CLOUD COMPUTING FOR YOUR FUTURE

Administrators of churches, not-for-profit organizations, and businesses are rapidly moving to Cloud-hosted applications. The October, 2010 issue of Journal of Accountancy reports that Cloud computing revenues reached $68.3 billion in 2010, and are expected to grow to $148.8 billion by 2014.

The future of Cloud Computing:

“Cloud computing appears clearly to be the future of technology.”
“The Cloud is changing IT from technology-centric to business-centric.”
“A study found that over the next 12 months, 40 percent of companies plan to look for Cloud-based document and content management solutions, addressing the management headaches of creating, storing, accessing and sharing information.”
“Nearly two-thirds of medium-size firms are now involved with the Cloud.”
“One survey found that 85 percent of companies said they were moving to the Cloud to reduce capital expenditures and 84 percent to drive down costs.”

Types of Cloud computing:

Software as a Service (fully functional software programs)
Business Process as a Service (outsource an entire business function)
RDS Connect© is both Software as a Service (SaaS), and Business Process as a Service (BPaaS). Importantly, RDS Connect© is the highest security standard of SaaS, which is Software as a Secure Service (SaSS). RDS Connect© is hosted on a Tier III Data Center and communication of data between client and server is 256 bit SSL encrypted. Security doesn’t get any better than that.

Effect on Ministry:

Cloud-hosted data processing shifts expenditures from managing IT resources to ministry functions.
The vagaries and interruptions of computers, servers and networks are no longer suffered by staff performing their work.
Staff is freed to work from any location with Internet access. There are no geographic boundaries.
SaSS Cloud computing is more secure than can be accomplished on-site.
Data storage is unlimited, so there is no need to add disk space or suffer from lack of space.
Staff or IT management of daily backups, updating software and managing servers and networks are eliminated or minimized.

Efficiencies of a Cloud-hosted church system:

Users share processing power and space that is managed by RDS.
Quick implementation process. Applications can be up and running almost overnight.
Anytime access from anywhere. Work 24/7 from any location with Internet access.
Lower upfront costs. Cloud-hosted services substitute ‘pay as you go’ for larger initial costs.
Little or no hardware maintenance. RDS takes responsibility for maintaining software and servers.
Reallocation of resources. IT staff can be reallocated for more strategic projects, rather than spending time on system upgrades and maintenance.
Easier and more regular upgrades. RDS provides many new features and upgrades each year. These are made in the background without disrupting staff work.

 

At First Baptist Church, Seminole, we’ve been users of RDS for over 20 years. In all of this time, we’ve never experienced any problem. One of the great things about RDS that we’ve appreciated most was the all-inclusive packaging. You don’t have to pick and choose and pay for things separately. Another thing we’ve appreciated along the way was the continual updates to new and innovative software. As our needs changed, so did the software. In early 2011 we began a migration from PC to Mac. With the transition we initially planned to use RDS via Terminal Services and consideration we made two changes. First, we upgraded our internet speed through a different service provider and Second, we made the transition to RDS Cloud. We found the change useful and beneficial to our needs. RDS Cloud really gives us RDS anywhere we have an Internet connection. At home, conferences, or when traveling, we have RDS at our fingers. Our Pastor and Ministerial Staff use Ipads and Iphones as ministry tools. We’ve found RDS useful on both the Ipads and Iphones. Several weeks ago, while at and Upward Soccer Game, we became aware of the tragic loss of a brother of one of our Church Members. We needed to make contact the church member and immediately connected to RDS via the cloud on the Ipad. Within moments we were in contact and made a personal touch with our church family member. Will technology replace relationships and the “personal touch” No! Can and should we use technology to aid us in keeping pace with immediate access to information? Absolutely!

Matthew D. Pollock
Minister of Education and Children
Seminole First Baptist Church

Testimonials

“As new users in the Cloud, we have noticed faster response times when working in our database. Logging in and out of the Cloud system is a breeze. And although, we haven’t yet experienced this we know we are going to absolutely love the fact that we do not have to ever again install any updates, instead this will be done for us by the good folks at RDS. However, the main benefit to our church is that our bookkeeper, who works off premises, is able to access the database from her home. This in itself is the greatest advantage to us."

Jody McBride, Covenant Community Church, Yukon, OK


"I just wanted to let you know how much we love using the Cloud version of RDS. We have had several snow days this winter when I could not get to the office and the Cloud allowed me to do some necessary work from my laptop at home. I also really like not having to worry about whether my computer backups are happening. Thanks for this huge upgrade!!"

Audrey Williams, The Porch Co., Nashville, TN


"Within the last 2 months we have moved over to the RDS Cloud here at FBC Kingfisher. Before going on the cloud we had fallen somewhat behind on the RDS updates. A huge plus to being on the cloud is the fact that we will never have to worry about not being on the latest version ever again since these updates are automatically done for us by RDS. Another thing that gives us great peace of mind is the fact that we know all of our data stored in RDS is backed up in a remote location should anything ever happen to our computer. The system is working great for us and we highly recommend it to all! Thank you to the RDS Staff for all you do for us and for your great support that is always there for us! You are a genuine blessing to us!"

Nancy Holthe, First Baptist Church, Kingfisher, OK

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