Start a cloud storage business

Looking to start a cloud storage business?  here’s a complete guide to cloud storage and hosting with no money or experience  .

Ok, so we’ve provided you with a detailed example of a cloud storage hosting business plan. model. We also took it a step further by analyzing and writing a sample cloud storage marketing plan backed by actionable guerrilla marketing ideas for cloud hosting companies. In this article, we are going to go over all the requirements for starting a cloud hosting business. So put on your entrepreneur hat and let’s move on.

What is cloud storage and hosting? and its use?

Cloud storage provides users with immediate access to a wide variety of resources and applications hosted in another organization’s infrastructure through a web service interface. Cloud storage can be used to copy virtual machine images from the cloud to local locations, or to import a virtual machine image from a local location to a cloud image library.

Additionally, cloud storage can be used to move virtual machine images between user accounts. or between data centers. Cloud storage can be used as a disaster protection backup as there are usually 2-3 different backup servers in different places around the world.

User access to cloud computing using networked client devices such as desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones, and any Ethernet enabled device such as home automation gadgets. Some of these devices – cloud clients – rely on cloud computing for all or most of their applications, so they’re virtually useless without them.

Examples are thin clients and browser-based Chromebooks. Many cloud apps do not require special software on the client and instead use a web browser to interact with the cloud app. With Ajax and HTML5, these web UIs can provide a similar or better appearance for native applications.

However, some cloud applications support specific client software designed for those applications (for example,  virtual desktop clients and most email clients  ). screen sharing technologies.

Why start cloud storage and hosting?

Cloud computing is a new paradigmatic computing concept that allows both information technology infrastructure and software to be delivered directly over the Internet as a service.

This is an agreement whereby companies can extend network bandwidth and run applications directly from the vendor side. network, offers a number of advantages, the main one being drastically lower IT costs. Lower budget requirements and lower commitments allow even small businesses to build an IT project without having to purchase obsolete servers and storage systems.

In addition, the burden of developing and maintaining the technological expertise required to operate the network is shifted to the service provider. Cloud computing in use is helping to transform the way IT departments build and deploy custom applications in these challenging times.

With a more cost-effective, less risky, and fundamentally faster alternative to on-premises application development, cloud computing has the potential to transform the information technology economy in the coming years.

Since the Internet is the foundation of cloud computing, the term  cloud is  used as a metaphor for the Internet. With new and improved networks, the Internet is quickly becoming a delivery vehicle for computing needs.

The pervasiveness of the Internet and high-speed broadband access are the main drivers of the transition to the cloud. Although cloud services still represent a small percentage of total IT spending, they are powerful engines of incremental growth.

Launch of cloud storage. Accommodation: the complete guide

• Industry overview

The global cloud storage market is expected to grow from $ 18.87 billion in 2015 to $ 65.41 billion by 2021 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28.2%.

The cloud storage solution and services are currently offered by many vendors such as IBM, Microsoft, Google, Amazon Web Services, VMware, Box, Fujitsu, RackSpace, ATT and HP. These vendors sell cloud storage solutions and managed services.

Interesting statistics on cloud storage and hosting

However, there is a price war between these cloud storage providers around the world as they continue to steadily lower prices and increase storage capacity. Storage solutions evolve as more companies enter the market and offer advanced storage solutions at a lower cost.

The first digital storage device was introduced in 1890 when Herman Hollerith, founder of the Tabulation Machine Company, used punch cards to read and write data. Thus, the storage market has evolved, and in this scenario, user can store up to 1GB of data in the cloud for free and access it from any remote location.

Factors such as the growing need for big data storage and the growing adoption of cloud storage gateways are driving the demand for cloud storage solutions around the world. The cloud storage market has been divided by type into solutions and services.

On the basis of the decisions,  it is classified into:

• Main storage
• Backup storage
• Cloud storage solution
• Solution to move and access data

Based on services,  it is subdivided into:

• Consulting services
• System and network integration
• Support for learning and education

Based on deployment,  divided into:

• Public
• private
• hybrid

Depending on the size of the organization  , it is subdivided into:

• Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
• Large companies

Based on verticals,  it is subdivided into:

• BFSI
• Production
• Retail trade and consumer goods
• Telecommunications and Information Technology
• Media and entertainment
• Government
• Health and Life Sciences
• Energy and utilities
• Research and education; other

Depending on the region,  it is divided into:

• North America
• Europe
• Asia-Pacific (APAC)
• Latin America
• Middle East and Africa (MEA).

