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Four Reasons the Cloud is your Secret Weapon
The cloud has touched nearly every aspect of our lives. From social media, Netflix and Skype, to Gmail, MicrosoftOffice365, and online banking, there’s a good chance you are using the cloud on a daily basis. So, what is “the cloud”? In simple terms, it’s another way to say your data is stored and accessed over the Internet (“in the cloud”), as opposed to your own hard drive.
Investigative software as a service is also available in the cloud. This means you have access to top-rate investigative programs such as Agnovi’s X-FIRE and REX, that may otherwise be cost-prohibitive, depending on your budget. Significant cost savings, quicker “go live” dates, ease of use, and data security are the top four reasons using investigative software in the cloud is your secret weapon. Here’s why.
- Significant Cost Savings: Having access to investigative software in the cloud means you save significantly on IT infrastructure and manpower costs. The need for server hardware, operating costs and database management are eliminated. You save on backup and recovery management, since those are managed by your software service provider. Storage is available on demand, and you only pay for what you use. This prevents the need to maintain hardware you anticipate using in the future. Your total cost savings could be thousands of dollars each month, providing a significant advantage for small enterprises (with, say, less than 10 investigators), where access to investigative software may otherwise be too expensive. Such agencies would have access to investigative tools for a low monthly subscription fee without maintenance costs.
- Quicker “Go Live” Date: A key advantage with cloud software is that your investigators can use the software much quicker than they would otherwise, thanks to the ready-to-use platform. Training, if needed, and data configuration are your only requirements prior to “going live” and launching the software for use in your investigations.
- Ease of Use: Cloud software is easy to use and provides easy access to back ups and data recovery. It provides flexibility and increases productivity because investigators are able to use the software with any suitable device that has Internet access. The software also provides data analytics, which allows you to extract information on patterns and target your resources. Further, your data is stored and backed up on remote servers by a service that specializes in cloud storage and maintenance. This means you won’t have to worry when your software requires updates, maintenance, or when you need access to your back ups. If you ever face a situation where you need to recover large amounts of data, you’ll have ready access to your information and the benefit of your software provider to take swift action.
- Data Security: Security of your data is a concern, and it can be managed. With cloud service, your data is encrypted in transit – between your device and where it is being stored – and it remains encrypted in storage. Your data is secure and protected, and all confidential and privileged information remains that way. Still, you can help manage your data by creating a cloud strategy. This could include policies on using strong passwords that are changed frequently, and using identity management systems to manage what authorized and unauthorized users have access to. This is enhanced by the fact your data is centralized, by being stored and accessed through the cloud, so you can monitor who has access to what information.
Small and large agencies alike now have access to investigative tools that may have been beyond their reach. With the advantages of cost savings, quicker go live dates, ease of use, and data security, access to investigative software in the cloud gives you the ability to improve the effectiveness of your investigations. You no longer have to wait to take advantage of these important benefits.
