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Cloud computing

How dependent is your routine on the cloud?

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Perhaps you have been accused of living in the clouds while daydreaming. Truthfully, you might already be living in the cloud—the world of cloud computing.

Cloud computing has emerged and evolved subtly in recent years, interacting in your daily life in ways you might not recognize. When shopping for a product or service, it’s unlikely you’re making numerous phone calls to different salespeople to locate the best price for something. Similarly, we don’t often step out to the curb and cross our fingers a passing cab will stop and take us to our destination.

You might already enjoy cloud computing without knowing it. Imagine a day that looks like this:

5:00: The alarm on your cell phone rings. As you turn it off, you scan the notifications on new messages, the weather, and news—all delivered by the apps in the cloud.

6:30: Ready for work, you use your favorite coffee shop’s app to order a triple shot large cappuccino for pick-up.

7:15: Cappuccino in hand, you arrive at your desk and fire up your laptop. Collaboration tools allow you to interact in real-time with remote workers and other offices, when they get in.

8:30: Using video conferencing software, you have a morning meeting with your client and with colleagues.

9:05: Using your company’s preferred document sharing solution, you pull down the action plans your team is working on to flesh out some ideas you covered in the meeting.

11:15: You use your local restaurant app to reserve a table for lunch.

12:30: After lunch, but before you’re back on the clock, you set your favorite show tonight to record since you’ve decided to go to a sporting event with friends.

4:30: You save the document you’re working on to open it later tonight on your tablet to reorganize some parts in the second and third sections to punch it up a bit.

5:00: You visit a ticket broker website to see if you can find inexpensive tickets to tonight’s sporting event. You can, and you order them.

5:25: You hit the grocery store for a couple necessities on the way home, and you use your mobile phone to pay.

7:30: Thanks to a social media app, you’ve found your friends and have rounded them up for the sporting event.

10:30: After the sporting event—and a couple of drinks—you use an app to summon a car to take you home.

11:00: You review the document you wanted to work on tonight and decide instead to work on it first thing in the morning.

Throughout the day, you use websites and mobile applications that reside in the cloud. If you already have appliances or home systems—such as your thermostat—connected to the cloud, you have even more cloud exposure than most people do. This itinerary would have seemed like science fiction just a few short years ago. As cloud computing evolves, its impact on our daily lives will make tomorrow seem like today’s science fiction.

Man holding cloud

Business Before vs. After the Cloud

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Given how business has adapted to the convenience and the portability of cloud computing, it’s hard to remember how we did business in the B.C. (Before Cloud) era. But life and business really were different in those by-gone days. Customers and clients have come to expect the flexibility that cloud-embracing businesses provide.

Customers already know what they want.

In the B.C. era, customers might not know what they wanted or what was available. If someone wanted to buy a house, for example, he or she had to call a real estate agent to find out what was on the market in the target area. Savvy customers called more than one. Now, people looking for houses visit a variety of web sites to do their research before contacting a real estate agent.

Back then, some companies provided information through advertisements or through catalogs. Customers got a sense of what was available through these company-push offerings. While companies still use these means to communicate, along with new email and text alerts, customers use the cloud to research products and offerings they want. To keep pace, companies need robust cloud-based communications to ensure customers can research their business offerings.

Customers want to do business whenever they want.

Do you remember the term “banker’s hours”? In the olden days, businesses were open from nine to five on weekdays. Customers needed to make plans to make their purchases or conduct their needed transactions when companies were open.

Now, customers want to conduct their business whenever the need or mood strikes. Online stores are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year (366 days a year on Leap Year). If a consumer gets a good gift idea at five o’clock in the morning, he or she can use a web site or mobile app to buy the item immediately and have it shipped for fast arrival. If someone burns the midnight oil working on a project, and discovers a software tool or professional service to make the job easier, he or she can request a demo or order a download immediately, often without dealing with salespeople.

Customers want to do business wherever they are.

Back in the twentieth century, customers had to come to you to conduct business. They visited a store, or they met with you over a conference table. Now, customers want to conduct business wherever they are. They want to use a mobile app at the coffee shop or their laptop at their kitchen tables. They want to buy your product, use your service, or communicate with you wherever they are and wherever you are.

