Cloudbox, a cloud solutions provider, has adopted the shopping mall concept and aims to simplify IT for business owners who do not always have the technical expertise or time to manage multiple solutions and service providers
Cloudbox offers a set of core services, including email, email backups, secure file sharing, data backups, cybersecurity and collaboration tools, for every small business.
Previously, these services would have been obtained from several suppliers on a separate basis, resulting in unnecessary complexity and management.
Alto Africa CEO Justin Trent, said, “After a very lengthy due diligence process of all the best providers in the market, Cloudbox was born.”
“One also needs to understand the SME technology requirements. After spending a lot of time with SME’s, we knew the solution had to be easy to use, easy to understand and cost effective while at the same time ensuring our client's data was safe from cybercrime or loss,” he explained.
“This is a massive challenge when trying to scale a business, add or remove employees, trying to work in multiple locations and control data. Business owners also want to be able to accurately budget for their IT spend and have a robust solution that works all of the time,” Trent added.
Cloudbox plans to provide South African SMEs with corporate grade IT solutions and expert IT advice at a portion of the price.
SMEs often use the services labelled by Alto Africa as the ‘bakkie brigade', a group of local techies that work on a break-fix model and do not focus on robust long-term solutions for their customers.
Cloudbox intent to create an environment for its clients, which requires as little support as possible through the implementation of reliable, secure and guaranteed uptime solutions.
Trent further added, “Those that aren’t utilising cloud solutions are being left behind. From free apps to enterprise-grade solutions, businesses are able to be more cost effective, productive and agile.”
He stated that one of the biggest challenges for start-ups is managing growth.
“Unless there are policies in place from early on that govern the various company activities, the company is very likely to have massive inefficiencies that will knock the company off its intended path. Cloudbox provides the mechanism for companies to rapidly expand or outsource,” he noted.
Trent points out that connectivity is crucial for the growth of the cloud and business as a whole. "Africa is still lagging behind third world countries that have well developed infrastructure," he concluded.
