Industry & Business

Novi, the secure IT and cloud service provider, has launched Novi OneCloud, following a €150,000 software development investment. The result is Ireland’s first integrated cloud service which allows customers to aggregate multiple cloud solutions from the world’s leading vendors in a secure environment designed to facilitate streamlined deployment, management, access, reporting and billing.

Novi OneCloud is targeted at organisations who want to move as much of their IT into the cloud as possible. It is suitable for companies with as few as five and up to thousands of employees and allows them to securely access information from anywhere in the world without the need for physical servers or VPNs.

Identity management is a core pillar of Novi OneCloud, with usernames, passwords and user accounts controlled and managed through the cloud. All applications – be it email, file storage or enterprise resource planning – are accessed seamlessly through a single sign-in. This eliminates the need for employees to keep multiple passwords and replaces disjointed business approaches to user access.

Novi researched and evaluated the best features from various cloud platforms, before curating an entire stack of features and blending them together with Novi OneCloud. It grants enterprises full control over security permissions and data access, storage and sharing – something which organisations compromise on by using widely available online file sharing services. The service also allows customers to easily bolt on their own choice of cloud software, such as CRM or accounting services into a fully integrated enterprise cloud service.

George O’Dowd (pictured), managing director of Novi, said: “Cloud computing is growing at a phenomenal rate, yet there are issues holding back wider adoption, particularly for SMBs. We are very excited to bring to the market a service which addresses many of these problems. Our research shows that many businesses rely on a single vendor platform for all cloud products and services, with the complexity of integration, support and billing prohibiting use of multiple cloud providers. Novi OneCloud allows customers to enjoy the best features from the biggest and best cloud providers, such as Microsoft, Amazon, Citrix and other niche security providers, in an easily set-up and managed single service. This reduces the reliance of businesses on a single vendor. It mitigates the risk of disaster and allows more flexible access to cloud with better security features.”

Novi OneCloud can operate as a standalone service or can be integrated with existing on-premise infrastructure. Organisations already utilising certain cloud applications, such as Microsoft Office 365 for email, can customise what features are implemented to ensure the solution best fits their exact needs.

A key benefit of the integrated cloud service is that companies have complete control over where their data resides. The ability to locate data held in the cloud within Ireland or the EU is advantageous for companies concerned about their data privacy obligations under the GDPR.

Security is built into every aspect of the solution, with files encrypted and two-factor authentication used for sign-in. Novi can layer additional services depending on customers’ needs and desired levels of security. These may include email filtering, vulnerability and patch management, and mobility security for mobile devices to ensure end-to-end security from employee’s devices through to the overarching cloud environment.

George O’Dowd added: “Businesses are reluctant to make significant investment in capital infrastructure, but many are also unsure of how to dive into the world of cloud. There are risks and drawbacks of putting all your eggs into the basket of one cloud vendor, yet managing  multiple cloud providers is difficult without significant expertise. For minimal capital outlay, Novi OneCloud enables more enterprises to easily equip themselves to enjoy the significant benefits of cloud.”