The information below is likely to change over time. This article was originally written March 2012. It reflects our experiences with various products. Those experiences may differ from user to user. Cloud service features are quickly growing and developing, so this article will soon be out of date.

MS Exchange [as of March 2012]

Pros:

• The most comprehensive system - easy to setup on Windows Outlook, Androids, iPhone, iPads and macs
• Well established in the industry
• Good for all known devices including Windows, Android, iPhone, iPad, mac.
• Easy sharing contact lists and calendars to co-workers.

Cons:

• Price - at $140/year per mailbox
• No cloud storage

Google Apps (Cloud) [as of March 2012]

We tried moving over to Google Apps Business in March 2012. It was a nightmare and we wouldn't recommend it to any business who has more than, say, a 1000 files at this point in time. Anymore files and we found they just get lost in the cloud.

For more details, visit our Google Cloud and Apps page.

Google Apps has potential - but we believe it has a long way to go to be as reliable and easy as other services.

• The phone and email support was poor. Phone support was on a bad quality Voip line where we couldn't actually hear a clear word from the support person. In our experince, Google's Support personel is not fully trained and did not understand the Google products and their limitations.
• The domain superuser does not have the access to see all the docs in the domain. They only had a limited control with user accounts.
• Google Docs got confused with the 20,000 files we loaded - and we would only delete 50 at a time. Their use of Collections instead of Folders concept is flawed. Google Docs for Android likes to show recent files - making finding old files difficult.
• Most Desktop programs (other than basic MSOffice) could not use google docs online - and there was no desktop sycing capability.
• For Google Video "users are not permitted to share videos with people outside of your Google Apps account". So if you upload a video, the general public cannot see it. 

One thing that Google does well is an IMAP email service with 7GB (or 25GB for Business). Keep in mind IMAP does not sync contacts. However if you have the right third party plug-in, Google contacts and Calendars can often be shared. Mozzilla Thunderbird works well with the Google IMAP service with synced Google Calendar and Contacts - see Thunderbird and Gmail Setup Tips

We also tried SyncDocs, a third party application used with Google Docs that syncs Google Docs onto your Windows desktop. It costs another $20/year per user. While is worked well for a few files, it was not suitable for 1000's of files, getting confused with syncing. We had a case with two desktops getting into a loop of continuously deleting and uploading the same files. Also if you rename a folder, all the files within are deleted and uploaded again. Hopefully the development of Google Docs and SyncDocs will make this a better combination in the near future.

TeamViewer [as of March 2012]

With Teamviewer you can connect to any desktop or computer using their VPN technology. It is fantastic for passing through firewalls.

This work well when both computers are on fast networks. It is not good for mobile devices that move into bad reception areas.

Desktop applications working through the VPN will probably work slower. It is not recommended to work this way, for fear that you may loose connection in the middle of writing a file.

It is free for non comerical use. It costs $699 per user for a "lifetime licence" - which is really for the lifetime of that major revision (ie: its not your own human lifetime). We found that the program will move to a major update after about a year - costing $200 to upgrade the licence.

For more info: http://www.teamviewer.com

Drop Box [as of March 2012]

Drop box is a multi platform tool that syncs files from the Dropbox cloud to your desktop. Dropbox works with Windows, Mac, Linux, iPad, iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry.

We found this to be a good tool for small businesses. Mobile devices can sync when in the office - and then be used away - even when they cannot connect to the Internet or are offline.

The files are seen on the desktop like any other file. Any program can open them.

Dropfiles files will get backed up like any other file during a local backup.

Dropbox stores previous versions of the files, and they can be previewed or restored from the Dropbox website. This is very handy if you overwite your file with some changes and want to revert back. Or if you accidently deleted a file.

It is smart enough to keep both copies if there is a conflict with syncing. They are named with the user so they can be easily identified.

