
Fading fast are the days when employees of small and large businesses would sit docilely in rows of desks and cubicles, repetitively pounding away on the monstrously sized computers holding their gaze. That era is doomed to go the way of dinosaurs and the horse-drawn buggy.
Zoom ahead to today’s face-paced, cutting edge business environment and breaking trends. More often than not, employees on all levels of the business hierarchy are using their personal laptops, tablets and smart-phones for work related responsibilities and tasks. Many in the workforce have come to expect the convenience of using their own personal devices to fulfill their business obligations and tasks.
The Problem
Yet the explosion of personal mobile devices on the work scene has created a unique problem. The existing infrastructure that small to medium business’ are equipped with is not capable of supporting the high volume of mobile device users all vying to access the company’s limited network availability, simultaneously.
In addition, the computing capabilities of each mobile device are limited to the size of its processor. Yet mobile device users have come to expect processing powers greater than the size of their device’s “personal brain”. Much like a completely unreasonable two-year old insists on assembling a 25,000 piece puzzle, in 30 seconds flat.
The Solution
Even if your mom didn’t spoil you rotten as a little-tyke, with cloud computing, you will be, or most probably are already, spoiled and pampered with the amazing capabilities accessible from your mobile device, by the mere click of a button. It’s what the consumer has come to expect in their personal and business life. No limits. Full mobility. All the time. Thanks to cloud computing.
What is Cloud Computing?
In reality, the typical end user of any service or program offered in the cloud doesn’t really care if the program or app that they are accessing is stored in a cloud, oak tree or swimming pool. Kidding aside, the cloud is a loose term used to describe computing brainpower for various applications and programs stored offsite. The processing power of any app accessed by the end-user is not stored on his or her personal device, but in the cloud.
Since 2007, cloud computing has become all the rage, growing rapidly and
explosively from one year to the next. Cloud computing has tremendous advantages for users of any of the many mobile devices out there.
Businesses can create, and many have already done so, offsite cloud based programs accessible to all of their employees through proven and safe security measures. Sending documents by email will soon be dubbed “snail mail 2” as with cloud computing, scores of employees can access the same documents, spreadsheets and programs, instantaneously, wherever they may be.
Many laymen are using cloud based programs without even realizing it. For example, any web-based e-mail account (think Gmail) is just one example of cloud computing.
The Cloud: Great for Apps, Great for Back-Up
Programs and apps aside, more and more companies are opting to back up their data in “the cloud”. (Imagine what your grandmother would say with all this gloomy cloud talk. “There will be sunny days yet, my boy!”) The cloud has tremendous advantages over traditional back-up methods due to its nearly infinite capacity.
In summary, for the benefit of businesses and the small guy alike, cloud-computing is here to stay. And that’s a good thing.