The future of computing -Document management and software in the cloud Part 2
Cloud computing is the use of average software, functionality add-ins, or business applications from ? remote server that is accessed via the Internet. A term coined in 1996 by Compaq computer technicians who believed that one day all computer applications and storage would reside on servers hosted in remote data centers. Although there is nothing special about that. Remote servers have run most business for years. So was cloud computing just a new way to “brand the internet” and re-sell the same old thing.
Wikipedia defines cloud computing as “the delivery of computing as a service rather than a product, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices as a metered service over a network (typically the Internet). A service branded as Saas, or software as a service.
Cloud computing is a marketing expression for technologies that provide computation, software, data access, and storage services that do not require end-user person’s understanding of the physical site and configuration of the arrangement that delivers the services. A parallel to this approach can be at par with the electricity grid, how end-users consume power beyond needing to understand the component devices or infrastructure appropriate to provide the service.”
In fact there are two sides to cloud computing and the term means something different to both.
To the technology provider cloud computing is an active way of conveying services to their clients. Because there is no longer a need for most clients to have a “dedicated” server or computer of their own, the technology provider can apportion any unused hard disk space to multiple clients around the world. Efficiencies are created along with redundancy to safeguard data security. Cloud computing at its earliest stages (which we are still in) provided offline data storage over the internet. Not much functionality to the end user. However, with 70% of Microsoft’s 40,000 employees busy on cloud technology that is about to change.
The benefits of cloud computing are primarily to the user. By providing applications ( as they mature) on the internet or “IN THE CLOUD” they become accessible from any web browser or mobile appliance and will change the way people play online and how business works. Diminished IT budgets, the ability to be up and running in minutes, easily scalable on the fly to meet changing and unpredictable business demands just scratches the surface of what is to come. Companies like Filocity.com are leading the charge in offering online tools that allow individuals and enterprise business to run their business from anywhere as if they were sitting in their office or at their desk.
A new or existing business no longer needs to absorb weeks coordinating infrastructure, purchasing servers for thousands of dollars or absorb themselves with what backup method will perform for them. Software will not be something that you need to buy and load onto your pc but a tool that you will use at will waiting for you in the “cloud”, available right through your web browser.
Business applications today are available in the cloud but many of them lack enterprise funcitionality even though you will see that change fast. One of the areas that we have been focused is back office and front office tools. The ability to combine what many companies spend on technology and port it into one piece of software or online service. A product like this know as Saas or software as a service will be the standard in how people and business operate in the years to come. For example Filocity.com’s document and project management portal provides a product that allows companies to eliminate their bloated IT departments, expensive servers on the back side and on the front end save on expensive backup programs, pdf software editors, calendar sharing or exchange servers and other business software tools.
For a small monthly fee all of these assets are ready for use through one interface. This not only saves a company time and money but allows numerous benefits to the company’s employees, vendors and of course their bottom line.
From day one all employees are working the same way filing documents and collaborating on documents through one workspace. Files and documents, comments and corrections are no longer fragmented or stored in file cabinets or sitting on employees desks and on post it notes. They are accessible online for all team members to act on safely and securely.
File cabinets are secure, with administrative access rights given to department heads to assign individual or team file access and sharing permissions. The ability to see who accessed what and when increases a company’s control over their “file room” or sensitive documents. The amount and types of controls will in the account owners control. The owner can share sensitive financial information with the CFO while the CFO at the same time assigns work to the company bookkeeper without any security breach. What’s more that bookkeeper can be outsourced or work from anywhere so long as they have an internet connection and a web browser.
The way in which technology will change the way companies work is hard to conceive today. The companies that accept the new technology will become more efficient and organized, being able to manage more tools, employees and deals than ever before. Doing more with less is what makes business successful today. Doing it aside from over stressing employees and at the same time providing the customer service indispensable to retain old clients and amass new ones will make the early adopters of these technologies the winners.
Filocity.com is an enterprise document management and cloud computing platform being offered as a software as a service starting at just $8.95 per month. Enterprise document management software to ensure your business success.
Filocity.comSafe, Effortless Organization, Instant Retrieval!
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