Cloud computing has been around for a while now.
Here's my take on how it affects productivity and how the world knows what you are working on.
Cloud computing might be an alien term for the common man, however it's use is not.
We all post pictures on popular social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, where do we think are the pictures or the data being stored ? Cloud.
Moving on, talking about work. Most companies have now started working towards making their data available on the cloud to be access from everywhere. Now for me, there are 2 phases here.
The first being View only data. You go to work, you download work on your workstation and start working on it. Cloud is being used only for storage, It's good that way.
It's good because you don't have to worry about your applications to be "Cloud compatible". your CRM system knows the file type and all it's doing is storing the file there. It's like an external hard drive.
The upside here, Like I said, You don't worry about any compatibility issues. you have all your applications on your workstation.
The downside, however, is control on all the data. A company has to make a call on how secure they want the data to be, once the file is downloaded. The downloaded file now becomes a common entity, to be protected only by sharing rules of the organization.
We do know, with outsourcing on a rise, protecting client data is the USP.
The second one, obviously being data that can be worked on the cloud, changed and stored. Now, this looks convenient, however is not.
The workstation now becomes redundant, all you need is a network connection and you are in on the corporate network doing what you need to do.
The upside here, You don't have to worry about applications, everything that you need is on the cloud, and everything is being saved as you work on it. The company saves on logistics and concentrates on investing more on bandwidth, because Internet is all that you want.
The downside however, is the flexibility. Some applications that I have worked on the cloud are close to their offline counterpart, not quite there however.
You can still do the same work you do on the software available offline, but you need to perform at least 2 more steps to get the desired outcome.
Adding to this, is the fact that the file type might not be compatible with an offline version which a vendor or a company working with you uses.
Now, don't let that discourage you. From experience, I have seen the cloud application grow leaps and bounds, giving stiff competition to their counterparts offline. But then, its a global evolution, if the software adds a feature on its new update, it takes a while for the cloud app to get there.
My take on the situation is to have a fusion of both, this solution is the phase where I think most of the companies work on. To do what you do offline and then share it online.
Use the online app as a collaborating tool, where all contributors can discuss and make changes on the fly. There is no denying, the "on the fly" change feature of the online tools are not to be missed.
This takes care of a minimum of 10 emails sent to your team who works together on a document. Adding efficient to the process. Besides, it does turn out to be a team building activity when they can see the impact of their changes on the fly.
As I end the post, I see I might have written more about the changed and stored part, now that doesn't mean I am partial to the option. It's just that we know what has to be known about the legacy working system we have being working on.
I say, any corporate needs to study how it works and collaborates and choose an option accordingly.
021
Here's my take on how it affects productivity and how the world knows what you are working on.
Cloud computing might be an alien term for the common man, however it's use is not.
We all post pictures on popular social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, where do we think are the pictures or the data being stored ? Cloud.
Moving on, talking about work. Most companies have now started working towards making their data available on the cloud to be access from everywhere. Now for me, there are 2 phases here.
The first being View only data. You go to work, you download work on your workstation and start working on it. Cloud is being used only for storage, It's good that way.
It's good because you don't have to worry about your applications to be "Cloud compatible". your CRM system knows the file type and all it's doing is storing the file there. It's like an external hard drive.
The upside here, Like I said, You don't worry about any compatibility issues. you have all your applications on your workstation.
The downside, however, is control on all the data. A company has to make a call on how secure they want the data to be, once the file is downloaded. The downloaded file now becomes a common entity, to be protected only by sharing rules of the organization.
We do know, with outsourcing on a rise, protecting client data is the USP.
The second one, obviously being data that can be worked on the cloud, changed and stored. Now, this looks convenient, however is not.
The workstation now becomes redundant, all you need is a network connection and you are in on the corporate network doing what you need to do.
The upside here, You don't have to worry about applications, everything that you need is on the cloud, and everything is being saved as you work on it. The company saves on logistics and concentrates on investing more on bandwidth, because Internet is all that you want.
The downside however, is the flexibility. Some applications that I have worked on the cloud are close to their offline counterpart, not quite there however.
You can still do the same work you do on the software available offline, but you need to perform at least 2 more steps to get the desired outcome.
Adding to this, is the fact that the file type might not be compatible with an offline version which a vendor or a company working with you uses.
Now, don't let that discourage you. From experience, I have seen the cloud application grow leaps and bounds, giving stiff competition to their counterparts offline. But then, its a global evolution, if the software adds a feature on its new update, it takes a while for the cloud app to get there.
My take on the situation is to have a fusion of both, this solution is the phase where I think most of the companies work on. To do what you do offline and then share it online.
Use the online app as a collaborating tool, where all contributors can discuss and make changes on the fly. There is no denying, the "on the fly" change feature of the online tools are not to be missed.
This takes care of a minimum of 10 emails sent to your team who works together on a document. Adding efficient to the process. Besides, it does turn out to be a team building activity when they can see the impact of their changes on the fly.
As I end the post, I see I might have written more about the changed and stored part, now that doesn't mean I am partial to the option. It's just that we know what has to be known about the legacy working system we have being working on.
I say, any corporate needs to study how it works and collaborates and choose an option accordingly.
021
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