Verizon Cloud Content Restore...Permanently Eliminate "New Phone, Who Is This?"
Pros
- Content Restore: This has been a game-changer a hundred times over. Every time a phone is replaced, it used to cripple that user for far too long as they painstakingly put themselves back together (and inevitably would miss something or do something incorrectly and thus the frustration would continue). Now, with little time, and even less effort, everything you need is easily found, accessed and usable. No matter how careful we are, phones get damaged. They get lost. They stop working. So it's not a matter of IF this could happen to you, it's WHEN. And this prepares us for any worst case scenario.
- Backup Includes Documents: As a company, documents are exchanged often, including e-signatures and confirmations of various kinds. And as everyone knows, the worst possible moment is when something pops up that needs attention immediately. Technology works great...until it doesn't. So being able to have an incredibly easily accessed backup system in place, like Verizon Cloud, to pull documents from at the drop of a hat can be a lifesaver. Being able to pull up and view something quickly when you are desperately grabbing coffee on the way into the office at the crack of dawn because of an internal server crash...and your client still feeling confident because no matter how catastrophic your morning is, they are 100% taken care of? GOLD.
- Photo Organization: Due to the nature of my position, photos are important for current projects and even more so months or even years later if something comes up. Verizon Cloud automatically organizes the photos in multiple ways and you can easily switch between systems by clicking a new tab. Timeline organizes them by year and then breaks that year down into months. Stories groups the photos together that were added or taken together. For us control freaks, there is also an Albums tab so you can organize your photos and videos into whatever system works best for you. There is also a Flashbacks tab, which honestly, doesn't do much for what I normally need to access photos for, however, I do find myself clicking it a lot, just out of curiosity to see what photos/events/projects were going on that week a year ago, two years ago, three years ago, etc. I find it so interesting to see how things change, grow, and maybe even find unexpected trends that can help shape how we move forward as an organization.
Cons
- The home screen shows a little bit of everything, but being a control freak, I would like to be able to customize it. (Granted, it would most likely have most of the same elements, but, for example, I don't need photos scrolling across the top. I'd rather have buttons like quick links to jump directly to what I want or to see a further bird's eye view of the content.
- I like receiving notifications that a back-up is complete, but I would like to be able to set what other notifications are and aren't allowed to push to my phone.
- I have set Verizon Cloud to back up on wifi OR using the data network. But if you are using wifi while doing a content restore and you lose that connection, either by leaving the building or the local wifi dropping out momentarily, the entire content restore will stop and need to be restarted. This can be very frustrating.
Return on Investment
- Thus far is has been a positive experience, and has saved a lot of man hours of both employees who replaced their phones to the IT department trying to help them put everything back no longer needs to go through a lengthy process.
- The cost of this option is a bit higher than I'd like. I think Verizon is a little too proud of a product that every company is now starting to offer.
- There is a free version with limited space, so at least trying it out to see how it will fit with your needs isn't much of a risk.
Alternatives Considered
Google Drive
Other Software Used
Google Drive, Google Wallet, Google Cloud Storage