Category: News

Just when it seemed like we were making genuine progress when it came to clarifying all things Cloud related, 2022 rolled around and made us go full circle.

We’ve written enough around the topic to (hopefully) feel confident that we were in the process of debunking the many misconceptions around the term (which our team of experts could quickly clear up), and were rapidly reaching the stage where everyone, everywhere could appreciate its merits. One (admittedly horrible) rainy season later, however, and we feel like we’re back in the days where mere mention of the word Cloud means one of three things to us South Africans:

1. Eskom ruining everyone’s mood after complaining about wet coals (seriously, invest in an awning)
2. Annette Botha prepping the nation to pack a raincoat.
3. KZN getting ready to do their best Atlantis impression.

Like electricity, service delivery, and the word “shame”, the Cloud has a different meaning once you enter our unique and wonderful country. Luckily, we’re here to put together your handy survival guide for clearing up those doubts and successfully navigating your transition into the big world of the unseen storage.

1. Myth One: The Cloud is tangible, and the sky is falling:

Much like we’ve given all power outages the unified blanket term of Eskom, the word Cloud doesn’t refer to a real-life floating item where your important Data (and files you don’t want your girlfriend to see) are stored. Rather, it’s simply a remote accessing computing solution which allows for information and data to be safely stored on an Internet based or online server. Unlike your older brother’s hard-drive with the password 1234, it’s not accessible to overly eager younger siblings eager to catch a glimpse of the promised land, but rather a highly encrypted, secure, and difficult-to-breach network which utilises software over hardware.

2. Myth Two: The Cloud is as secure as Paris Hiltons… home videos

On the contrary, Cloud based security is likely tighter than a Gupta’s tax returns. Unlike the Parliament buildings in Cape Town (too soon?) Cloud Security is on a mission to improve all the time. In most cases, vendors will have high levels of encryption, security and functionality which are more advanced than those of the clients they serve (really not an achievement when it comes to local municipalities, but for everyone else that’s pretty impressive).

Any vendor worth their salt should employ a team of security experts to protect the information of their clients. Not only does their professional reputation depend on it, but the new PoPIA Act threatens severe punishments to organisations deemed irresponsible during a Data breach. So, as good as your in-house IT guy is at discovering what you’re really searching on Google during company time, chances are he’s not a Cyber Security expert – meaning leaving things in the hands of professionals might be your safest bet.

3. Myth Three: The transition takes longer to process than UIF.

Thankfully, this change is closer to a few days than a few years – meaning the only reason your business needs to stall is a family meeting with another nonsensical curfew. A good Cloud provider (which we like to think we are) should handle all aspects of migration to ensure a seamless, easy transition (while answering the hundred questions from Jay in accounting) as well as equip your staff with the relevant info or tools to simplify life. Usually, this takes a few days, meaning you’re back in the game before you can say “Cloud”.

4. Myth Four: It’s as reliable as the Proteas in a major tournament.

Actually, it’s your current system that’s the problem (which is the business equivalent of saying, “it’s not us, it’s you). Contrary to the article your friend that emigrated to New Zealand shared on Facebook, or your uncle posted in the family WhatsApp chat, Cloud Computing does backup better than its predecessors. You see, unlike the Star Wars universe, in the world of Cloud “newer” often means “better” (as opposed to a rehash of outdated plotlines). With the right provider and the right plan, you can wave goodbye to manual backups and the ever-looming threat of an office fire destroying your Database (if such a threat exists, that is). Should a disaster, such as looting or Putin going trigger happy, ever occur, you can at the very least know that your info is recoverable.

5. Myth Five: It’s more complicated than the Zondo Commission – I don’t have time for this.

Most change faces resistance – just ask Galileo.

Fact is, most software is designed to simplify rather than complicate life. Unlike your remote HR software which never lets you fill in your leave correctly, your Cloud provider should equip you with a range of user friendly, easy to engage with features that are easy to operate. Cloud = new, but does NOT = more complicated. Typical systems offer dashboards, reporting and accessing capabilities which even the office Karen can figure out relatively easily – allowing you to simplify your Data, information, and processes as you see fit.

