Tag: #cloud

How to Select the Most Suitable Cloud LMS for your Business

There’s a cloud LMS for just about anything, and the options are growing increasingly diverse as the tech industry evolves.

But which LMS is suitable for your business? This post will help you figure that out by outlining the different features and benefits of different types of cloud LMSs and then guiding you to choose the one that’s right for your unique needs.

So whether you’re in the early stages of planning or just need some help getting started, read on for insights that will help you make the best decision for your business!

Step 1: Understand Your Requirements

The first step to choosing the right LMS is to define your needs. What are you looking for in an online learning platform? Do you need a customizable platform with integrated social media features, or do you need automated course management tools that can help keep track of employees’ progress? 

Once you have a better understanding of what your business needs, it’s easier to identify which cloud LMS option is best for you.

Step 2: Look at Features and Benefits

Next, it’s time to take a look at the different features and benefits offered by different LMSs.

Cloud-based learning platforms offer many advantages over traditional online courses – they’re easy to use, can be adapted to meet specific needs, and are accessible from anywhere in the world.

Here are some key features that will help you decide which LMS is right for your business:

Integrated social media tools: Many cloud-based learning platforms include built-in social media capabilities so you can keep track of employees’ progress and share course materials with colleagues. Also, many platforms offer the ability to run social media campaigns and track engagement data.

Automated course management tools: Many cloud-based learning platforms include features that make it easy for administrators to keep track of employees’ progress, assign grades, and manage deadlines.

Mobile app support: Many LMSs offer mobile app support so you can access materials from any device. This is particularly useful for busy businesses that need to continue learning on the go.

Customizable platform: Cloud-based LMS tend to be more customizable than traditional online courses, which means you can create a platform that best meets your needs.

Step 3: Evaluate the costs and benefits of each LMS

Once you’ve identified which features are most important to your business, it’s time to evaluate the costs and benefits of each option.

Cloud-based learning platforms offer many advantages, including automated course management tools, mobile app support, and customizable platforms.

In addition, cloud-based learning platforms like Paycom App usually have lower monthly fees than the cost incurred in implementing traditional training techniques. So if a cloud-based platform meets all your business needs – cost being one factor among many – it may be the best option.

Step 4: Decide on the best LMS for your business

Now that you’ve evaluated each option and determined which features are most important, it’s time to choose the best LMS for your business.

Remember: a good LMS should meet all your needs – cost, customization, and functionality – so don’t be afraid to spend a little bit of money upfront. And remember: The BEST learning platform is one that works well for you and your employees!

Conclusion

Choosing the right learning platform can be a complex decision. But by following these steps, you’ll be on your way to finding the best LMS for your business.

New Research Report From Presidio Shows Cloud-Advanced Organisations Are Better Positioned to Stay Ahead of Market Conditions

Cloud adoption is a top priority for enabling innovation, becoming more agile and scaling growth, according to the 2022 Cloud Transformation Benchmark Report, commissioned by Presidio, the global digital services and solution provider that operates its European hub operations out of Sandyford in Dublin.

With inflation and the possibility of a recession, organisations have turned to cloud technology as a competitive edge and driver for operational efficiency. Companies with mature cloud adoption have demonstrated a greater ability to scale to meet demand and grow ahead of price increases, labour shortages, cybersecurity attacks and supply chain challenges. In fact, Presidio’s research found that cloud-advanced organisations experienced greater efficiency (69%) and increased speed to market (68%) from cloud adoption. The report also uncovered the biggest opportunities and challenges in digital transformation, including:

  • Top Drivers: maintaining compliance (53%), becoming more agile and supporting innovation (45%), and scaling and growing the company (43%) are top factors driving organisations to the Cloud. For healthcare and financial services organisations, compliance (56% and 57% respectively) and saving money (52% and 48% respectively) were the top two drivers.
  • Data Struggles: 70% of IT leaders report difficulties with too many disparate data sources, and 65% are challenged in providing timely actionable data and dashboards to the right users.
  • Top Roadblocks:security concerns (44%), skills gap (36%) and finding the right partner with the right experience (35%) are the biggest roadblocks to cloud adoption.
  • Influence of IT varies widely:many (42%) say they have little to no influence on their business initiatives while 22% say they play an important role in business decisions.
  • Expectations vs. Reality: 60% of IT decision-makers indicate experience in building cloud-native applications, but only 17% believe their team is proficient with DevOps and automation.

