What Is “The Cloud”?

Today Everyone Is Talking About “The Cloud”.

But in fact “The Cloud” has been around a very long time. It was just called by different names and it wasn’t nearly as powerful, reliable or affordable as it is today.

You’re Already Using “The Cloud” But May Not Know It.

Your smartphone (iPhone or Android) is automatically connected to the cloud. You probably even have a backup that goes to “The Cloud” automatically so when you upgrade your phone you don’t have to reinstall everything.

It’s the same way with our banks. I had a grandfather who used to store all his cash in the mattress. But today, everyone trusts our bank to keep an accurate record of our

money and transactions and to allow us to check at any time day or night. And we can do this from our desktop computer, smart phone or tablet. We are accessing our “Bank Cloud” when we do this.

All You Need For Access…

is a good internet connection and a software vendor whose programs will work whether your data is stored locally or in “The Cloud”. There are many “Cloud Vendors” out there. All the big names — Apple™, Microsoft™, Google™, Amazon™ and many others too. It helps just to think of them as really huge — think acres of warehouse space — computer rooms. Something that size needs a serious team to manage it and a serious power grid to maintain it.

What Does It Mean For Your Title Plant To Be In “The Cloud”?

In a nutshell…

  • Your Plant is stored at a very secure remote location.
  • You can search your Plant the same way you search now.
  • Your Plant is protected to a degree that surpasses what you have currently.
  • IIX also has a way for you to retain an exact copy on your server too. You can read about that here.

What Is “The IIX Cloud”?

“The IIX Cloud” is just part of “The Cloud”. We have a presence within a massive collection of physical cabinets each of which contains multiple servers and all the peripherals that go with those servers. We have:

  • Internet bandwidth so fast and broad that your local service will never surpass it.
  • Massive banks of power sources with multiple huge commercial generators guaranteeing we never lose power even in the most demanding days of summer.
  • State of the art servers, drives and peripherals that guarantee peak performance.
  • Built in redundancy in the network so any failure is handled without loss of service.
  • Five different levels of backups – some running every five minutes, others every fifteen minutes and still others three times every day of the year — meaning your data is super-secure!

The “IIX Cloud” Could Have Saved These Clients.

Let me share a few scary but true stories. I know they are true because IIX was engaged as a consultant in all of them.

Meltdown

A few years ago, we signed an NDA and did a free Plant conversion for a prospective client in November. They liked what they saw, signed our contract and scheduled to Go Live December 11. December 4 they called to say their building had burned down! The pictures they sent were shocking. Their server was a pool of charred plastic and fried hard drives. Nothing was retrievable.

But when I asked how recent their server backup was I was stunned.  They had never performed a single backup!

Our NDA states that we will delete all the data we used to do the conversion if the client decides not  to migrate to IIX. The only copy of their valuable plant was on the “IIX Cloud”! You can imagine how much it would have cost them to rebuild their plant from scratch.

Flooding

Several years ago we were back-file scanning at a Texas County Clerk’s office. We asked the Clerk where a certain set of volumes where. She told us that years ago a fire alarm triggered the sprinkler system. What the fire didn’t burn, the water damaged irreparably.

The lost volumes were their only copy and now it was gone forever. If they had scanned their documents they could have had multiple copies of them stored in different locations in “the Cloud” for less than it cost to clean-up the mess after the fire.

    Ransomware

    In November and December 2018, two Title Company clients were infected by a new strain of the Ransomware virus. Both clients had good IT support people but they were infected and lost everything. For complicated reasons, neither client had a recent comprehensive backup.

    Every file on the server was encrypted — even the database! They were “dead in the water”.  Both clients ended up paying thousands of dollars to the Ransomware thugs and more money to the IT folks who helped them through the crisis.

      Both were completely out of action for more than two weeks. That’s more expense and they also had to play catch up after the recovery.

      In each of the above stories, if those clients had their data on the IIX Cloud they would have been fully protected and would not have lost anything — data or time.  Some of these companies are now on the IIX Cloud.

      When You Are On “The IIX Cloud”…

      You Will Remain In Control

      Even though your Plant is stored at a remote location you retain 100% ownership and 100% control at all times.

      Also, IIX hosts many different Plants and some may even be for the same County.  But every Plant is “firewalled” so users only have access to the plants for which they are registered.  Even though IIX has access to every Plant and its associated images, will never take any data from one plant and use it in another. The contract states all this categorically and unequivocally.

      You Will Save Money

      Gone are the days of having to purchase a new server and all the software upgrades every 5 years (Operating System, Microsoft Sequel Server, migration of data etc.). IIX takes care of all that for you. Below is a chart that shows the potential savings.

      Please note these numbers …

      1. Are estimates and averages. Your numbers may be higher or lower.

      2. Don’t reflect the benefits of five levels of backup, much higher security and the peace of mind knowing your data is safe.

      Click to zoom the images below.

      You Can Rest Easy

      Also, with your Plant on the IIX Cloud you are fully protected. Protected from the bad guys accessing and/or corrupting your data. Gone are the days worrying if your backups are current and if they have been safely stored offsite. Here is a summary some of the protections.

        Protection From The Bad Guys.
        • Anti-Virus – All the latest virus profiles keep you safe.
        • Ransomware – These viruses are always blocked preventing Plant corruption.
        • Firewalls – Both hardware and software firewalls add yet another level of protection.
        Backups - Five Different Levels.

        1. Plant servers are replicated (mirrored) every 5 minutes. In the event a server ever failed you will be automatically switched to the other servers.

        2. Every 15 minutes snapshots are taken and 3 times daily they are rolled up into full backups and retained for 21 days.

        3. Every evening backups are stored on local devices.

        4. Every evening local backups are stored at other cloud locations.

        5. An additional cloud backup/storage location is currently being alpha tested.

        You Can Focus On Your Core Business

        Now that you don’t need to worry about all the IT stuff, you are freed up to focus on your core business — Searching Title and Closing Orders.

        It Makes Sense To Move To The “IIX Cloud”

        Here are some analogies.

        Leasing vs Purchasing

        Often it makes sense for a business to lease a vehicle instead of purchasing one. You can write off your full lease
        payment instead of depreciating the asset.

        The same with the IIX Cloud.  You get to write off the full amount as an expense.

        Hiring a Subcontractor vs DIY

        Unless you are a very handy person who has a lot of time on your hands, it makes sense to hire an electrician, a plumber or a carpenter for that kind of work.

        Plus they are specialists in their fields just like you are in yours.  Our company name is iiExperts and we are experts at Title Plant software and services.

          Writing Your Own Software

          Usually it doesn’t make sense to write your own programs unless you have a real gift for it and have a lot of time on your hands.

          Today there is a “mature” market for most software applications and almost everyone purchases or subscribes to a software package.

          The IIX Cloud is a bundle of software, hardware and services and it can make a lot of sense to purchase that as a bundle too and receive all the updates and improvements automatically.

            In Summary The “IIX Cloud”…

            1. Saves you money.

            2. Give you peace of mind

            3. Protects your investment.

            4. Lets you focus on your core business.

            5. Lets you access your Plant from anywhere on the Internet.

            Contact us below to discuss!

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