Specialist IT support company Intrasource have been helping businesses keep running during the current snowy weather. Cloud computing technology has been allowing hundreds of workers to work from home, avoiding dangerous road conditions as well as childcare issues caused by school closures – and clients with hosted desktops, powered by cloud computing experts GoCloud, have been doing exactly that.

Meanwhile, the Forum of Private Business (FPB) have warned this week that severe weather conditions could cost businesses £230 million per day if they don’t take steps to enable staff to work from home. That figure is based on one employee per company being off for one day and not working.

Matt Nunns, Technical Director for GoCloud, said:
“It’s at times like this that cloud computing shows its strength. When the country grinds to a halt because of bad weather, it doesn’t mean that businesses have to stop functioning. In fact, they can’t afford to stop functioning. So all they’ve had to do is log on to our system at home, and they see their office desktop as if they’re actually in the office, with all applications, files and databases in front of them. No lost days of work and no disappointed customers.”

GoCloud and Intrasource are part of the Intragroup family of companies based in Hessle, East Yorkshire. They say they have full confidence in their service and have themselves only been able to continue supporting their clients throughout the snowy weather because of cloud technology.

Richard Hudson, a server analyst for Intrasource lives in Scunthorpe, hasn’t been able to get into the office. He said:
“Without my hosted desktop I simply wouldn’t be able to work. If I can’t connect to clients’ computers then I can’t function in my job. I have quite literally been able to do 100% of the things I could do in the office at home.”

Shane Beardsley, Managing Director of Kirk Ella Investments in East Yorkshire, says having a hosted desktop means clients never suffer.
“Using the GoCloud technology is just like sitting in the office anyway, so there’s no loss of work time, you don’t have to go out onto icy roads and clients don’t suffer, so it’s a win-win situation!”

Lisa Jones, Director of Leeds-based IT strategy company Barclay Jones, said:
“It’s been great. GoCloud allows my business to be continuous, regardless of the weather. We do all our work “in the cloud” because it allows us to work anywhere and at any time. It makes life a lot easier and I am able to fulfill my clients’ needs even if I can’t get to their premises. If my laptop gets stolen or broken, so what? If I can’t leave the house, then so what?! All my information is safely stored and easily accessible in the GoCloud data centre.”

GoCloud offer tailored cloud computing services for any size of business, which are designed to replace the traditional in –house IT infrastructure. It dramatically cuts IT costs and energy bills for business owners. It’s cheaper to run because you use less electricity – so it’s also eco-friendly and will reduce a company’s carbon footprint.