How Cloud Will Look Like in Future

Cloud computing is turning to be the next big thing that is capable of handling information technology among companies, individuals and most governments. It has become the basic business innovation mechanism that is responsible of bringing significant improvements to businesses that rely on information technology. Businesses utilizing cloud computing aim at improving their profits, overall success and scalability. Due to the radical changes affecting technological departments, it is expected that cloud computing is likely to take a different direction in a bid to effectively serve businesses.

Enhanced democratization of technology

Currently, cloud computing allows individual computer users to collaborate with everyone else in the virtual computing world. Future trends are expected to simplify these trends more by allowing people with little IT knowledge handle their duties effectively using special programs designed to control all the activities. Connection speeds to the cyberspace world are expected to be enhanced through introduction of cloud computing on similar computing devices. It should become very easier to access information from any institution you desire to collaborate with unlike it is now. Some of the expected technological advancements may appear technical and only applicable in scientific fiction movies but will certainly become reality at their ripe time.

High expectations among employees

Since technology will aim at simplifying everything in the business perspective, there will certainly be a rise in the type of employees that will come about. The future of cloud computing perceives the development of a different type of employees commonly refereed to as Millennials. They have extraordinary expectations about what they can achieve for their organizations. The regular cultural parameters will no longer constrain their performance. Extra characteristics such as cooperation and talent will be a major determining factor on the level of success a business attains.

Input vs output ratio

Operation in most organizations is based upon some form of agility. This is partly occasioned by the radically changes affecting our economy. The rising economy demands that business operations be handled with uttermost care. A careful analysis of every business operation is required in order to determine how they could be enhanced. An efficient business should be capable of delivering more than the input incurred by the operators. The only way to achieve these is by making use of stronger cloud computing platforms.

More economical growth

Economic constraints have been the major hindering factor in the adoption of cloud computing platforms in most businesses. This is the reason why the economy has performed poorly for a very long time. Many people safeguard their investments in traditional industries that risk the value of investments. Cloud computing is capable of creating a new generation of virtual economic powerhouses that will shift wealth acquisition from traditional industries to global markets that provide an enhanced market industry for the sale of products. The world is expected to be a better place with such quality marketing.

There is a general push for adoption of cloud computing by most businesses. Cloud computing comes in different types and choosing the appropriate can at times be a complex process. Future trends are expected to come with hybrid systems that are likely to be cheaper to handle and migrate to. Hybrid systems will balance a range of requirements covered in individual systems.

Why Vertical and Horizontal Integration of Business Technology is Imperative?

Technology is arguably the tool that has enabled global business to reach the level it’s at today. We as a population have created devices, applications and networks that present nearly limitless potential when it comes to providing products and services. Communication within business is at a place it’s never been before.

However, our economy is also competitive, with each entity vying to gain traction on the next. Most successful businesses have state of the art technology, so it’s not a matter of who has what, but how they utilize those resources to be successful in a particular market niche.

It all boils down to how well a company integrates technology both horizontally and vertically throughout its structure. The more multidimensional an employee base is with regards to technology utilization, the better off the company will be in this society. From there, people can do their jobs most effectively and better help the customer receive and enjoy the offered product or service.

Below are the ways that widespread knowledge of a company’s technology amongst employees can help a business, and how tech influences operations overall.

Customer communication

Technology helps businesses communicate with customers and create transparency. In today’s world people want to know how a business is doing things, why they’re doing them that way and how quickly they’re executing. This creates a natural demand for technology that enables all business areas to communicate with the customers and partners being dealt with on the front line.

If employees in the financial department of a large corporation understand when the batch processing in the data center happens each week, they can better explain billing delays and similar situations to customers. The same goes for all departments across any company. If one business sector understands the technology in another unit, the efficiency of that particular frontline in their experiences with customers and each other will go much more smoothly.

Capability of operations

Technology is the oil that has made operations across the international economy run so well, and it’s no different on a micro level within a business. The more an employee base knows about technology, both vertically and horizontally across a company, the better they understand the operation as a whole. A team is best when all players know each other’s skillset, and the same goes for a business. If the marketing department understands what software development projects the IT professionals work on each day, everything makes more sense.

Business atmosphere

Technology integrated at all levels of a business creates an atmosphere that’s just better for everyone. If business executives in the headquarters can communicate instantaneously with the factory supplier two states away, clarity is inherently a priority in business procedure and people are more comfortable with one another. It used to be sufficient for a representative to speak and communicate for an entire department, but it really doesn’t work that way anymore. All touch points of a business need to relate to one another to create a forum-type atmosphere. Technology does this.