Customers will evolve with the cloud.

The Internet and cloud computing continue to evolve. Customer experiences and expectations will also evolve according to new advances. Your company will need to keep up with these changes, too, to ensure that customers remain engaged with your offerings, and that your way of doing business does not become a relic of a bygone age.

 

Top 4 Ways Cloud Computing Will Make Your Life Easier

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Your life if full of decisions. If you own a business, there’s no doubt you have to make several important choices on a daily basis that contribute to the success of your business. With the help of cloud computing, you can rest assured knowing you’re making the right decision for the growth and future of your company. Here’s why:

Financial Savings

You don’t want to spend more money than you need to. Imagine if you could reduce your spending by limiting your need for hardware, IT system maintenance, downtime, and even the amount of electricity you use. Over a period of time, cloud computing can provide you with some AMAZING cost-cutting benefits!

Flexibility

Flexibility is extremely important for a business. To be truly effective, you need to be able to adapt to most situations in a timely manner in order to be successful.

With cloud computing, you have a TON of flexibility. You can access your information from anywhere, at any time, and you can move your information from one server to another – so you’re no longer restricted by the limits of your hardware!

Disaster recovery

Preparation is often the key to success.

With the aid of cloud-based services, you’re not only preparing your company for any future problems, but you’re preparing to succeed. Cloud computing providers will help solve most issues you encounter, and they’ll help you do it quickly and efficiently.

With the cloud, you no longer have to worry about losing your valuable information to power failure, natural disasters, or any other crisis. Once your data is stored in the cloud, you’ll have peace of mind knowing it’s backed up and protected in a secure location.

By utilizing the cloud, you’re making complex and time-consuming disaster recovery plans a thing of the past.

Communication and Collaboration

A lot of important things happen at the work place, and communication and collaboration are often overlooked as necessary tools for company growth.

One amazing benefit of cloud computing is the ability to improve communication and collaboration within an organization. By converting to cloud based services, you and your employees have all the necessary resources they need to work efficiently from almost anywhere. Regardless of where they are located or which devices they’re using, the cloud will allow immediate distribution of relevant information to everyone within your company, ensuring constant productivity.

Overall, cloud services can be a huge asset to your company. Contact Cognoscape today, and let’s work together to build the perfect infrastructure for your business!

Michael St Martin|Cognoscape|ITServices

Keeping up with Technology – Speaker for your event?

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With the rate of technology ever increasing and the importance it has on becoming a successful business, Michael is increasing his number of speaking engagements as a value add activity to surrounding communities.   He can easily adapt his talk to the audience or topic and speaks on all things technology and how to maximize it for your desired results.   Please let us know if you are interested in having Michael speak at your upcoming meeting.   Read Michael’s full bio below.   Thanks!

Keeping up with TechnologyMichael St Martin|Cognoscape|ITServices

Michael St. Martin

Learn what’s up with the latest technology trends and how “Strategic Technology Acceleration” can rocket your business forward.  Is your technology a competitive advantage?  Do you know how to leverage Cloud Computing? Mobile Devices? Is your network secure? Michael St. Martin will provide information and real world tips that you can use immediately to make your systems an asset instead of a liability.

Michael St. Martin is an entrepreneur and founder of Cognoscape, a Business Technology company that specializes in bringing Enterprise Class technology solutions to Small and Medium Business. While Cognoscape is the newest of Michael’s successful business ventures, his experiences include executive positions with Accenture, building sales organizations with NetIQ and Permeo and adding value to multiple IPOs’ and M&A’s.   His current passion resides in assisting business owners to utilize technology and gain a competitive advantage while streamlining their business.  

Michael has spoken to audiences both large and small, always imparting insight into the latest technology and how to apply it to the audience.   “My goal as a speaker is to give the audience something to take away immediately and apply to their business that day, while entertaining them along the way,” says Michael.   So… great and timely content, mixed with Michael’s engaging style motivates the audience into action!