So, there you have it. In the words of Ross Gellar, it’s not that big a deal and it really is quite common (hey, we’re still talking Cloud here – stay with us). The only question you need to ask yourself is what you’re waiting for. Get in touch with our team at Nymbis and let us clear up those Clouds – we can promise it’s better than Rain (see what we did there? 😉).

When 2020 rolled around, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone outside Wuhan who would have predicted such a unified, global shift in work cultures everywhere.

The pandemic has changed the world, in some ways for the worse, but in others fundamentally for the better.

One of those ways has seen the way we work (and even perceive workplace culture as a whole) drastically revolutionised. It seems like just yesterday that morning traffic and using Waze to navigate the quickest route to the office was as common as eating and breathing. Today? We navigate a series of challenges relevant to a new, dynamic, and often remote-centric workspace (or just find the quickest way to our laptop before our 8am meeting).

A fundamental aspect of this transition has, without a shadow of doubt, been Cloud Computing – it’s changed the world, yet we still find that many people neither know what it is nor understand the myriad of ways it affects businesses, personal spaces, and homes. There’s still so much mistrust around the concept (in spite of literally everyone using it to some extent), so we’ll attempt to talk Cloud and unpack how Nimbus (more on that later) is shaping up to be a bona-fide gamechanger.

But first, let’s refresh on all things Cloud…

In its simplest form, Cloud Computing allows a user to compute through the delivery of services, information, and resources through using the Internet as its primary medium. Back in the day, you needed hardware such as server rooms to retrieve, store or access files, today you need only one device to share resources and Databases – with multiple users benefitting from an interconnected network. This is useful, as you’re able to store all your files and Data through remote resources rather than limit yourself to local hard drives or storage devices. This can be translated to entire swaths of Data, up to and including complex programmes, software, and information.

To simplify it even more, the term Cloud isn’t so much a fluffy white ball as it is a metaphor for the Internet. So, when people say, “it’s in The Cloud”, it’s not really floating in midair – your Data is instead being stored, managed, or accessed online as opposed to a local server or PC. It’s become more popular than TikTok (and is hopefully longer lasting) purely because it’s as useful for businesses as it is to individuals.

But why all the fuss? Glad you asked…

There are a wealth of reasons (other than sounding Tech Savvy to your blind date) that it’s become a buzzword and is gaining increased importance. In fact, its adoption into mainstream society has been faster than most other technology (barring, of course, Fibre). Reason being? Well, Cloud Computing allows users to solve several problems at once and, in an age of technological convenience, ease, and of course remote digital working, that in itself is priceless.

Think of all the ways you and I use Cloud on a daily basis. Google Drive? Check. Apple iCloud? We feel like the name gives that one away. Gmail? Waze? The images on your phone? Each of these services allows for remote access to documents, contracts, pictures, memories, and a whole lot more. It doesn’t matter if you’re an at home mom using her iPad or a Fortune 500 CEO hiding the secret designs to the latest Iron Man armour – if your Data is stored in the Cloud, you can access it on any device, any time.

This significance is multiplied tenfold when you consider that most of our IM and Social Media platforms depend entirely on a successful, secure Cloud Server. Teams, Instagram, WhatsApp, Netflix, and the like are all testament to the dexterity and hosting/Data accessing capabilities which the Cloud presents. The fact that many of these are free to use serves only to highlight their low maintenance costs and overheads, as a conglomerate utilising a massive hard server room would run bankrupt within an hour if they operated the way WhatsApp does.

Meanwhile, over in the business space, the worldwide boom in E-commerce is the biggest indicator of how reliable Cloud services are to businesses. During and post pandemic, more and more users have benefitted from click-and-buy service providers – in turn enjoying the speed, convenience, and importance an online server can offer.

The best part? It’s 2022, and today there’s more focus than ever on ‘going green’ and doing your part for the environment. For an organisation a) looking to save on costs while b) being more environmentally conscious, Cloud Computing is the next step forward and the natural progression on the way we operate remotely. Not only is hosting in the Cloud greener, it results in a smaller carbon footprint while eliminating unnecessary hardware and reducing your carbon footprint.

