Cincinnati Bell takes cloud services into the hands of the SMB customer

Cincinnati Bell (NYSE: CBB) has responded to the idea that SMBs should have the same access to cloud services as larger enterprises, with the launch of its cloud-based Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Communication and Collaboration Solutions.

Delivered through a partnership with both hosted business services provider Apptix and Parallels, the a cloud service delivery software provider,Cincinnati Bell said that in addition to targeting SMBs, it will be able to also target key area vertical segments such as health care, government, and education.

Given the mobile nature of the segments it serves, the new cloud services can be, of course, accessed not only from the customer's office, but also via a smartphone through Apptix's Mobile Exchange Email service or Blackberry mobile email access. The new cloud service also addresses industry-specific compliance regulatory requirements, including HIPAA, PCI, FRCP, and SOX.

While cloud-based services initially were thought as only being applicable to large enterprises, SMBs that often lack in-house IT service support continue hand off more of their non-essential functions including e-mail and storage to a third-party cloud providers like Cincinnati Bell.

In its new SMB Cloud Insights report, Parallels revealed that over one million SMBs began to use some type of cloud service.

May 1, 2012

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