The growing recognition of the economic and operational benefits and efficiency of the cloud computing model promises strong growth in the future, and as businesses gradually ease economic uncertainty and financial pressures, the widespread adoption of cloud services is imminent.

The pragmatic and successful adoption of this technological concept by early adopters will pave the way for mass adoption of enterprise solutions. cloud services in the years to come. Businesses’ shift from virtual machines to the cloud will further increase the incentive needed for rapid growth.

To maximize the benefits, end-to-end cloud solutions will be leveraged, offering comprehensive functionality ranging from internal and external cloud integration, to the automation of critical business tasks, to the streamlining of business processes and workflows. , among others.

Hosted Market Feasibility Study on Cloud Storage Launch

• Demography and psychography

Companies only have to pay for storage actually used, typically the average consumption per month. This doesn’t mean that cloud storage isn’t expensive, it just comes with operational costs, not capital costs.

Businesses using cloud storage can reduce their energy consumption by up to 70%, making them greener businesses. They are also dealing with higher energy levels at the supplier level, so they will be better prepared to handle it in order to reduce their own costs as well.

Organizations can choose between on-premises and on-premises cloud storage options, or a combination of the two, based on relevant decision criteria that complement the initial potential for direct cost savings; for example:

• Business continuity (COOP)
• Disaster recovery (DR)
• Security (PII, HIPAA, SARBOX, IA / CND)
• Record storage laws
• Rules and policies

Storage availability and data protection are integral parts of the object storage architecture. Thus, depending on the application, the additional technologies as well as the effort and cost of adding availability and protection can be eliminated. Storage maintenance tasks, such as purchasing additional storage capacity, are transferred to the responsibility of the service provider.

• Niche ideas in cloud storage and hosting

Cloud computing in general is a hosted infrastructure; it uses the Internet to provide IT services, thus eliminating capital expenditure (CAPEX) on infrastructure. It also helps enable consumption-based billing and indicates increasing adoption in a number of end-use industries, including government organizations.

This should become the main driver of the market in the coming years. Security, privacy and data access issues are major constraints to the growth of the market as they can negatively impact business performance. Niches or ideas that can differentiate you in this broad industry include:

• Medical cloud computing
• cloud computing on social networks
• cloud computing consulting
• Cloud computing for large companies
• Cloud computing for small businesses
• Cloud computing for universities
• Tax on storage and cloud computing, etc.

The level of competition in cloud storage and hosting

According to Forbes, $ 47.4 billion will be spent on cloud services in 2016. Over the next four years of economic growth, that amount is expected to double. Over 76% of companies have some type of business strategy that includes cloud services in future plans. Of these organizations, 74% anticipate spending increases of more than 20%.

Almost half of businesses are now using cloud computing services in one form or another. Those who don’t are 30% more likely to incorporate new technology into their operations over the next 18 months. In cloud computing, there is a Platform-as-a-Service subsystem called PaaS.

The PaaS market is currently valued at $ 1.9 billion and is expected to double in five years or less. All of these factors make the cloud storage and hosting industry very attractive and profitable as individuals strive to earn their share.

• List of well-known brands of cloud storage and hosting

There are many brands of cloud storage and hosting that have started out and have done a lot for themselves. Some of these brands are such that it can be said that they have gotten small and really big. Some of the well known brands that exist are:

• Akamai Technologies Inc.
• Amazon Web Services LLC
• CA Technologies
• Dell Inc.
• ENKI
• Flexiant Ltd.
• Google Inc.
• Hewlett-Packard Development Company LP
• IBM Corporation
• Joyent Inc.
• KloudData Inc.
• Layered Technologies Inc.
• Microsoft Corporation
• Netsuite Inc.
• Novell Inc.
• OpSource Inc.
• Oracle Corporation
• Rackspace Hosting Inc.
• Red Hat Inc.
• com Inc.
• Skytap Inc.
• Terremark Worldwide Inc.
• Yahoo! Inc.

Economic analysis

The services or applications that organizations move to the cloud are highly dependent on the size of the business and the industry. For example, storage is the backbone service for 40% of small businesses and 35% of midsize businesses, while large enterprises and the federal government primarily look to the cloud for conferencing and collaboration applications (40% and 39%, respectively).

