No idea about IT - Help!

[antiquevintage]

Hello,

Please let me firstly say i really am not very up with IT. You will prob be able to tell this when you read my post.

I need to look at a dedicated server/hosting options for our small business.

We currently have all our files in the clouds and a separate email host but we are keen to move away from this.

We need to have 10 users on a network where we can access all company files, business emails etc. We have one office with one person in the office. The rest of the users are based from home.

Hope someone can advise me on this!!!!!

 

[ITsoldUK]

Hang on in there.

I am sure 20+ posters will be along soon telling you they are the best and can help.

In the meantime....here is some music

And a list they would not want you to see => Hosting Reviews of suppliers in the UK

 

[antiquevintage]

Oh no i may log out now!!!

 

[Rudi]

Hi antiquevintage

What exactly are your requirements?

You say that you have cloud storage already but what exactly is it that you're using data-wise? Also, in what format is this storage?

Do you use FTP to share data or have some software installed (ie. Sharepoint) that allows you to setup files?

Also, do you have any requirement for an intranet etc?

If you only have 10 users I can't see the usage being that heavy and would advise that a dedicated server may be overkill... But of course can't really say that without knowing what you're using already.

 

[Posilan]

And a list they would not want you to see => Hosting Reviews of suppliers in the UK

You do realise that site is a "10 ten hosts that pay the most to the webmaster for a clickthrough" site and not based on the performance of the actual hosts listed?

Steve

 

[ITsoldUK]

You do realise that site is a "10 ten hosts that pay the most to the webmaster for a clickthrough" site and not based on the performance of the actual hosts listed?

Steve

You have proof of this? What about this one => like this one...

blimey, you can't trust anything online can you...

 

[Posilan]

Actually they even admit it's all false on their disclaimer page:

Also we must declare that we (TheTop10BestWebHosting.org) receive monetary payments for advertising companies on this website. Also the scoring system found on this website along with opinions and reviews are from the discretion of the webmaster. Customer reviews are vetted but some could be falsely submitted with incorrect facts and statements.

Steve

 

[ITsoldUK]

Actually they even admit it's all false on their disclaimer page:

Steve

Touche old bean

 

[wyld]

Without exact requirements I would guess what you are trying to achieve would be simple enough to have a server housed in your office running Windows Small Business Server and Microsoft Exhange after the initial outlay and this has been setup the only real drawbacks would be you would have to spend more money to get a good Reliable Internet Connection (ADSL/Broadband) and have to have a Network Guy on standby just in case of problem you cannot solve (This would normally be the guy that installed it for you so look around carefully for a reliable company/person rather than do on the cheap.

Saying this even though all your mail will be collected and distributed from your in house server and the remote logins you should still host your website from a internet hosts server because unless you get a dedicated line to your network a Broadband/ADSL service will NOT be able to cope with the traffic.

 

[chrishankinson]

Hello,

Please let me firstly say i really am not very up with IT. You will prob be able to tell this when you read my post.

I need to look at a dedicated server/hosting options for our small business.

We currently have all our files in the clouds and a separate email host but we are keen to move away from this.

We need to have 10 users on a network where we can access all company files, business emails etc. We have one office with one person in the office. The rest of the users are based from home.

Hope someone can advise me on this!!!!!

In my opinion, I would suggest either looking at something like 365 (have a chat with remotetechs, i believe he is a 365 partner) or a fully hosted solution, which is what we do.

If you want to have additional systems such as Sage or a CRM, then a fully hosted solution is probably the way forward.

main questions are going to be:

whats your bandwidth like?
which programmes does your business use?
have you bought office recently?

 

[kamran_Smarterways]

we are an IT company who have worked with over 200 business in the UK, we have installed over 150 servers and have a fantastic porfollio of work we can show you. if you require advice on you It please contact me via this forum or alternatively email or ring me. 0844 8735829

 

[antiquevintage]

Thanks everyone. We currently share our files on Dropbox and then we have a separate host for our emails. We have 2 websites but we are happy with them the way they are. Don't want to do anything with them.

Going forward we will have a lot more info and documents we need to share. Mostly office documents. Excel, Word etc. Thinking Microsoft may be good as we can set this up as our email exchange server as we need to share calendars and we cant currently do this.

 

[Rudi]

I would concur with you regarding Exchange if you were all based internally or had the resource to spend a lot.

However, there is a much better option if you want to stick with the Microsoft stack. Look into Office 365 for Small Business (microsoft.com/en-gb/office365/plans/small-business/email-calendar.aspx). It's £4/user/month and you will experience the same benefits as self-hosting Exchange or SBS, based on what I understand from your usage.

There's a Free Trial available, so you can evaluate it right now to see if it's suitable for your needs. Based on your amount of users the ROI from SBS is going to be extremely low, whereas a cloud based solution would be much more beneficial at just £44/mo.

(Note that this is coming from a guy that doesn't buy into the whole "cloud" thing and would suggest an IT Infrastructure for an OFFICE any day, but the fact you're mostly (key factor here) remote suggests that it would cost too much to make provision this. The internet costs alone for your network (high upload rate) would cost more than it would cost for this, nevermind the initial outlay for hardware and licensing)

 

[shuyebmahbub]

1 and 1 is the best provider of the server and they are cheap compare to others.

 

[ITsoldUK]

1 and 1 is the best provider of the server and they are cheap compare to others.

And their reputation goes before them...

...use at your peril

 

[Rudi]

1 and 1 is the best provider of the server and they are cheap compare to others.

Where did you get these lies from?

 

[Deleted member 61074]

Have you considered Google Apps?

 

[Rudi]

Have you considered Google Apps?

I was going to suggest Google Apps, but the OP specifically mentioned Office. I'm not saying Google Apps would be a bad choice as it's essentially the alternative solution to Office 365, however I would stay away from it for 2 reasons.

1; It's Google (Remember their new Privacy Policy applies to business accounts also.... I have a few clients that have switched away because of this impending change already).
2; Google Apps does not provide Office. It provides an arbitrary version of the document formats, yes, but it's not office. The collaboration you get from Office online applications is amazing, the integration with Outlook and your other Desktop office clients, well, it just provides for a much more streamlined and 'like-for-like' interface between the desktop and web.

The collaboration features between Word Desktop and Word Online are enough to make me choose Office 365 over GA, and that's just one thing of many.

 

[wyld]

1 and 1 is the best provider of the server and they are cheap compare to others.

LMFAO Stay Clear

 

[RemoteTechs]

Hi,

Thanks chrishankinson

We are Microsoft Partners and Office 365 resellers.

If you are looking for sharing out mainly general office documents like Word, Excel and having your e-mail hosted then Office 365 is a good choice.

You can have an Exchange server handle the e-mail then use SharePoint to store the documents, its a good way of ensuring that you all work off one single copy of a document, with out people having multiple outdated versions all over the place!!

I dropped you a PM, so if you'd like to see what Office 365 is all about, we have a few demo sites set up, so you can see if it might work for you.

 

[antiquevintage]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all the replies. Had a look at Office 365 and it seems to fit the bill. In my eyes anyway. Thanks to everyone who suggested this. But i have a feeling my employers will want me to get costs for our own IT structure too. I am going to pull together some info with regards to Office 365 for them and then get costs for the other side of things. We don't have a big budget so i think it will be a no go. It seems like a big task to go down this route too.