Is there any business that hasn’t had to adjust to the COVID-19 situation we find ourselves in?  Whether it’s restaurants having to adjust to offering take away or delivery, cordoning off non-essential items for many retail stores and of course, many of us now working from home.

Like all businesses, Property Factors and Block Managers are being presented with new challenges. It’s something we’ve also had to work through as a team. We’ve been asking ourselves, what do we need to do to continue working? What can we do for our clients? What can we do to help our Property Factoring and Block Management clients now? And what can we do to ensure we all come out of this stronger?

Since lockdown, we’ve been busy helping many of our clients adjust to the new remote set up. From configuring software on laptops, to ensuring that software is accessible and works – it’s been a busy period. We have also worked with a number of our clients to move them onto a Cloud based server. This simple and quick choice allows those businesses to access files and do their work efficiently from home.

Most of us will be familiar with a Cloud service as we have this storage facility available on our mobile phone for example. It gives us extra storage for our music, images and documents and it doesn’t matter where we are – we can access what we need, when we need it.

However, there are a few considerations to be made when deciding if a Cloud based server or an In House server is right for your business. We’ve curated a handy list to help you decide which option is best for you.

Why choose a Cloud Based Server?

• You have the flexibility to work from anywhere with access to the information on the Cloud.
• In House servers can fail or break resulting in having to switch to back up servers.
• You will potentially save money as there will be no outlay for a physical In House Server that needs to be stored somewhere in your office and managed.
• All of your data backups will be taken care of automatically, taking that responsibility away from your team.
• A Cloud based server is extremely easy to implement in your business. You can speak to one of the CPL Software Technical team about this.

 What you need to think about

• Your business will need to have a reliable internet connection so that you can stay connected to the Cloud.
• Your business must run on Windows based PC’s.
• Data security considerations – ensure your supplier is trustworthy and can provide guarantees for security of data and consider how you will backup your data.

Why choose an In House Server?

• If your business needs to consider more security for storing sensitive data, then a physical server could be a good option.
• You business may have high demands for server capacity due to large number of employees – anything else here?
• With an In House server you will be in control of your back up – why is this good?
• Your internet connection reliability won’t be an issue as you are connected to your own server.
• Depending on your business, this can be a more cost effective option.

What you need to think about

• Do you have the space in your office to house an In House server?
• Do you have an IT team/the resources to manage our own server?

If the COVID-19 pandemic has caused you to reconsider how you run your Property Factoring or Block Management business, please get in touch with our UK Based team today. We’re helping you take care of business and welcome an informal, no obligation chat if you need to ask questions about Cloud servers, automated processes or business strategy for now and the future.