Organizations are also looking to the cloud for email, office and productivity suites, business process applications, and computing power. However, cloud users surveyed by CDW believe that lower IT operating costs are just one of the many benefits of cloud computing.

In fact, organizations that adopt or support cloud computing cite efficiency gains (55%), increased employee mobility (49%), increased capacity for innovation (32%), and freeing up current IT staff. for other projects (31%) as top priorities. benefits. Reduced IT operating costs ranks fifth on the benefit list (25%).

Business transactions often have to strike a balance between fixed costs, inventories and intangibles, and unforeseen operating costs. Fixed costs can include information processing, file retrieval, and data storage. Before the advent of modern information technologies, space was needed to organize cabinets and store documents in boxes or containers.

The increase in electronic storage capacity and the impact of the Internet on business transactions have many advantages for improving data processing. Instead of paying rent for a building or storage, organizations can now pay for storage on a cloud server.

The cost of a cloud server is much lower than the cost of renting or paying for physical objects, which also require maintenance and money investments, often from multiple people, to maintain both property and documents.

Is it worth starting a cloud storage and hosting business from scratch, or is it better to buy a franchise?

Although the term “cloud computing” is new, the concept of sharing data between multiple companies and sites through secure, remote and centralized data centers has been around since the mid-2060s (some say “time sharing”). ).

In the full sense of the word, cloud computing today marks a paradigm shift from on-premise office computing systems that are in place to a “service computing” model in which the IT infrastructure, software and business processes are shared. and upgrades are provided over the Internet on a monthly or monthly basis. annual subscription.

Buying a franchise in this industry is better than starting from scratch because, unlike the initial order, buying a franchise gives you the following benefits:

• Easy access
• Integrated applications
• Flexible and scalable
• VoIP unified telephony
• security

Possible issues when starting cloud storage and hosting

One of the innovations related to the need to reduce operating costs is cloud storage and hosting. Cloud computing enables companies to reduce their overhead costs by virtually managing the IT aspects of their business. Potential challenges when setting up cloud storage and hosting include:

• Choose the type of service you want to sell
• Choose the best server location
• The need for high level technicians / programmers
• Lower prices due to competition
• It’s capital intensive
• Running costs will be high, especially in areas with low power supply

Launch of the legal aspect of cloud storage hosting

Best Legal Entity for Cloud Storage and Hosting

There are many ways to start a business (Sole Proprietorship, LLC, Incorporation, etc.), so you need to do a little research and find out which model is right for the services and products you intend to offer.

When considering how to start cloud storage and hosting, it seems unlikely that you want to organize yourself as a sole proprietor. But then again, always do your own research! It’s better to know why you are doing your business the way you do, rather than relying solely on the advice of others.

The choice of legal entity will depend on the size of your cloud storage and hosting business. But for the sake of this article, LLC is the best company for cloud storage and hosting. and hosting is that it offers security, flexibility and reliability.

Attractive business name ideas for your cloud storage and hosting business

• Space Inc.
• Access to computers
• XYZ electronics
• Deltasone LLC
• Tribune clouds
• Black clouds
• Shred Cloud Business Corporation
• Airfire Communications
• Fundit network solutions
• Favor Connection Inc.
• Ancient corp

Get insurance for your cloud storage and hosting business

Whether you offer virtual private servers, SaaS hosting, file hosting, cloud storage, or other web hosting services, your business faces risks every day. You can be sued by customers, suppliers, employees, and even the person delivering your packages.

Insurance protects you from these claims. Since a single lawsuit can easily cost $ 100,000 or more, many small business owners invest in insurance policies to cover their liabilities and prevent them from declaring bankruptcy after a lawsuit. You probably won’t need all of that insurance coverage listed below, but here’s a list of the top insurance policies that are most relevant for cloud storage and hosting.

• General liability insurance.
• EO insurance.
• Liability insurance (insurance against data breaches).
• Policy for business owners.
• Workers’ compensation insurance.
• Employers’ liability insurance.
• Insurance of loyalty obligations.
• Professional liability insurance.

Protection of intellectual property in cloud storage and hosting

IT pros know transferring data to a third party is always risky, but cloud storage and hosting present challenges unique to IP. Protecting your intellectual property can be stressful, but in today’s world where ideas and patents are stolen daily, you should consider protecting your hard-earned intellectual property rights.

