You’ve likely adopted cloud computing in some capacity in your personal or professional life. After all, the popularity of laptop computers and the rapid emergence of smartphones and tablets practically guaranteed that the cloud would spread like wildfire. As powerful and widespread as the cloud is, however, few people are using it to its full potential.
Have you ever considered what a day in your life would look like if you truly took advantage of the technology that’s available to you? Perhaps not, but it’s an intriguing idea.
The Cloud in Your Personal Life
You likely use cloud-based technologies all the time without realizing it. Apple has revolutionized the way people store their personal files with systems like iCloud. These systems allow users to store contacts, text messages, photos, and app information digitally. This makes transferring files between devices incredibly easy. The iCloud can be shared by families or limited to individuals, but the agility it provide is incredible.
Personal cloud storage like Dropbox offers a layer of redundancy when it comes to storing your data. Migrating items like photos to the cloud ensures that you won’t lose them in the event of a basement flood, a house fire, or a lost mobile device. Maintaining online copies of essential documents can also make life more convenient for you. It will also prevent major barriers to your way of life if something were to happen to the physical copies of said documents.
Today, you regularly use cloud-based programs like Spotify’s music streaming service. In fact, most programs that allow you to access content in your browser without requiring physical installation via disc, external hard drive, or another medium, are cloud-based. Netflix is one such platform; Steam, a gaming service, is another. If you’ve used any of Adobe’s creative programs like Photoshop, Premiere, or InDesign in the last few years, you probably used them as part of Adobe’s Creative Cloud, a cloud-based software suite.
Embracing the cloud in your personal life means constantly connecting to everything around you.
The Cloud in Your Professional Life
At work the cloud has even more productive applications. Cloud storage often comes with collaborative features that allow multiple parties to work simultaneously on single files. Google Drive, for example, can assist companies in setting up massive, highly organized servers full of all the files they use on a daily basis. All of these files are open to collaboration.
Software as a service (SaaS) is popular in the workplace as well. The most relevant example right now is Microsoft Office 365, the cloud-based successor to Microsoft’s wildly popular Office suite. The new platform allows files to flow seamlessly between multiple applications. Its considerable communication, scheduling, and task management tools can help drive any organization towards truly unifying its communications.
Cloud computing is also changing workplace cultures around the world. Since employees are no longer dependent on their employer-provided desktop computer in the office to access their work, companies are gradually embracing bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies. These policies increase employee comfort and reduce hardware costs.
When employees are comfortable working from their personal devices, it also opens the door for remote work. Many businesses are allowing employees to work from home one day each week. Mobile employees like salespeople and freelance employees are at a greater advantage than ever before.
Embrace the Cloud
It may be years before our society completely integrates the cloud into daily life. When that happens society will be more efficient than ever, both at home and in the office. Implementing cloud solutions in your business is one of the best ways to stay ahead of the curve and future-proof your operations; you’ll see significant results in the short term as well.
At Xpert Technologies, we call our cloud service package xCloud. As a singular service or as part of a more comprehensive package like xComplete, xCloud is capable of plugging your business into a global digital infrastructure that opens many, many doors.
If xCloud or any of our other services intrigue you, we’d love to have a conversation about what the Xpert team can do for your business. Just reach out today to get started.