All of the technology and business contacts I regularly talk to keep telling me cloud computing. But what is it, what is the impact on business and what are the monetary and obvious upsides?
Cloud means Internet. The computing takes place on the Internet – in place of the software you use being installed on your desktop pc, it runs somewhere on the Internet on a server located in a data centre usually staffed by people who are skilled in managing technology. This type of “cloud” software is sometimes called “on demand” or Software as a Service (SaaS).
Some best of breed examples of well established Software as a Service are:
Web based CRM Software (Customer Relationship Management) – Salesforce.com pricing about $9 per user/month.
Small business management and accounting software (small business ERP) – Salesorder.com pricing $45 per user/month.
Medium sized business ERP software – NetSuite pricing around $99 per user/month.
There are 3 key benefits for every business here:
Time, cost savings and reliability
Businesses no longer need a resident IT expert to help them identify, implement and look after the hardware and software infrastructure thus reducing operating costs and time to deploy. The task of constantly backing up data is taken away as this is almost always an inherent function of the “cloud” software. Cloud software “operators” usually have redundant systems that can be switched on in instantly should a catastrophic problem occur.
Easier selection and more choice
Using a web browser, businesses now have immediate access to a big selection of business software they can in most cases immediately try and effectively work out if the software meets their needs at no expense. This makes it very easy for innovators in large concerns to by pass the restrictive information technology purchasing processes and easily assess and prove their business proposal.
Better user experience
The cloud provides immediate feedback to system vendors and has led to significant progress in user interface design resulting in more intuitive software thus improving learning times and increasing user satisfaction. This of course means quicker adoption and better productivity.
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