• Choose the right supplier
• Choose the right service
• Read and understand your small fonts
• Expect to pay more
• Consider creating an IP address
• Secure it yourself
• Prevent blocking
• Examine controls daily

Is professional certification required to run cloud storage and hosting? ?

Certifications test your knowledge and skills against industry and vendor tests to prove to customers that you have the right mix of skills, knowledge and experience in the cloud. Professional Certification in Cloud Storage and Hosting includes:

• CCSK Cloud Security Alliance
• Cloud U – Rackspace
• CompTIA Cloud Essentials Comp TIA
• Cloud Professional certified CloudSchool.com
• IBM Certified Cloud Solution Architect v1 and v3 – IBM
• com Certified Salesforce.com Professional
• VMware Certified Professional – Vmware
• Red Hat Infrastructure as Red Hat Service Expertise

Legal documents required for cloud storage and hosting activities

Understanding the licenses and permits you need for your business can be very confusing. Each document takes time, energy and paperwork for you to get a proper listing. As frustrating as it can be, don’t risk shutting down your business before it’s fully up and running.

Doing business without a proper license is a criminal offense in some states, while others can lead to heavy fines. Here are some of the legal documents required for a cloud storage and hosting business.

• business license
• Insurance
• VAT registration
• Employment contract
• federal tax identification number

Detailed cost analysis for starting a cloud storage and hosting business

Just as water is pumped into the house and you pay the same amount, although it is used, cloud computing resources are available as needed and the charge depends on their use. When turned off, the water that would be used is available to others, and so the shared cloud resources can be used by others when not being used by one person.

The things you need to run cloud storage and hosting might include:

• Rental and office equipment  $ 3,500
• cloud application like Dropbox  $ 1000
• Web Hosting Support PHP5 and MySQL (or SQLite)  $ 500
• $ 200 remote access URL
• Sync mobile and PC presets  $ 150

Based on the above analysis, it will cost you around  $ 5,350  . Small storage and hosting in the cloud. The medium size will cost  $ 214,866  and the large size  $ 965,523.

Fund your cloud storage and hosting business

Most businesses need outside funding, but many business owners aren’t sure how to find it or how much to ask for.

• Personal savings
• Pitching
• angel investor
• Partnership
• Capital risk
• Loans and grants
• Alternative source of funding such as crowdfunding

Choosing the right location for cloud storage and hosting

A good location for your business is essential, but choosing the right location can be a bit of a balancing act. Ideally, the location should be convenient for your employees, not too expensive.

• Commercial passage level
• Number of competitors
• Transport links and parking
• Number of tech startups in the region
• Planning constraints
• Municipal expenses and professional rates for services such as waste collection
• Local approvals

Launch of cloud storage and professional hosting. Technical and personnel requirements.

Cloud computing resources can be provisioned and released quickly with minimal management effort or interaction with a service provider. This means that an organization can use more or less servers, storage, applications, or services, and can also customize which ones it uses to meet its needs, as and when it wants, and without too much effort. ‘effort. characteristics.

These are on-demand self-service, wide area network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity, and measurable service. These features set it apart from other computer models. Has three service models. These are the main types of services provided by cloud service providers. He:

• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
• Platform as a Service (PaaS)
• Software as a Service (SaaS).

It offers four deployment models to suit the different ways you own and operate your cloud resources. It is a private cloud, a public cloud, a community cloud and a hybrid cloud.

Cloud storage and hosting business maintenance process

when you switch to cloud hosting, these server farms behave like one large storage space and a processor. The actual website data (such as HTML / CSS files, images, etc.) is spread across a cluster of hard drives connected together as a single virtual drive with huge capacity.

Clusters can provide a cloud setup with literally unlimited machines to run. You can also create a cloud space in as little as 5-10 to make the methodology scalable on download. You might be wondering how the combination of multiple server environments will evolve as the size of any cloud system grows. The allocation of power and storage capacity is often controlled by the operating system / backend.

The server administrator will be able to log in to the server side through the terminal and check the CPU usage of all machines, as well as other important system information. This process is called virtualization, which provides a layer of abstraction between software and hardware components. Cloud server administrators can easily optimize a cluster for improved storage efficiency, optimal power consumption, data backup, and more.

