoming and outgoing calls. It works much like a physical PBX, but Solid Systems runs it virtually, so there is no PBX server to buy, house or maintain, and calls are billed per second. Your customers won’t notice the difference, wherever your staff are working.

Your people can use a handset, an app on their phone or a web-based phone, and take and transfer calls as normal from anywhere. Load shedding or a hardware fault in the office matters less: as long as staff are online, calls carry on, and every call is encrypted. You keep the features of a traditional phone system, including a voice menu, call recording, office hours and forwarding rules, direct numbers, call queues, ring groups, voicemail to email and conference calling. You can also keep your existing number by porting it to us.

Cloud consulting to choose the right services.

With so many cloud services available, each built for different needs and industries, it is hard to know which are right for your business. Cloud consulting gives you an experienced partner to find the services that add the most value, plan how they fit together and help you implement them, from the migration itself to looking after the services and training your teams.

Solid Systems’ cloud consultants advise on cloud storage, cloud hosting, cloud migration, cloud backup, disaster recovery planning, cloud phone systems and Microsoft 365. We have moved our own business to the cloud and to remote working, and have helped businesses across South Africa and abroad do the same since 2003. Cloud consulting is part of our wider IT consulting. Book your IT consultation to talk through your plans.