Got your head in the Clouds?

 

Often synonymous with a lack of understanding or far-away attitude, this phrase has not historically been something to be proud of. Interesting now then, with the bleeding edge of Business IT now firmly in cloud territory, that those who have got their head into the concept are reaping the rewards.

Many of those whom inspire in Business, either at a national or colleague level are people who live and breathe their craft and engrain it into their work; Accountants who can explain the World in constituent numerics, Engineers who lift the bonnet and formulate a practical solution, and creatives who flourish in their personal time with artistic pursuits or free-thinking. It is far easier to subscribe to another’s suggestions or directions when they live by the creed of what they are saying – and even more compelling when their approach spills over outside work and into ways of managing their personal life.

They say never to trust a cobbler with bad shoes, or a skinny chef, and it’s this disconnect between rhetoric and action which can cause you to come unstuck when taking a lofty journey into the Cloud Computing World as a Business owner or decision maker. The modern computing model is far more person-centric than it ever has been previously. With a shift by large Software Vendors (Microsoft and Google to name but a few) into the concept of ‘Per-person’ pricing with offerings like Office 365, it falls upon IT managers and directors to focus their efforts on holistic provision ‘per person’ which nullifies many legacy mechanisms for machine asset management and software licensing which is priced regardless of the human count. Service subscriptions like Spotify or iCloud have cemented this concept into the contemporary structure by centralising user accounts in the Cloud and firing out access from any app or internet terminal where the user enters their credentials.

So the tides are shifting, but it’s not yet a Tsunami. Your historical dwellings on the shore of the low-lying traditional IT mainland are not yet to be decimated and there is still a place for centralised, traditional models which could be considered legacy when stacked side-by-side with Cloud concepts. For those who do choose to pack up and move to the mountain and join the growing convention, the success really will come from whole-hearted adoption of the concept. If you are a change-leader or IT decision maker then this means sorting out your shoes and dusting down your own ways of working so that you can get your head into the cohesive ‘per-person’ Cloud IT experience.

If you have typically retained a paper diary, or one which never leaves Microsoft Outlook – why not try a cloud solution which can centralise your critical appointments and tasks for access anywhere with an internet connection. Google Calendar, or Exchange Online as part of Microsoft Office 365 are both great for Personal or Enterprise diary management and are built with Cloud benefits at their core. Likewise your Business telephony can be similarly empowered using a customised VoIP system and our Mobile Office applications to route your calls to wherever you are – not where your office happens to be. By taking your work home with you and shifting your own personal media, data, and organisation into Cloud systems - the full benefit of a coordinated Cloud computing ecosystem will start to become apparent to you as an individual.

Even better, the preparatory nature of Business and Personal IT as two discrete concepts is melting away. The lessons learned, and in some cases even products used, are increasingly interchangeable between home and the office. So what’s good for the Goose, really can be good for the Gander when it comes to Cloud adoption.