The Cloud: A File Storage Option for SMEs and Individuals

On 2 June, A burglar broke through the physical security measures in place at my workplace in broad daylight, stole my laptop and fled the scene.

Even though this daring intrusion was captured on camera and I had registered a case of theft at my local police station – I have yet to recover the laptop.

However, in the following week, I was back in operation using an alternative computer and accessing my documents and emails as if I never lost the laptop.

I am not so sure if everyone who loses their laptop in this beautiful capital of ours can say the same.

The focus of this article is on steps I took prior to 2 June to ensure my priceless documents are safe in the event of anything happening to my laptop.

Essentially, this is why small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and individuals alike should consider the cloud as a file storage option.

In 2020, I bought a subscription service from a multinational software giant for the use of their productivity suit.

The productivity suit is a set of applications used for administration work in the office and at home to create documents.

This suit came with a feature where documents saved on the local hard disk are synchronised (copied) to the cloud, thereby always making sure there are two copies of a document – one on the local computer and another in the cloud.

This allows for documents to still be available in the unfortunate event of anything happening to your laptop or computer.

This productivity suite is rich in features I will not be able to exhaust here, but one feature that is part of my everyday life is the ability to access and share my documents using multiple devices while on the go.

The device can either be a smartphone or tablet.

This feature is handy as it enables me to move around with my documents wherever I go.

Another useful feature is the ability to edit documents on the go, increasing productivity as a result, as I don’t always have to go back to the office and be at my desk to edit a document.

The third common feature I use is the ability to edit a single document with my co-workers at the same time while in different places as long as we have access to the internet and the correct document permissions.

This was not possible when I first started out in the information and communication technology sector years ago.

Every day, SMEs and individuals create documents that are valuable to themselves and their organisations’ operations – documents they would need for years to come.

Naturally, these documents need to be protected against loss due to malicious intent, accidents or hardware failure.
Affordable solutions to protect SMEs and individuals exist.

What is lacking though is information dissemination.

• Samuel Mulunga is the managing director of Windhoek-based IT consultancy firm Anmeta Information Technology Consultants and can be reached at smulunga@aitc.com.na