“Digital transformation is more than just moving applications and workloads to the Cloud – it’s curated disruption in traditional thinking that drives competitive advantage,” said Robert Kim, Presidio’s Chief Technology Officer. “This report validates our viewpoint that companies who successfully adopt cloud strategies will drive increased long-term growth and be better positioned to weather the storm of geopolitical and socio-economic concerns – whether from global health issues, supply chain disruptions or dramatic fluctuations in the labour market. The key is finding the right partner to accelerate cloud initiatives to extract organizational value faster.”

Skills gaps range widely with over a quarter (27%) of organizations acknowledging that they are not skilled or are just getting started in building cloud-native applications, and less than a fifth (17%) of IT decision makers say their team is currently proficient with DevOps and automation. Additionally, only 19% say their teams are proficient with cloud operating models, and just 14% say they are proficient in artificial intelligence and machine learning.

To accomplish their goals, many organisations rely on partners that can address some of IT’s biggest concerns, such as looming cybersecurity threats and advanced attacks. In fact, 95% of IT leaders value partners who understand data and access security, threat protection and recovery. Additionally, the majority (94%) also say it’s essential for partners to have experience in modern network technologies that handle different types of data both on premise and in the cloud.

For more information on how to solve the biggest challenges download the report here.

Dell Technologies Delivers Industry-First Innovations with VMware to Power Multicloud and Edge Solutions

Dell Technologies (NYSE: DELL) is introducing new infrastructure solutions, co-engineered with VMware, that deliver greater automation and performance for organizations embracing multicloud and edge strategies.

“Customers tell us they want help simplifying their multicloud and edge strategies as they look to drive more efficiency and performance from their IT,” said Jeff Boudreau, president, Dell Technologies Infrastructure Solutions Group.  “Dell Technologies and VMware have numerous joint engineering initiatives spanning core IT areas such as multicloud, edge and security to help our customers more easily manage and gain value from their data.”

Business data and applications continue to grow in multicloud environments comprised of edge locations, public clouds and on-premises IT. Many organizations have already adopted a multicloud approach, and the number of applications running at the edge will grow 800% by 2024. 

“IDC’s global research shows many organizations are struggling to balance the rapidly rising complexity and cost of data center, edge and cloud operations with relentless business demand for better data integration, security and application performance,” notes Mary Johnston Turner, IDC research vice president, future of digital infrastructure agenda. “These organizations recognize the need for a consistent operating model tightly integrated with infrastructure platforms that support sophisticated, large scale data-driven workloads.”

Dell VxRail delivers greater performance and smallest-ever systems at the edge

Dell is introducing several new VxRail systems and software advancements that improve performance on-premises and at the edge including the industry’s only jointly engineered HCI-based DPU solution with VMware.

 

  • Improved system performance: A result of co-engineering with VMware and its Project Monterey initiative, VxRail systems support new VMware vSphere 8 software that has been rearchitected to run on DPUs. Customers can improve application and networking infrastructure performance and improve TCO by moving these services from a system’s CPU to its new on-board DPU.

 

  • Support demanding workloads: Select VxRail systems now support VMware’s new vSAN Enterprise Storage Architecture (ESA). With up to 4x vSAN performance improvement, customers can better support demanding mission-critical applications.

  • Smallest edge systems: VxRail rugged modular nodes deliver high performance and scalability in the system’s smallest form factor to date. Modular nodes are ideal for edge use cases including healthcare, energy and utilities and digital cities because of VxRail’s industry-first, on-board hardware witness, which allows for deployment in high latency, low bandwidth locations.

“The increasing demand for software-defined infrastructure services for networking, storage and security places more demands on already-strained CPUs. As more distributed, resource intensive applications are onboarded, there is a need to reimagine data center architecture to fully support the requirements of these applications,” said Krish Prasad, senior vice president & general manager, Cloud Infrastructure Business Group, VMware. “Dell VxRail with VMware vSphere 8 will deliver a foundation for next generation data center architecture by running infrastructure services on the DPU. This will enable greater network and application performance and a new level of sophistication in adopting Zero Trust security strategies to protect modern enterprise workloads.”

