You've got your own server. Your contract IT guy has set it up for you. It's backed up daily. No one can access it and you are comfortable that your data is better on your server than on some computer in the cloud that you don't even fully understand. Until it's not.

First, what is the cloud and how is it relative to ready mix dispatch or concrete batching anyway? Do you need internet for a concrete batch system? What are the pros and cons of cloud concrete dispatch vs the long used store your own data model? These are all great questions we will cover here to help provide you the information you need to make an informed decision.

Ready mix dispatch software has existed long before the cloud. Most concrete dispatch systems operate using the traditional model where your data is stored on a computer (or server) you own in your main office typically. While storing your own data feels comfortable, the reality might surprise you. Most people who believe they have regular, usable back ups of their dispatch data find out otherwise at the worst possible moment. Oftentimes, the contract IT personnel you hired setup a back up to another disk or USB drive eventually does not remember to check to see if it's still working or if it's getting errors and failing. Then the day comes where it all falls over and you tell everyone not to worry because you have this scenario planned for. It's only then your IT guy informs you the backup hasn't worked for months and you have lost all that data. If this doesn't sound familiar, then count yourself lucky!

For those who have experienced this nightmare scenario, the solution is usually to demand better backups and more checks. Then after enough time passes, complacency lulls us back to sleep and we are ripe for another avoidable disaster down the road and this is only discussing data. What about hardware failure? When your computer or server dies and you have not other back up you are just as inconvenienced. 

Enter the cloud. The cloud is a very simple concept really. The cloud is simply a computer (or millions of them really) sitting in someone else's building (ie. Microsoft, Amazon or Google normally) and accessible to you over the internet. If you were to purchase a "cloud computer", you are effectively "leasing a computer" from one of the providers. So why would you lease a computer and incur repeating payments instead of buying the computer outright? For the reasons listed above actually. All of the big cloud providers run servers radically more expensive than you could justify in the concrete industry. Then they have redundant internet connections, redundant power sources, redundant computers and redundant back ups. That's a lot of redundancy. That's what you are paying for and if you did the math, for you to have multiple internet connections, power sources and computers, that would be far more expensive that a cloud subscription.

With that knowledge, cloud ready mix dispatch operates on computers in the cloud that come with all the benefits mentioned. While it's true you don't store your data in your building any longer, it is professionally and positively backed up daily and running in a redundant environment making the availability 99.99%. Add to that with Zylocon Dispatch, you can download your data once per week free of charge. (If you want to download data more often, it's available but a small fee is added to cover the additional bandwidth charges we incur.)

In the final analysis, with Zylocon Dispatch, your data is always separate and self contained and available to you whenever you want it. You own your data and we are simply enabling you to access your data from any internet connected device and we are backing up and maintaining your data in a manner that would be cost prohibitive to most ready mix producers. Contact Zylocon today for more information and discover how reliable and affordable Zylocon Dispatch is today!