In the era of digital transformation, cloud storage and file sharing services have become essential tools for businesses globally. As remote work becomes increasingly common, the need for reliable, secure, and efficient file management is more important than ever. This article explores some of the top business cloud storage and file sharing solutions in 2023, namely Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox, IDrive, and Google Drive. 1. Microsoft OneDrive for Business Microsoft OneDrive for Business offers a robust cloud storage solution, integrating effortlessly with Microsoft's suite of online tools like Microsoft 365. Features: - Comprehensive integration with Microsoft Office tools. - Real-time collaboration on documents. - Advanced search functions. - Robust security measures including data encryption and compliance features. - Data loss prevention and versioning. Pricing: - Plan 1: $5.00 (R88.90) user/month (annual commitment), offering 1 TB per user. - Plan 2: $10.00 (R177.80) user/month (annual commitment), offering unlimited cloud storage. - Microsoft 365 Business Standard: $20.00 (R222.30) user/month (annual commitment), including OneDrive, Office apps, and more. This bundled package offers more value compared to the first two plans. 2. Dropbox Business Dropbox Business provides flexible solutions catering to businesses of varying sizes. Features: - Smart Sync for easy access to all files without consuming device space. - Dropbox Paper as a collaborative workspace. - File recovery and version history. - Advanced sharing controls, including password protection and link expiration. - Two-factor authentication for enhanced security. - Dropbox Sign includes unlimited legally binding signature requests. Pricing: - Standard: $15.00 user/month (annual billing), offering 5 TB of storage. - Advanced: $24.00 user/month (annual billing), with unlimited storage. - Enterprise: Custom pricing and capabilities for larger businesses. 3. IDrive Business IDrive Business provides comprehensive cloud storage, file sharing, and backup, including solutions for server and NAS device backups. Features: - Continuous Data Protection for real-time backup of frequently used files. - IDrive Express for quick backup and data retrieval. - Disk Clone for backing up entire drives, including the operating system and settings. - Versioning capabilities. - Compliance with regulatory standards. Pricing: - Personal: 5 TB, one user, $79.50 per year. - Team: 5 TB, five users, five computers, $99.50 per year. Options up to 25 computers, 35 users, 35 TB, $699.50 per year. - Business: Unlimited users, multiple computers; 250 GB: $99.50 per year; options up to 5 TB, $1,499.50 per year. 4. Google Drive for Business (Workspace) Google Drive for Business, part of Google Workspace, is a popular choice, especially for those already using Google’s ecosystem of products. Features: - Integration with Google Workspace apps like Docs, Sheets, Slides, and more. - Real-time collaboration and editing on documents. - Powerful search function, using Google’s search technology. - Access controls and permissions for secure sharing. - Team Drive for shared workspace. Pricing: - Business Starter: $6 user/month, 1 year commitment, offering 30 GB of storage. - Business Standard: $12 user/month, offering 2 TB of storage. - Business Plus: $18 user/month, offering 5 TB of storage. The ideal cloud storage and file sharing solution will depend on your business needs, including team size, data volume, type of work, and compatibility with other tools and software. All of these platforms offer a unique set of features and pricing structures, making it important to compare and decide which service best suits your business. Factors like security, ease of use, storage limits, and integration with other applications should be considered while choosing a cloud storage solution.