Dell APEX expands multicloud and edge support for VMware environments

Dell is adding several offers to its APEX portfolio for VMware workloads that speed development of cloud-native apps and better allocate compute and storage resources for applications at the edge.

APEX Cloud Services with VMware Cloud adds managed VMware Tanzu Kubernetes Grid services, which allows IT teams to help developers move faster by using a container-based approach to application development. With Dell-managed Tanzu services, customers can provision Kubernetes clusters through the vSphere user interface. Organizations also will be able to speed development efforts by building, testing and running cloud-native applications alongside traditional applications on the same platform.

APEX Private Cloud and APEX Hybrid Cloud offer new compute-only options that allow customers to support more workloads and increase IT infrastructure efficiency by independently scaling compute and storage resources. Organizations can start small and scale their infrastructure as their IT needs change. Customers can use Dell’s industry-leading enterprise storage data services by connecting compute-only instances to Dell storage such as APEX Data Storage Services.

“APEX Hybrid Cloud lets us manage our multicloud environment seamlessly and gain better insights into our VMware workloads. It’s allowed us to reduce the cost of supporting applications and workloads by 20%,” said Ben Doyle, chief information officer, ATN International. “We stood up the Dell APEX solution quickly, and we easily moved 70% of our infrastructure to it in under three months. We look forward to working with Dell Technologies to expand our cloud footprint moving forward.”

Dell Validated Designs for AI – AutoML uses AI to democratize data science

Dell Validated Designs for AI – Automatic Machine Learning (AutoML) uses automated machine learning models to help data scientists of all skill levels develop AI-powered applications.

The solution includes tested and proven configurations of Dell VxRail hyperconverged infrastructure with H2O.ai, NVIDIA and VMware software to help customers speed time to insight from data with automation that delivers up to 18x faster AI models.6

Organizations report 20% faster time to value with Dell Validated Designs for AI, helping data scientists of all skill levels develop AI-powered applications faster. VMware Tanzu in Dell Validated Designs for AI provides greater container security and allows customers to run AI at the edge using VMware Tanzu services.

Availability

  • New Dell VxRail solutions will be globally available beginning in the second half of 2022.
  • Managed VMware Tanzu Kubernetes Grid for APEX Cloud Services with VMware Cloud are available now in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia and New Zealand with additional global availability forthcoming.
  • APEX Private Cloud and APEX Hybrid Cloud updates are available in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany in September with additional global availability forthcoming.
  • Dell Validated Designs for AI – Automatic Machine Learning (AutoML) is globally available now.

 

Siemens establishes R&D operations in Shannon, with a €7 million investment and the establishment of its first global ‘Cloud EDA’ R&D group

Siemens Digital Industries Software will establish a software research and development group in Shannon, Co. Clare. The multimillion-euro investment will focus on High Performance Computing (HPC) in the Cloud for semiconductor design.

The project, which is supported by the Irish Government through IDA Ireland, is the first ‘Cloud EDA’ R&D group to be established by Siemens Digital Industries Software globally, and enhances Ireland already a strong reputation of in Cloud Software Development and HPC R&D.

This division is expected to create more than 25 new and highly impactful R&D roles in Shannon over the next three years, focused on delivering cutting edge cloud HPC environments for Siemens EDA workloads.

Tánaiste & Minister for Enterprise Trade & Employment Leo Varadkar said: “This is great news from Siemens, investing €7m in Shannon and creating 25 new highly skilled jobs over the next three years. It really demonstrates the skill and reputation of the company’s existing staff here that such a significant investment would be made in such an area of importance for the company. The very best of luck to the new team.”

Joe Sawicki, VP, Engineering, Siemens EDA, said: “We are excited about the new R&D division in Shannon focusing on Cloud development. The cloud represents a step change in capability for our Electronic Design Automation (EDA) customers and harnessing its potential will be key for our continued success.”

Martin Gennery, Sr. Director for Siemens Industries Software Limited and the site lead in Shannon added: “It is excellent to see Siemens demonstrate its continued commitment to Shannon as a strategic location by locating its first software R&D division in Ireland here. Due to Shannon’s central location in the mid-west between Limerick and Galway it has always attracted top talent. This expansion offers an opportunity to work on the latest technologies while benefiting from the work life balance delivered by hybrid working based in the mid-west.”