Cloud Storage Launches Hosting Business Marketing Plan

• Marketing ideas and strategies for cloud storage and hosting

Too many small business owners think of marketing as going to the dentist – something you need to do every six months or so. When marketing is continuous and targeted, business becomes easier. If potential customers have a positive view of your products and your reputation, you are much closer to selling.

• Take action to make customers feel special
• Create business cards that preserve perspective
• Stop serving customers at the break-even point.
• Develop an email distribution list
• Boost your profile at trade shows and conferences
• Combine business with pleasure – charity
• Create a destination
• Be an expert
• Finally, don’t let buyers get away

Finding the right product price for cloud storage and business hosting

Even if the cloud management and security issues are suddenly resolved, the cloud computing pricing issue will remain an issue. While cloud providers love to advertise the simplicity of their services, IT managers have found that pricing cloud services is not at all easy.

Pricing structures are based on a variety of factors, from storage location to the required clock cycles used for monthly traffic allowances, and there is more to come. Some service providers have additional fees buried deep in their service level agreements (SLAs).

To determine the total cost of a cloud service, users need to understand the individual elements of the service that the provider charges and how those charges are billed. calculated. For example, does the provider charge for traffic, storage requirements, server CPU time, or a combination of these factors with other items?

Another critical factor in determining actual costs comes down to the type of service required. For some, this service may be more than a dedicated server hosted to run applications in the cloud; for others, the service may be cloud backup or business continuity or basic hosted storage. Perhaps the easiest way to lower your prices is to focus on the basic services offered.

Most cloud service providers divide their services into three main areas: cloud servers, cloud storage, and cloud sites and applications. Each is governed by its own pricing formula. There are two types of servers in the cloud: virtual and physical. In other words, you can buy time on a virtual server (where physical hardware can be shared with others) or time on a dedicated server (where you are the only tenant on that server).

Strategies for winning over competitors in the cloud storage and hosting industry

We all know that if we are no different from our competition, we can never expect the price we get to be more than they get. We also know that if we don’t show customers what sets us apart, they have little or no reason to buy from us.

Your job is to stand out from the crowd in order to be able to offer a high price.

• • Start with yourself
  • Focus on the customer’s solution.
  • Let customers see solutions they didn’t know existed

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• Focus on the customer solution
• See what you sell as an investment made by a customer, not a purchase.
• Sell ​​not only to the decision maker, but also to someone who will benefit from what you sell
• Don’t use a comparison

Increase customer retention for your cloud storage and hosting business

To retain a customer, you need to deliver an experience that amazes the customer, keeps you in mind, and gets you chatting with your friends. Too often, marketers focus entirely on finding and selling, not on how to save and create a great experience.

• Impress your customers
• Follow them
• Provide some customization
• Choose the right tools
• Simplify
• Protect your ideas and interests

Cloud storage and hosting provider and distributor network

The first step is to decide if your organization will provide a complete cloud storage solution. It’s a question of size and focus. Don’t agree with the conventional wisdom that only a handful of large vendors will be successful in this area.

Keep in mind that for at least a few years people have been saying that VARs will no longer be able to make money from equipment. Regional and software-savvy storage intermediaries continue to thrive, and so will cloud storage service providers.

A small regional cloud storage provider may have certain advantages over a large provider due to the advantage of local service. Many large cloud storage providers cite customer service as their main differentiator. Is there a better form of customer service than local service?

Although cloud storage services are remote in nature and therefore not tied to a specific location, on-site presence and face-to-face contact always help build trusting relationships with customers, especially when this client trusts you to carry out an important part of his business operations.

The focus is on the second part  :  Will it distract you from providing this service from your main line of business  ? Even if you ever want to provide cloud-only services, you need to make sure that the rent is maintained while you develop a new business. Gone are the days when venture capitalists poured tons of money into unfounded startups. If the cloud storage business can be developed without distraction, or better yet, as an addition to the core business, that’s ideal.

Tips for a Successful Cloud Storage and Hosting Business

A cloud storage and hosting business is a very lucrative business that requires hard work and concentration to be successful.As an entrepreneur, it is your responsibility to make your business more visible than the competition and to leave a reference that many might envy. Managing your business can be time consuming, but the following points should be kept in mind.