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Load shedding, or power outages, has become a daily reality. South Africans' favourite app is EskomSePush (ESP) which is used to check the latest load shedding stage and load shedding schedules. So how does a household cope with load shedding in South Africa? 1. Invest in Backup Power Solutions: Investing in a generator or solar backup power system can help provide electricity to your home during load shedding. Generators are the most common form of immediate power backups and can be set up fairly quickly and easily. Solar backup systems can provide the long-term reliability you need, while using renewable energy sources. 2. Use Power Saving Appliances and Devices: A lot of electricity can be saved by using energy efficient appliances and devices. Switching to LED light bulbs, automated power strips and smart outlets can help save energy and money in the long run. 3. Invest in Uninterruptible Power Supplies: Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) are essential for essential household equipment such as computers, routers and telephones. They provide power for a limited period after a power cut so you can stay connected and work efficiently. 4. Insulating Your Home: Heat sensitive equipment such as freezers and fridges should be insulated with material such as bubble wrap to ensure their contents can remain cool during a power cut and reduce the amount of power required to restart them once the electricity returns. 5. Plan Ahead: Stocking up on essential food items, storing enough water, and setting up a makeshift ‘life support’ system with enough cell phone and laptop chargers, can help you cope with load shedding. Making sure you have all of the necessary items prepared and ready beforehand can really help. It’s been a challenging time for South Africans: recovering from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, unprecedented vehicle inflation, rising fuel prices, devastating floods and over 50 days of continual loadshedding. All citizens and businesses have been impacted by these events and this is also true for the insurance industry. During lockdown, most insurers experienced saw a decline in the frequency of claims as a direct result of the restrictions imposed on the movement of our clients. Motor was impacted positively, and insurers saw a significant decline in accident, glass, and theft claims. Similar trends were experienced with regard to home contents, with a decline in burglary and theft claims. During this period, some insurers provided premium relief, reduced renewal increases, and refunded a portion of premiums. As restrictions have eased, there has been a return to a more normalised claims frequency trend, with adverse weather conditions in many parts of the country adding incremental pressure to claims volumes. Vehicle repair costs have increased well above inflation and the nature of vehicle thefts has changed, with newer and more expensive vehicles now being stolen. Similarly, the average cost of contents and building claims has increased to new levels, with a particular increase experienced in the number of power-surge claims. While you will be aware that rate and sum insured adjustments are routinely performed in our business, the significance of the above claims experience will unfortunately result in incremental increase adjustments over the coming months. As always, increases will remain highly segmented by policyholder and every effort has been made to limit the extent of increases as far as possible. The following excess adjustments have been implemented for Santam & Discovery Insure. Santam Vehicles: Compulsory (basic) vehicle excesses will be increased by R1 000 for all our products. The R0 excess for policyholders over 55 years will remain unaltered. Vehicle glass excesses will remain unaltered. Contents: Excesses for lightning/thunderbolt, power surge, accidental damage, mechanical/electrical/electronic damage will increase by R500 for all our products. Discovery Insure
If you would like us to review your policy please contact William in our Short-term department email: service@daberistic.com Source: Discovery & Santam We sharing 5 part series on Home Insurance Tips to help you know what are the important things you need to ensure are in place to claim effortlessly. This article focuses on Maintenance of your roof. Scenario (Not real names): Jo and Michelle started picking up a leak in their ceiling and water bubbles on their bedroom walls. They then submitted a claim with their insurance to fix the damage. Upon inspection from the insurance company the claim was rejected due to Roof not well maintained. The damage from the leak led to huge costs, so now they’re being prudent and want to Know what they need to do to ensure that they have Roof maintenance. Here are some tip on Roof maintenance 101
For any queries on your House cover contact William or Edmond in our Short-term department email service@daberistic.com tel (011)658-1333 Source: Hollard Breaking up is hard to do – but not in the case of your insurance company. You can switch insurance to whichever company you want, whenever you want. It should never be difficult or ‘wrong’ to change insurance companies. You might want to hold out for a no-claims bonus or think that your loyalty will be repaid with lower premiums, however if you feel that your insurance provider no longer has your best interests at heart, it might be time to move on – no matter what time of year or at what point of your policy term you are. What is a policy and what is a term? Remember that short-term insurance is different from things like medical aid and life insurance in that it doesn’t impose blackout periods or conditions which stipulate when you are allowed to claim. You are 100% covered on your car, home contents or buildings from day one. You don’t get more covered as time goes by. If you pay premiums on a month-to-month basis, you can simply notify