Siemens EDA (formerly Mentor Graphics) has had a significant presence in Shannon for over 20 years, delivering key financial and business operations worldwide. The Shannon operation of Siemens Digital Industries Software currently employs 150 people and is continually growing.

The rapidly expanding software R&D group is commencing recruiting for roles related to a multi-cloud hybrid PaaS/SaaS project including Cloud Infrastructure, Software Development, Application Security, DevOps, HPC & EDA.

Denis Curran, IDA Ireland’s Head of Property & Regional Development said: “Siemens is a longstanding employer in the Mid-West region.  The addition of this new R&D function and the associated transformational impact on the position of the Irish site within the global organisation is significant. I wish to congratulate Siemens on this expansion and wish them every success”

For more information visit https://new.siemens.com/ie/en/company/jobs/search-careers.html

The Importance of Cloud Computing in Business

Cloud computing is an on-demand technology that quickly provides the resources you need to run your business without a long wait for setup or installation.

Nowadays, there are many cloud computing services available, so it can be hard to determine which one is best for your needs. However, this blog post will tell you some factors you should take into account when migrating to a cloud service provider!

1) Security

Security should be one of the top priorities when migrating your business to a new cloud service provider. As many companies, such as APT group, have shown, security vulnerabilities within various popular cloud services are easily exploited for malicious and sometimes financially motivated purposes.

So, take some time to do a thorough assessment and research before you decide which cloud provider or services you want to use. Many providers will ask security professionals if they can perform an audit on the system before you sign up with them, so that should help you get started with the decision process!

2) Support Services and Service Level Agreements (SLAs)

Many cloud providers will offer support services in the form of phone calls, online chats, and more. However, it is important to note that most SLAs only offer a certain level of access. Even Microsoft recommends using an independent backup service to protect your data.

If you are considering different Office 365 migration services, make sure you check the SLA to ensure your data is protected. For services like Office 365 Migration and Azure Data Backup you need 24×7 support from cloud provider via email/chat/phone. 

3) Quick and Easy access to Resources

The main reason why companies are interested in cloud computing is the fact that it allows them to quickly and easily access IT resources. This is especially true if you are trying to start up a brand-new business. You or your company will not want to spend hours, sometimes even days, configuring and installing various services.

Quick and easy access to resources is one of the biggest benefits of cloud computing. Services such as Office 365 allow your employees and customers to access their data from anywhere they want while providing security at all times. By using a cloud service provider, your business can literally go global within minutes!

4) Affordability

Cloud computing is a great way to cut down on IT costs. For example, 82% of SMBs report reduced costs from adopting cloud-based services.

5) Scalability and Flexibility

With cloud computing services, your business will be able to easily upgrade or downgrade your service plan anytime you want. This is important as your business will change over time, and different services might need to be added or removed. For example, it is obvious that if you have a lot of employees today, you will need more licenses for a certain app.

For most Azure users, this flexibility is the main reason why they want to use the cloud service. 

6) Cloud Services are Ideal for Startups and Growing Businesses

Cloud computing services are ideal for startups and growing businesses because they allow companies to focus on how to best serve their customers instead of worrying about technical issues.

If you are interested in migrating to cloud computing services, be sure to research your options. In addition to the tips above, look at each provider in terms of how they offer support and service level agreements, as well as their reliability and reputation.

Also, take into account the security of the data, especially if you are hoping to use cloud service providers for storing customer or company information.

CWSI raises funding of €21M and acquires Dutch security specialist BLAUD

CWSI, Ireland’s most experienced mobile and cloud security specialist, today announces the acquisition of BLAUD, a mobility and security specialist based in Utrecht, Netherlands. To complete this acquisition and to support ambitious growth plans to become a leading pan-European cloud and mobile security provider, CWSI has secured new funding of €21M, which includes both debt finance and equity investment.

Equity investment has been secured from Castlegate Investments, a private equity and family office firm. A new debt facility from a major Irish bank has also been established.

BLAUD will become a wholly owned subsidiary within the CWSI Group. Its 20 employees, including CEO and co-founder Thierry Lammers, have joined the group.

Following the acquisition, which is CWSI’s first on mainland Europe, it forecasts that group revenues will grow to more than €20M in 2022. The European and UK markets are expected to contribute 75% of the overall revenues.

