3 Things to Think about when Picking a Cloud Service

Just so that we’re all on the same page when I say “Cloud Service” what I’m talking about is the ability to save documents remotely. This is the essence of cloud computing. Where previously we would have to save all of our documents to the local hard drive on the computer. Now we can save it to a hard drive that we can access through the internet.  Previously I reviewed the major cloud Services. At their lowest level of functionality, they are all roughly the same. They all store your files (be it documents, music, movie or pictures) through the Cloud. The “Big Four” (iCloud, OneDrive, G-Drive and DropBox) are for sure the best of the best for services you can use. While I certainly have my own opinions as to which ones you should use, you may have your personal opinion. All I would recommend is to keep in mind the following. It may save you some time and make it so that you’re choice of cloud service is the one you can stick with for a while.

1) Is there a natural cloud service built in? – For many of us, taking the time to find a cloud service, making sure all the features are the way that we want them and making sure you can access it from all of your devices is not in the cards. Either the process is so overwhelming because of the technical specifications required, or you don’t have the time. If this sounds like you, then I would take a look and see if there is a cloud extension already in your File Explorer (or Finder for you Mac heads out there). If there is a OneDrive option already built into your PC, then it might make more sense for you to use that. Likewise in Mac, there will be the ability to use iCloud, and so the set up for it is relatively simple. If you’re not looking for anything complex in the setup, then perhaps the native cloud service is the one you should go with.

2) Functionality – Like I said, the Base level functionality for all cloud services is roughly the same. There are some that have slightly different functions that you may want to explore. It’s essential for you to look into the differences to see which would work better for you. If sharing files with multiple people is what you’re after, you may want to choose a service that allows for that. If there is a specific size of memory that you are looking for, then you may want to go with one service or the other.

3) Price – While all of the big four have a free version, it is generally a limited amount. Somewhere between 2 and 5 GB is typically what I’ve seen. That is about where the similarities end. For each of the four major cloud services, there are different price points for different memory levels. It’s important for you to work with that you need and not get the most expensive one right off the bat.
The point of having a cloud service is to make your life easier, not to make it more difficult. Picking which service to use can be quite easy if you know what you want. If you want a more detailed explanation of each of the Big Four, I’ve linked to the original posts I wrote about each one in the intro. Feel free to check it out.

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