Viewing 20 posts - 1 through 20 (of 20 total)
  • Getting on the cloud – sorry tedious IT query
  • whereisthurso
    Free Member

    We work in a small office of architects where we have a lot of project folders that are typically filled with documents, drawings etc. We regularly back these up onto hard drives and archive some of the information when the server is full but would like to leap into the 21st century and …. the cloud.

    Ideally we want a system where our emails could easily be dragged and dropped into project folders so that the whole team then has access to them without having to use the recipients email.

    I’ve been looking at Office 365 but can’t really see if it has that function?

    I’m sure this all sounds entirely archaic but any tips would be gratefully received. Thanks.

    footflaps
    Full Member

    If you’re using Outlook you can just drag an email from Outlook into a folder in any drive (local or remote) and it creates a “.msg” file for that email. When you double click on the “.msg” file, it opens the email on Outlook for you.

    sharkbait
    Free Member

    Dropbox is the obvious one but what do you use for email normally?

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...
    Latest Singletrack Videos
    brassneck
    Full Member

    Non personal mailbox, shareed with all team members? Copy/forward stuff for filing in to it.. (not tried with 365, using on premise)

    Or something in Sharepoint I suspect.

    jambalaya
    Free Member

    As above

    Dropbox
    Create a folder for each deal/project
    For emails you just “Save As” the message in .msg format and put it into the Dropbox folder (or use the drag/drop as per @footflaps)

    By the way a mate of mine with a small architecture related business uses open office (free) as the Microsoft licenses are expensive

    EDIT: I am no fan of Microsoft and I don’t see why you’d start paying for something when you can use DropBox for free

    mrblobby
    Free Member

    You could use 365, Sharepoint and site mailboxes.

    mogrim
    Full Member

    If you’re going to move to the cloud you may want to think about:

    1. What happens if the cloud isn’t available? Your internet connection goes down, Dropbox is out for maintenance, etc.

    2. Legal stuff: your files (and your clients’ files) are now in the US. Or Germany. Or Godknowswhere.

    You might find that it’s no more expensive to upgrade your server and put a NAS or whatever in.

    jambalaya
    Free Member

    @mogrim’s points are good ones, I was involved with a business which had dropbox only storage, “no internet” has never been a problem for them in 3 years but it could be

    wwaswas
    Full Member

    I’d also look at the Microsoft equivalent of Dropbox (SkyDrive?) as it’s better integrated with their product set.

    Dropbox is actually quite expensive (imo) for ‘small team’ use as well.

    sharkbait
    Free Member

    . What happens if the cloud isn’t available? Your internet connection goes down, Dropbox is out for maintenance, etc.

    Well no internet = no email so that’s not a problem.

    AWS S3 would get around point 2 (just specify EU (Ireland) as the location for your buckets. S3 not as easy to use as other offering though (Dropbox is AWS S3 with differnet front end and less options/more cost.

    You might find that it’s no more expensive to upgrade your server and put a NAS or whatever in.

    Although it’s certainly more hassle.

    brassneck
    Full Member

    One Drive now. An unlimited storage for Office 365 customers.

    If you’re going to move to the cloud you may want to think about:

    1. What happens if the cloud isn’t available? Your internet connection goes down, Dropbox is out for maintenance, etc.

    2. Legal stuff: your files (and your clients’ files) are now in the US. Or Germany. Or Godknowswhere.

    These are fair points, but with even my sector (Healthcare) buying into it in a big way now, I think you’ll be OK .. you can run the apps offline so you might be waiting for your mail if a JCB takes out the exchange .. but you will be anyway with a traditional setup.

    If I were starting a small business now I’d look no further than Google Docs or Office 365 (and would probably go MS purely down to familiarity and for Lync). Cloud based IPT too, for flexibility.

    geoffj
    Full Member

    Office 365, one drive and share point functionality would do it for you. Potential DPA issues need to be considered though.
    Dropbox and google drive/apps also provide options. Consider your workflow and apply accordingly considering any changes required or unintentional.
    Dropbox has recently developed greater links with Microsoft which may improve integration.

    mrblobby
    Free Member

    Legal stuff: your files (and your clients’ files) are now in the US. Or Germany. Or Godknowswhere.

    This was certainly an issue for a friends IFA business I helped out a while back. FSA have lots of regs on filing apparently.

    whereisthurso
    Free Member

    Thanks for the responses. All very useful.

    I hadn’t even realised you could save emails in to project folders in that way. That helps a lot but it’d be good if we could mirror the projects folders that are set up on Outlook in an email folder on the server. Is there any automatic way to make the filing done in outlook happen on the server at the same time?

    jambalaya
    Free Member

    Well no internet = no email so that’s not a problem


    @sharkbait
    . Yes but yo lose access to all the project files too, so big problem.

    brassneck
    Full Member

    @sharkbait. Yes but yo lose access to all the project files too, so big problem.

    You can sync a non personal mailbox offline. You can also do the same with Sharepoint with various 3rd party products (I use Colligo, but I’ve no idea on 365 integration)

    nemesis
    Free Member

    it’d be good if we could mirror the projects folders that are set up on Outlook in an email folder on the server

    No need. You just set up ‘public’ folders on outlook that other people in your company have permission to view. Then rather than everyone having a project folder in their outlook, they all use the same public project folder so as soon as an email is in there, everyone with permission can see it.

    nickjb
    Free Member

    Yes but yo lose access to all the project files too, so big problem.

    Not with Dropbox. It keeps local copies as well as cloud ones. It’ll sync each computer over the lan if available. Once you get the internet back it’ll back everything up again. Any conflicting files it will make a copy of both.

    hot_fiat
    Full Member

    Any conflicting files it will make a copy of both right hash of the folder structure and contents.

    FTFY

    breatheeasy
    Free Member

    After being to a very good speech yesterday by the Information Commissioners Office yesterday there is also the issue of privacy.

    Not a major issue but you should really make it clear to your customers you are using a 3rd aprty to store potentially confidential documents.

Viewing 20 posts - 1 through 20 (of 20 total)

The topic ‘Getting on the cloud – sorry tedious IT query’ is closed to new replies.