Most thriving businesses have technology, but it’s what they do with it that separates them and creates something special. The more intricately a company’s tech is orientated throughout the business model, the greater success it will find in this marketplace.

Company Communities – Bringing a Breath of Fresh Air to Corporate Communication

Business organizations these days are constantly striving to build a transparent and pervasive network for all their employees in order to facilitate better corporate communication. Keeping this challenge under consideration, cloud software juggernaut Salesforce recently showcased an ingenious new product called Company Communities that is designed to overcome the one-dimensional, limited nature of corporate intranets.

It aims to bring a much-needed personalized experience by putting a strong emphasis on the mobile and social features of corporate communication models.Salesforce hopes these features will encourage and enthrall employees in their work. Just like smoking Saffire Vapor from your e-cigs is a much healthier option than smoking cigarettes, Company Communities promises to deliver exactly the same kind of efficient functionality for your corporate communication platform.

How Company Communities Is Better Than Your Corporate Intranet

Recent research studies have shown that nearly 80% of employees in major organizations get their own mobile device for work, and 68% of them are actively using it for social purposes in the workforce. Hence, the demand for corporate mobile apps has drastically shot up, since employees feel their work efficiency is maximized with the help of these tools.

Company Communities is aimed particularly at businesses that heavily invest in corporate intranet services, but are held back due to the poor participation levels of their employees. It takes a departure from the mundane and highly formal corporate communication model and engages employees on the social front. This is accomplished with the help of a diverse set of Android, iOS and Windows apps that are tailor-made to give your network of employees the best possible social interaction platform.

Many cloud experts and established Salesforce customers have called Corporate Communities a deeper extension of its popular enterprise-networking platform, known as Chatter.Company Communities does indeed capture the essence of Chatter; however, it takes its service to a whole another level with the help of a nifty set of tools that helps you accomplish the following tasks with great finesse:

·     Efficient Distribution of Content – Your employees can now publish, review, approve and upgrade content they intend to share with certain co-workers according to their organizational roles.

·     Engaging Experts – The provision of a social profile for all employees ensures that anyone can easily interact and seek information from other employees whose field of expertise matches with the content required.

·     Proficient Teamwork – Corporate Communities allows all employees to conveniently access and share content as well as obtain suitable advice on it. It facilitates better collaboration on work projects and helps you assign them to the right experts in your organization.

·     A Rich World of Apps –Salesforce provides access to a strong suit of corporate apps as well as third-party tools that can easily be downloaded by employees to cater to their specific work requirements.

My best friend Michelle is a blogger and freelancer. She’s written about almost every topic under the sun, and loves constantly learning about new subjects and industries while she’s writing. In her spare time she enjoys spending time outdoors with her dogs. 

Data Recovery and Cloud Hosting

Recovering data in a cloud environment may be new to those who have recently made the switch to cloud computing.  Because more and more organizations are migrating to the cloud, it is important to understand how to recover data in an event that any data is lost due to a security incident.  There are a number of methods to go about recovering data, and understanding each method is the first step in knowing what to do in case you have a security problem.  Below are three methods of data recovering as it pertains to cloud hosting.

Replication

Replicating data is one of the simplest and most relied on form of backing up data.  When you replicate data, you are simply placing your data on another system.  Doing this will give you backup data should anything be lost on one system.  Although this is one of the most popular methods of backing up data, it doesn’t necessarily translate to 100% of your data being able to be recovered.  Some data may be lost.  Talk to a cloud computing professional about what you can do to protect yourself using this particular method.

                                         

Outsourcing

Many organizations will elect to outsource their disaster recovery to a managed service provider.  There is obviously a cost associated with this method, but managed service providers are equipped to handle data recovery.  There is a great peace of mind knowing your data can be recovered from professionals that focus primarily on this task.  If you make the decision to go this route, make certain you understand the timeframe it generally takes to recover data from the managed service provider you are considering. 

Restore from Backup

There is an automated process of backing up data to the cloud that can be taken advantage of.  This particular method is relatively safe and inexpensive, but backing up the data can take hours depending on what was lost.  If you consider this method, talk to a cloud computing expert about the differences between interval backups and synced backups.  Each is different types of backup solutions with pros and cons to consider.

Regardless of what method you choose any route you decide to take a wise choice.  You want to make sure you backup your data and understanding what your options are is a great first step at making the right decision for your business. 

Maintaining a Safe Cloud Computing Environment

One of the most popular misconceptions about cloud computing is that data on the cloud is not safe and secure.  Although no storage data is 100% safe, regardless of platform being used, cloud computing has proven to be just as effective, if not more, than traditional hosting when it comes to security.  As long as there are people making every attempt to hack into systems to obtain information, there will always be a focus on security, rightfully so.  If you are considering using the cloud to store your data, we provide a handful of tips for maintaining a safe cloud environment.

