How can cloud computing benefit your business?
MarketInvoice was recently interviewed by CNN for a new report about cloud computing – but what is cloud computing, and how can it benefit your business?
Cloud computing refers to the usage of different applications through the internet, where cloud users can access information on servers using an array of devices such as computers, netbooks, and smart phone. As opposed to the storing the data on individual devices, cloud users have their information and application stored and managed remotely by the cloud server anywhere, at anytime.
The technology has been revamping the way businesses work. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison went from questioning cloud computing a year ago, to saying that Oracle is the world’s largest cloud computer vendor. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer similarly went from treating cloud computing as an alternative, to saying that “everything” may be in the cloud. Cloud computing is also changing the landscape of the industry. According to Goldman Sachs, tablet computers are estimated to replace 35% of the PC sales, while smartphone sales will exceed PCs for the first time in history.
Small firms are also benefiting from the cloud computing phenomenon. According to the Intuit UK Online Survey, 38% of the UK small businesses are using cloud computing, in which almost half of them use the technology because documents can be shared with greater ease. Cloud computing allows businesses to invest less money and time on computers, as supported by 41% of the respondents in the survey.
It seems like the dawning of a new computing age is approaching. Only time can tell whether consumers “will demote the PC and the Mac to just a device” and jump into the clouds, as Steve Jobs suggested. Will you be one of them?