Servicing both the private and public sectors, BLAUD provides technical, consulting, support, and managed services to customers across Unified Endpoint Management (UEM), Mobile Threat Defence (MTD), and enterprise application/software development. BLAUD has more than 100 direct clients and also runs a successful channel partnership programme.  Clients include Smurfit Kappa, Amsterdam UMC, the Dutch Department of Waterways and Public Works, and law enforcement organisations.

CWSI is headquartered in Dublin and provides mobility and security solutions to enterprise and government customers both directly and through partnerships with global telecommunications providers including Telefonica, Telstra and Hutchison Whampoa (Three).

CWSI will extend the market for BLAUD’s application development services into the UK and Ireland. BLAUD’s customers will be able to access CWSI’s wide range of technical skills, resources and channel partnerships, including its dedicated Microsoft Security Practice, backed by its Microsoft Gold Security competency and membership of the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association (MISA).

This latest deal for CWSI follows the acquisition and successful integration of UK-based cyber and cloud security services provider AVR in April 2021.

Roy Barrett, CEO of Castlegate Investments, said: “We are pleased to partner with Ronan and his proven management team to enable CWSI to execute on its strategy to build a leading, European cybersecurity business.”

 

Thierry Lammers, co-founder and CEO of BLAUD, said: “CWSI and BLAUD share the same DNA of enabling organisations and their employees to work productively and securely from anywhere, on any device. I look forward to working with CWSI to continue to find new ways to create value for our customers and solve their security challenges.”

Ronan Murphy, co-founder and CEO of CWSI, said: “I’m delighted to welcome Thierry and the team at BLAUD to the CWSI Group. There is a strong overlap in our solution areas, value propositions and company cultures and both organisations have strong representation in the Criminal Justice and Public Health sectors.  Bringing the two business together creates one of the largest and most experienced mobile security teams in Europe.

“This exciting new chapter of the CWSI story wouldn’t be possible without the support of our new equity investors and I look forward to repaying their confidence in us as we execute on our buy and build strategy to create a leading pan-European provider of cloud and mobile security solutions.”

Workday to Create 1,000 New Jobs in Dublin Over the Next Two Years; Plans to Build New European Headquarters at Grangegorman

Workday, Inc., a leader in enterprise cloud applications for finance and human resources, today announced that it intends to create 1,000 new jobs over the next two years at its European headquarters in Dublin, increasing its Ireland-based workforce by approximately 60%. This investment is supported by the Irish Government through IDA Ireland. In addition, to support its future growth and deepen its local community partnerships, Workday announced plans to construct its new European headquarters at Grangegorman, Dublin 7.

The news was shared at an event at Workday’s European Headquarters that was attended by Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD and Martin Shanahan, CEO, IDA Ireland, and Workday Co-CEO Chano Fernandez, Executive Vice President, Product and Technology, Sayan Chakraborty and Senior Vice President, Chris Byrne.

As part of its growth in the region, Workday will be hiring in roles across product development, engineering and data science, sales, services and user experience. Workday’s Dublin team has played a central role in the company’s global product development and innovation efforts since the company first opened its office in Ireland in 2008. Workday currently employs more than 1,700 people in Dublin, helping support the organisation’s more than 9,500 customers worldwide.

Workday’s new European headquarters situated at Grangegorman will be a highly-sustainable 550,000 square foot campus across approximately four acres in a Strategic Development Zone, adjacent to Technological University Dublin. The company has agreed to purchase the site from the Health Service Executive (HSE). The Grangegorman Development Agency (GDA) is the state developer for the Grangegorman site.

As design planning for the new European headquarters begins, Workday will become the anchor tenant of the Dockline Building in Dublin 1, helping augment its existing headquarters at Kings Building. In addition to having excellent transport links and facilities, the 80,000 square foot Dockline Building has approximately 200 bicycle spaces and is BER A3 energy rated.

“Today’s announcement of 1,000 new jobs by Workday is a very significant endorsement of Ireland as a place to do business and in our reputation as a leading tech hub in Europe. It is a vote of confidence in the skills and talent of our workforce and in our continued attractiveness to leading global companies.  I also welcome the company’s decision to construct its new European headquarters at Grangegorman in Dublin,” said Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD.

