Now a days you can’t look at any new system without hearing about “the cloud”. What is this magical cloud that will fix all there technology problems? Well in its simplest terms the “cloud” has always referred to the internet. So what’s all the hype about? Well more and more software manufacturers and programmers are designing programs that run completely on the internet. In the past you had a computer with a program such as ACT, Office, SAGE, QuickBooks, or any other program that you use to run your business on that computer with the data on that local or network hard drive; now more software is run on the “cloud”, with the data housed in a data center. The cloud allows you to access the same functionality by doing it from a web browser, so that it is accessible anywhere.
This week Microsoft announced a public beta of their Office 365 product. What is it you might ask?
Its Microsoft’s Offering for Cloud based Software. All of us are familiar with Microsoft Office. Most of us run our businesses on Excel, Word, and Power Point; and most importantly Outlook for our Email. In the past business would have to invest in a Server system that would run Microsoft Small Business Server, to get the functionality of Exchange, SharePoint and other features, commonly found in a larger business. Now Microsoft is going to be offering this functionality in the “cloud”. What does that mean? Well, for a monthly fee per User, your email will be housed on Microsoft’s Server where you won’t have to worry about backups and system crashes. It will be available from anywhere, without cost of an expensive server system.
So now you’re thinking let’s take everything to “the cloud” and go “Office Space” our server in the back room.
Whoa!! Slow Down!! What about your other software that you use to run your business. Or all the files you share with fellow employees.
Just because Allot of applications and functionality is being moved to the cloud, doesn’t mean let’s get rid of all of our servers. The local server will probably always be here, they’re just getting a role change. Local servers are still faster at serving files and anything requiring a large amount of data, as well as running some core applications that apply to your local business that can’t run from the “cloud”.
So in Conclusion, the” cloud” is here, but it’s been here since 1969; it just gaining some functionality. So the next time someone tries to sell you some expensive software or an expensive server, get a second opinion; you might be able to get the functionality you need from the “cloud” without spending a fortune.
