The most asked question we get, when discussing QCloud or QPro cloud software, is “But what happens if I’m trying to do my daily work in QFloors and my internet goes down?”
This is a valid concern, but fortunately, we can ease your worry.
First of all – as the world becomes more and more “wired”, the frequency of internet outages, slowness, and other issues has dramatically decreased. Even in small towns, internet coverage has expanded. It is estimated that within the next 5-7 years, stable, strong internet coverage will be available throughout 90 percent of the country. Experts also say it will only get faster and more reliable.
Key players like Adobe, Microsoft, Google and others are betting that everything will become browser-based, and are focusing their new development in that direction. QFloors is joining them. To our best knowledge, all other competitors in our space are resisting this change. But we’re happy to be blazing the trail for the floor covering industry.
However, this doesn’t mean that every QFloors customer must jump off the traditional QFloors system all at once. It will carry you along for years to come. We know that everyone’s situation is different. But as you consider utilizing cloud technology in the future, we would like to ease a few fears.
As stated, internet issues of slowness, lack of coverage, and outages are going to become less and less of a factor. However, it is also important to be prepared for the unexpected, and it’s vital your business is protected. One way to ensure your company does not go down, even if the intenet does, is to have a backup plan. Many companies protect themselves by using more than one internet provider. The additional internet could come from copper or fiber hardware lines coming into your building. Or it can come from wireless connections. When you have this type of a setup, if something happens to one of your internet providers and everything goes down, the second source can keep you up and going.
Additionally, people are using HotSpots on their phones for backup internet. That would solve the problem of all the wires coming into your building being cut or damaged in some way. You can use your Hot Spot internet on your cell phone, and connect your computers and tablet devices to that hot spot, and still conduct business as usual.
Or, as another example, Verizon has a broadband backup solution designed to provide temporary internet for the office in case of an emergency. This would be a more advanced wireless backup than just using your phone. So you see, there are many solutions, just depending upon how far you want to take it. We currently have 25% of our customer base using a cloud solution, and these types of backup solutions seem to be working well for them.
At QFloors, we actually use two separate internet providers – Comcast and Integra. That is so we always have a backup. As you can imagine, it’s never a good thing if our phone system or internet goes down. We’re trying to do everything in our power to both prevent and prepare for that possibility.