your insurer that you want to cancel your policy (your contract). That’s it – simple as that. They may try to woo you with reduced premiums but you are under no obligation to accept their offer. It doesn’t matter if you’re approaching your renewal date or if you are in the middle of your policy term (mid-policy or mid-term). If you’ve paid for a whole year in advance – i.e. for a 12-month term/duration – and you cancel halfway through this period, your insurance company will pay back your premium on a pro rata basis. The only reason why they won’t pay you back is if you’ve claimed to the value of the maximum insured amount. Tip: Remember that all insurance companies look at your claims history to determine your insurability as a client so if you’ve made a lot of claims during your term, a new insurance company might charge you a higher premium than your existing provider. A poor claims history, a previous insurance policy cancelled by the insurer due to excessive/ fraudulent claims and a high risk profile (e.g. geographical location or high performance vehicle combined with an inexperienced driver) are all reasons why you may be refused insurance. Reasons to switch insurers Here are a few common reasons why people decide to call it a day with their insurance company. Have a look to see if any of these apply to you and if it’s time to get a new quote:
Opportunities to relook your insurance Even if you are not unhappy with your current insurer, it might be a good idea to review your cover if: You recently got married or divorced, and you are restructuring your assets, responsibilities and finances. You want to add or remove a driver who no longer lives with you – e.g. a student child who has moved or a child who just got their driver’s licence. You’ve bought a new car or home, or a lot of new and expensive tools/furniture/electronic equipment. You’ve just welcomed a new dog into your home and want to raise your liability cover. You’ve changed jobs and want to update your mileage or where the car is parked, for example. Things to remember before changing Before you make a decision to switch insurers, be sure to compare the extent and limits of cover to your existing policy and check your new policy for excess fees. The deal you are getting may not be as great as you think if you discover that your new insurer offered you a much lower premium at the expense of your type of cover and insured amounts. If you would like us to review your current insurance and cover please contact Marizka in our Short-term department email service@daberistic.com (011)658-1333 Source: Santam In partnership with Morningstar: South African corporate credit is one of the less covered investments in the fixed income universe. The market is skewed towards the financial sector and characterised by structural illiquidity. Last month we talked about Set Up Short-term Goals. This month we focus on Step 9 - Set Up Long-term Goals. I define long-term goals as something you would like to achieve in the long term, generally in more than 10 years' time, but can also be anything in more than two years. Have your notebook and pen ready at your desk. Think about the things your plan for after the next two years, in five years, ten year or longer. It can be related to your age, for example age 45, 60, 65, important anniversaries, for example 20th wedding anniversary, or milestones for your children, for example age 7 going to primary school, age 18 going to university. Jot them down in your notebook. Speak to your spouse, partner, children, families and friends that you would like to plan things together with, jot down the additional things that are going to happen after the next two years. Be specific in your goals. Visualise what you would like to happen, write down the details of your goals. The more specific your goals are, the more you will be driven to achieve them. So instead of saying "living in a retirement home at the coast", make it more specific by saying "living in a two-bedroom retirement home in a secure estate in Hermanus, Western Cape by age 65". Make your goals more specific by applying the 5W2H method, asking these questions: What? Why? Where? When? Who? How? How much? Examples or ideas are:
You can now develop the list of long-term goals into a spreadsheet in your notebook, or use a spreadsheet such as Excel or Google Sheets, with the following columns: Column 1: Description of the goal Column 2: With whom (you will be doing this with) Column 3: Date (and age) Column 4: Amount required (this is the amount of money required for that goal) Column 5: Bank/investment account for this purpose Column 6: Notes/Comment (this is where you expand, to explain who will contribute, whether you will contribute for someone else, someone else will contribute for you, how you are going to build up the fund, monthly or an ad-hoc lump sum) Column 7: People/skills/resources required Column 8: Status - Not started, in progress, completed For some of these goals, in particular investment or business goals, you should develop a business plan with the necessary details. Access the required skills, such as business, financial, bankers, legal, engineering, investment professionals, to help you develop a proper business plan. Write your goals on colour stickers or magnets, stick them on your wall so they are visible, acting as reminders to you. Work out your monthly and annual plans to attain these goals. Revisit your long-term goals spreadsheet quarterly, or at least annually, to check whether you are on track, or anything you still need to do. Certified Financial Planners are trained to help people develop a holistic financial plan, focused on your long-term financial wellbeing. It is advisable to use the services of a qualified financial planner to develop your financial plan, to identify areas you may have not considered. |
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January 2025
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