“I was thrilled to join the Taoiseach in Dublin today to announce our continued investment in our workforce and workplace in Ireland. Our presence in Dublin, and the incredible talent we’ve been able to hire here, have been critical components of our innovation and customer service efforts – both core values at Workday. We see great opportunity ahead as we help some of the world’s largest organisations with their digital transformation efforts, including how they adapt to change, plan for the future, and support their employees in the changing world of work,” said Chano Fernandez, Co-CEO, Workday.

“This is an incredible expansion from Workday, creating 1,000 new jobs over the next two years. Choosing Grangegorman for its new European HQ is a real vote of confidence in Dublin and this new quarter of our capital city. I’d like to thank the team for their commitment to Ireland and wish them the very best of luck with this remarkable growth,” said Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment, Leo Varadkar TD.

“Our culture was built on great people because employees are our number one core value at Workday. Our planned new Grangegorman headquarters will provide us with a contemporary and thoughtful workplace to deliver even greater employee experiences and drive customer initiatives. As importantly, we will be able to engage more deeply in our local educational and community programmes, including our STEM partnership with Technological University Dublin, which will help to upskill young people ranging from primary school age to third level education,” said Chris Byrne, senior vice president, Workday.

“Workday’s investment in the planned Grangegorman campus and the addition of 1,000 new roles demonstrates the company’s long-term vision for its Irish based European HQ. The economic impact of this investment through the capital spend and creation of high value employment is both a significant win for Ireland and a huge vote of confidence in Ireland’s technology ecosystem. It will also be a significant boost to the business environment and increased economic activity in this North City area of Dublin. I wish the company continued success and the ongoing support of IDA Ireland,” said Martin Shanahan, CEO, IDA Ireland.

 “The HSE is delighted to facilitate the sale of part of the HSE’s retained lands in Grangegorman to Workday. This part of the site was always identified as a Commercial Hub area and having the new European Headquarters of Workday on the Campus exceeds the original vision for this area. This significant development will enhance the overall Grangegorman Campus which will be uniquely shared between the HSE, Technological University Dublin, the new local Primary School and Workday,” said a HSE spokesperson.

“This is an exciting and significant announcement for the Grangegorman area of Dublin City. It represents the next step for the Grangegorman project, bringing more new people to join the existing and emerging vibrant community here and further realising the overall vision for Grangegorman. The addition of Workday to Grangegorman also offers many potential opportunities for on-going collaboration and engagement with the site’s stakeholders, and we look forward to working closely with Workday to develop their plans for the site,” said Ger Casey, CEO, Grangegorman Development Agency (GDA).

 

Further details on open opportunities and careers at Workday can be found here: https://www.workday.com/en-us/pages/careers-dublin.html

Top Reasons to Consider Business Cloud Storage

As a business owner, you may find it quite challenging to decide which tools and services you should invest in. Of course, you need to be careful when it comes to your business budget, but you also need to ensure you invest in solutions that can aid efficiency and success for your business. The right solutions can make a big difference to your business in many ways, and this is why they are well worth investing in. Among those that are invaluable to businesses of all sizes are cloud storage solutions.

With services such as Backblaze cloud solutions, your business can look forward to benefiting in many ways. As long as you make the right choices in terms of your cloud storage plan and provider, you can look forward to everything from saving time and money to enjoying greater security and protection for your digital files. In today’s digital era, this type of solution has become particularly important for business. In this article, we will look at some of the top reasons to consider business cloud storage.

Some of the Benefits for Your Business

There are lots of benefits that you can look forward to when you invest in cloud storage for your business. Some of the major benefits include:

Security and Protection for Digital Data

One of the reasons many businesses invest in this type of solution is because of the enhanced level of protection and security they get. When you consider the risks businesses face when it comes to their digital data, it is not surprising that cloud services have become so popular. This includes risks such as malicious attacks or accidental deletion of important data. With the right cloud storage solution, you can ensure your data is safe and secure, and you can reduce the risk of falling victim to cybercrime or experiencing issues relating to the accidental deletion of your files.

Easy Access When You Need It

Another of the key benefits you can look forward to when you invest in these solutions is the ability to access your data with ease as and when you need to. With this type of service, it doesn’t matter where you are or what device you are using – you can still access your stored data whenever you need to. This is ideal if you want to view or work on documents while you are on the move or from home.

Affordable and Efficient

You can also look forward to affordability and efficiency when you invest in cloud storage, and you can save your business a lot of wasted time and resources. Using cloud storage is very simple and straightforward, so you don’t have to worry about any complicated processes. Everything can be done quickly and without any stress or hassle, and you have the added bonus of a very affordable solution for your business.