But what does this really mean, and why should we care about it?

Well, we’re not saying the Cloud will save lives, but it may save the world we live in AND your business. Sounds like a win-win? It really, really is. This is where we come in at Nimbus. We not only understand the Cloud well enough to expel any doubts from your old school boss who fears his Data will get lost in the wind, but we’ve mastered the craft so well that transitioning can be simple, painless, and minimally invasive to your business.

It is our firm belief that failure to adapt to the times will result in becoming obsolete – just ask Nokia and Blackberry. In the age of remote work, accessing anywhere and being able to recover or view your Data no matter where you are, Cloud Computing is simply the next natural step forward. Chat to us to see how we can help your business or, if you still have any lingering doubts (we get that a lot), let one of our experts put your mind at ease so we can get your head (and your business) in the Clouds.

By Annette Botha, Meteorologist at Vox Weather

While climate change often tends to be spoken of in the news, more needs to be done to educate South Africans on how it directly affects them on the ground, what simple actions they can take to reduce their impact on the environment and to bring about a mindset change that inspires others and ensures that sustainable living becomes first nature.

Earth Day, held annually on 22 April, is aimed at driving awareness on issues around the environment, and what ordinary individuals can do to drive change for the better. First held in 1970, the theme for this year is “Invest in our planet”. It’s exactly what Vox Weather is doing, by going further than planting trees at the Faranani Primary School in Protea Glen, Soweto, and making education a key component of our celebration.

Rather than just carry out a symbolic act and move on, it is crucial that we start building awareness about the life-giving role of trees (including taking in carbon dioxide and giving out the oxygen that we breathe!) as well as the long-term impacts of deforestation. Rather than leave climate change as a broad concept, we need to ensure that students, and ordinary South Africans, understand the effects on the country and themselves.

This includes more common droughts or even floods, as seen recently, which in turn has an impact on agricultural production, and then on to us in the form of higher prices – it’s all connected back to our climate. Giving this ground-level picture will allow more people to better understand climate change, how humans are contributing to it, and what we can do to lessen our impact.

It can be something as simple as going to the beach and picking up litter. It might seem futile in the grand scheme of things, but every small action makes a difference if more of us play our part. This change in mindset not only enables people to be more proactive about protecting the environment but can also inspire others to do so too – after all, our planet is at stake and we need to have strong emotions if we are to protect it.

Collectively, we need to significantly increase our rate of recycling – while there are communities around South Africa that are carrying out this practice, it is not as widely adopted as for example in Europe, where authorities are far stricter when it comes to cutting down on waste by reducing, reusing and recycling as much as possible.

The scope of the waste challenge facing South Africa in this regard can appear deceptive, as South Africa is a much larger country than those in Europe, but it is there and it needs to be addressed without further delay.

This ties in with another major problem in more affluent sections of our society, which is food wastage. This is especially tragic, given that it is in stark contrast to the large numbers of people who are forced to go hungry. If we are to address these challenges, there are some serious conversations that need to be had in South African households.

Apart from looking at ways to cut down on unnecessary food wastage, households also need to look closely at how they dispose of spoiled food items in a more environmentally friendly manner. This includes adding them to compost bins instead or even turning to vermicomposting, where earthworms are used to speed up the composting process.

More of this education needs to take place in our schools so that children are made aware from a young age on how to better sustain our planet. This is especially important at a time when more of the country’s population lives in urban centres than in rural areas, and children (and adults) have become increasingly disconnected from the natural environment. We have dropped the ball by not getting our hands dirty (literally) anymore.

Earth Day is different – it’s not just for men or women, or lovers, or people of specific faiths. It’s not about one group or the other, but it’s for all of us – children, adults, individuals, businesses and organisations alike. It’s about connecting the world together and celebrating together. It’s about bringing us together to be more conscious about our impact on the environment, and what simple steps each and every one of us can take to make a difference – every day.