“Everyone is talking about it. Most are doing it already. If you aren’t doing it, you’re really missing something.”
Cloud applications. What does it mean? What does it mean for your business? What can you do? Why should you consider it?
Cloud applications are a series of tasks and functions that your company previously would have had to devote your own hardware, software and technical support to implement. These include software applications like accounting, contact records management, e-mail hosting, storage, voice processing (phone service, voice messaging, call center, call accounting, call recording) and even your basic application suite of spreadsheets, databases and word processing. In the past, you would have needed servers, software licenses, technical staff, and hardware to design, use and maintain. Now, thanks to companies like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and a slew of others, you can securely have all this functionality without the associated capital investment and ongoing staff expenses.
These providers are essentially the platform that your company uses as its information technology infrastructure. Much the same way that you wouldn’t necessarily own your own power plant to provide your company’s electricity, you use these services on a license by license basis to provide you with the customizable program you need for a particular task. Google provides Google Apps- word processing, spreadsheet, presentation…and the list is updated regularly. Amazon provides space for you to run specialized applications you may have developed and can then virtualize to their servers. Salesforce.com provides a complete sales force automation platform. You don’t need to worry about having servers on site or administering them. You don’t have to worry about patches, updates or licensing. Both power and security are monitored on a comprehensive 24/7 basis.
Over the past few years, telecommunications has evolved from digital circuits to a standard packets based protocol. Instead of having dedicated phone circuits, the trend has moved to “virtual lines” based on this new protocol. These lines, or trunks, are referred to as “SIP” trunks. Much in the same way that the applications your computer networks have moved to the cloud, so too have your phones. Instead of investing in a system, communications services are now provided as hosted applications. Voice messaging, fax messaging and contact management now integrates seamlessly with your email and Microsoft Outlook – as well as your Blackberry, iPhone or Droid.
The ultimate of these applications is a hosted contact center that provides integration between hosted phone, automatic call distribution, customer database management, call recording, and accounting programs. Once requiring a considerable capital investment and dedication of vast resources, robust hosted call center applications are available for a minimal user investment of less than $100 per month. There are no significant hardware investments, no processor investments, no server investment and no expenses for patches, maintenance or upgrades.
Both from a human resources aspect and from a regulatory aspect, tele-commuting and geographically dispersed work groups are a fixture in the corporate landscape. Cloud applications make work groups function much more cohesively and with the same set of collaboration tools. Conference calling, white boarding, shared document collaboration and video conferencing are apps that can be accessed anytime and from anywhere.
Bandwidth quality and reliability are crucial to business continuity. Successful cloud applications require bandwidth that is secure and high quality. High quality bandwidth means that the measure of latency falls to an acceptable level for a particular application. Carriers must provide a guaranteed service level agreement that guarantees a response time for outages or service degradation. “Bandwidth diversification” means best practices ensure that Internet access will be provided across multiple providers using different delivery media (cable, DSL, dedicated circuits, fiber or wireless). Errant back hoe operators shouldn’t be able to shut down your operations!
The Cloud provides you with applications that do not require major capital expense and enable productivity. It means that your IT staff – whether in house or acquired externally- concentrates their efforts on process improvement instead of maintenance. It means that you are able to leverage enhanced features, functions, and infrastructure without having to build it for yourself. It means that you can focus on running your business.