These are some of the many reasons to invest in cloud storage solutions for your business. 

What’s next for classic online games like blackjack

Rewind to the beginning of the millennium and video games like Paper Mario, The Legend of Zelda and Counter Strike could be found in many households across Ireland. These games were usually played on a PlayStation, or a computer monitor where the experience was limited by the quality of the tech it was played on.

Back then, no one would have thought that come 2021, we would be able to play online casino games using a Virtual Reality headset to make it seem like the player is standing inside the casino. Gaming has come a long way over the past two decades, yet the digital revolution continues to transform the gaming experience. 

Below, we’ll take a look at how digital technology is transforming online casino games like blackjack.

An increasingly competitive industry

As of 2018, there were over 2,800 active online casino sites operating around the world. Considering the online market is globally accessible, this creates a huge amount of pressure for players to choose which casino to play at, but even more pressure for online casino players to win and retain customers.

As a result, the industry has become highly competitive with online casinos constantly looking for ways to innovate in order to keep players coming back for more. From generous sign-up bonuses to free spins and mini bonus games, each provider is battling it out on the online stage, and online blackjack is no exception to this. 

The innovation of online blackjack and other popular casino games

 

 

Today, it’s no longer enough to offer a standard popular casino game like blackjack or roulette. Instead, providers must come up with new ways to make the gaming experience more interactive and entertaining than other providers. 

Online blackjack is one of those games where technology has transformed the gaming experience to offer some of the following benefits:

 

  • More variety – Some of the best online casinos offer many different varieties of blackjack with differing stakes to cater to every players’ needs. 

 

  • Bonuses – Online casinos often offer generous sign up bonuses or offer free cash to encourage new players to test out a site without having to commit. This is something you wouldn’t find in a brick and mortar casino and is ideal for newer players. 

 

  • Accessibility – Playing blackjack, slots or roulette online means players can access their favourite game from anywhere with a decent Wi-Fi connection, at any time of day or night. There’s no need to plan ahead, simply open the app to play while on the morning commute or simply from the comfort of your sofa one evening at home. 

 

  • Security – As technology has developed, so too have online transactions. It’s now safer than ever to make payment transfers online. What’s more, transfers are usually quick and relatively easy, whether withdrawing money or depositing it. 

The future of online gaming

 

 

While we’ve already seen a dramatic uptake in the number of online casino players in recent years, technology continues to innovate the online gaming experience. Below are some of the technologies we will see emerging over the next few years to come. 

Cloud hosting

Just like the movie industry has transitioned to online streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime, the gaming industry is now doing the same with the likes of Google Stadia, Amazon Luna and Xbox Cloud Gaming services. 

Games hosted on cloud platforms look exactly like a game that has been downloaded to a console, only they’re more easy to access from anywhere in the world and on a variety of different devices, they have a faster streaming speed and they don’t require players to create masses of memory available on their hardware to save the game. 

Social gaming

One thing we’ve learnt from the past year is that people need to be able to connect in different ways. Many games now offer multiplayer modes where players can join live games together and compete with other players from across the world. Games like COD and FIFA are excellent examples of this, even enabling players to chat while they’re playing.

Online games are also becoming better integrated with social media, in which aspects like screenshot or recording mode are becoming more common so that players can live stream or share their game on platforms like YouTube or Twitch. 

More ways to make payments

Not only are online payments becoming safer, but they’re also becoming much more user friendly. Online wallets like PayPal mean that players can make a withdrawal or deposit within seconds, without having to enter lots of payment card details, while options like crypto payments are becoming much more common. 

Crypto payments enable players to pay with crypto currency like Bitcoin. As cryptocurrencies rely on blockchain technology rather than a centralised bank, the payment method is much more anonymous. They’re also much faster compared to traditional payment options that require approval from the bank. 

Overall, the online casino industry has come an incredibly long way since the days of Zelda and Mario Kart. As technologies have become more affordable and accessible to countries around the world, more and more people are opting to play their favourite casino games online. 

These games are continuing to innovate; becoming more interactive for players in the way video games offer entertainment. While we’re already benefiting from the likes of VR technology, social gaming and themes slots, there’s no sign of the innovation slowing down any time soon.