Drop box uses something called "LAN sync" that speeds syncing dramatically when the file exists on your Local Area Network (LAN). This may reduce the bandwidth through your ISP. More info on LAN sync here: https://www.dropbox.com/help/137

You get 2GB free, with 250MB for every person you invite. For US$99/year per person you can get 50GB. If you are sharing files - the quota is counted on BOTH user accounts.  

With Dropbox for Teams, administrators get features including centralized billing, phone support, and controls allowing them to add or delete users. Dropbox for Teams is priced at US$795/year for five users, with additional seats available for US$125 each. The base plan includes 1,000 GB of storage, and each additional seat comes with 200 GB.

More info: https://www.dropbox.com/

Cons

• Big consumer of internet bandwidth - at least in the office when its syncing. Essentially every file can be duplicated on every device, and duplicated then again for every shared user's device. But this is what makes it good for offline and mobile use. However, unlike the other alternatives, it has a LAN syc capabilty that will reduce the internet bandwidth useage.
• Not suitable when working with large files (ie 1GB files) as they will take a long time to sync (3hrs in one of our tested cases).

Microsoft's Sky Drive

Skydrive was upgraded April 24th 2012.

You can get 7GB of free storage with Skydrive.

Co-workers can work on MSOffice documents at the same time.

Requires a Windows live ID login.

We haven't fully tested Sky Drive and so we cann't give a full recommendation.

It one of the only cloud services that work on Windows phones.

More info: http://explore.live.com/skydrive 

Cons

• Cannot selectively download files - which uses up internet bandwidth. This particulaly the case if you have multiple devices.
• Does not work on Android Devices

Apple's iCloud [as of March 2012]

You get 5GB of storage for Free. 55GB costs AU$105.

From what we have seen, iCloud appears to be targeted for personal use rather than for co-workers and businesses. For that reason, at this moment of time, we wouldn't recommend it for businesses.

Cons

• Apple doesn't offer a service level agreement - so there is no guarentee on uptime. MobileMe (the iCloud predecessor) was plauged with reliabilty issues in 2008.
• Requires an Apple ID - which means you need to give Apple your credit card details.
• All of Apple’s online accounts are based off an “Apple ID”, which is unique to each user. Currently there is no way to group or otherwise manage IDs, the first step towards sharing iCloud resources within a business.
• No Business domain support (like mail.yourbusiness.com.au)
• No Group storage, or group admin to control all the data.
• Big consumer of internet bandwidth

More info: http://www.apple.com/au/icloud/

Google Drive - Released April 25th 2012...

Google have now lauched Drive - which is a true cloud storage system to compete with Drop Box.

You get 5GB free.

Google Drive is designed for teams and collaboration. With the combination of Drive and Docs - teams will be able docs online without additional software.

It only been released in the US and its not available in Australia as of April 2012.

Currently there is no iOS (iPhone / iPad) support - but this is comming apparently.

Lets hope it doesn't use collections or tags like Google Docs. Althought they look similar on the screen, collections work differently to folders - and we are finding users are getting very confused with the concept. Often a user will modfiy (what they think) is a copy of a file - only to find out their original has also been modified. Same goes with deleteing files. They delete, what they think is, a copy of the file - when actually they are deleting the only copy of the file.

Further Comparisions:

http://www.geek.com/articles/geek-pick/google-drive-vs-skydrive-vs-dropbox-20120424/

Recommendations

For small business with Android and iOS mobile devices...

• Dropbox for files
• MS Exchange service for Email, Calendar and Contacts
• Use Outlook for Windows and Mac's
• Use iPhone native email, Android native mail.

A cheaper solution, less reliable, less support...

• Dropbox for files
• GMail service for Email, Calendar and Contacts. Free Google Apps will do for under 10 users.
• Use Mozzilla Thunderbird for Windows and Macs with third party connection tools. Connect to Gmail's IMAP service.
• Use iPhone native email or download GMail app.
• Use Android native mail which automatically hooks into the GMail service for Email, Calendar and Contacts