Use Email Wisely

Email is a fantastic tool to communicate, but it is also a focal point for those looking to hack into systems and obtain sensitive information.  If you need to relay a username and/or password to another person, avoid using email.  Simply call the person and let them know what that information is.  Emailing sensitive information out such as usernames and passwords is a great way to have your information compromised.

Be Clever

You would be surprised just how many people choose “password” as their security password.  Be clever when it comes to accessing your information.  Create passwords that are unique.  Also, when it comes to security questions and answers, think outside of the box.  Don’t answer the question of “what is your favorite color?” with “blue”.  Instead, use another name such as “football”.  An unrelated response can tighten your security measures considerably.

Be Aware

A simple way for someone to steal your information is to simply look over your shoulder.  If you are logging in from a remote location, be aware of what and who is around you.  Avoid any high traffic areas and try to do work with your back against a wall.  This can help reduce the chances of your information being stolen.

Cloud computing is safe and reliable.  However you want to make sure you don’t leave yourself open to having your data stolen and following the tips above will help.  Before you make any computing decision, be sure to do your research and understand the facts, especially when it comes to cloud computing. 

How physical servers are different from virtual servers?

Most of the hosting network services have two types of offers for dedicated servers of which the first one enables users to order a physical one. As soon as it arrives, it is setup on the racks and its operating system is installed. Now, it is fully available to be accessed remotely. In the second case, the virtual servers come into view wherein the physical layer is abstracted. This type dedicated server enables users to get their very own servers which they can start using immediately. Both these types of dedicated servers have their own advantages which have been highlighted below.

Physical Servers
Users can get physical servers by following some simple steps that include hiring a hardware provider who will install the hardware for the users. The free rack unit will later be located by the technicians who will install the server and connect the cables and power supply. Later, the desired operating system is installed after consulting the user.

Once the operating system and basic diagnostics are ready, the credentials are delivered to the user. This will enable the users to access their server remotely as well as to start installing the softwares that are needed by the user. The hosting provider is responsible only for offering reboots and hardware changes while the overall control of the server lies with the user. Apart from that, they also provide fast connectivity of the network due to which the server runs non-stop without any kind of problems.

Virtual Servers
The virtual dedicated servers or Infrastructure as a service is a way for the users to get their very own machines. In order to get such virtual dedicated servers, the users need to register their account with the hosting service provider and confirm their email and identity. Once the users have registered, the service provider’s control panel will be accessible to them. On the control panel, the users have to click on ‘New VM’ after which they need to select the operating system and wait for some time.

This process will enable the users to get a new virtual machine by accessing it through SSH or VNC. Since the IP address for the system is assigned automatically, the users will be able to start installing the softwares on it. The servers run at all times unless the users turn them off manually so the users will be able to clone, erase, turn back on or even leave the server paused. The users not only have the facility to pay for the usage of the server by hour or capacity but are also able to increase or decrease power and cost between minutes. The usage of this facility is fully based on the user or the application being used. So, the users can choose whether they want this facility to be automated. Click here to know more about virtual private server hosting.

The right tool
There have been lots of advantages of the cloud computing platform but that doesn’t mean that a complete switch-over to the cloud servers should take place. Since, there are times when a physical server needs to be used, it is essential to get a really powerful server that will not cause any kinds of overheads. Many examples of such situations are available wherein a big database server is used for extensive data operations. Similarly, the game servers also handle thousands of users at the same time with ease.

Since, a physical server enables users to know the exact location of the server due to which the server is completely free from any overhead as well as the underlying softwares. The cost-effectiveness of the cloud servers serves as a great advantage for medium or large companies that need to scale. This will ensure that the users are able to easily manage their own private dedicated servers as remote systems. Due to this, the users will be able to check problem by sitting at a virtual console. Most of the changes to the servers can be done by the user which otherwise would be solved only with the help of a technician.

Wrapping it up:
Recently, people have started following a trend wherein they are switching to cloud servers which maybe private or public. Some others also prefer to use virtual servers directly. It is recommended to use virtual servers as they tend to give users more control over the resources. The main difference between both these servers is that physical servers need users to pay even when they aren’t accessing the web server. Conversely, the users need to pay for only those resources that they want to access using the virtual servers.

How To Connect Your Network to the Cloud

1.Welcome to the Cloud!

Cloud computing is a storage utility which is quick, engaging and enlightening. Building a network will be potentially unique to the requirements of a. your company and b. the connection to the user as and when needed.

You may have seen commercial applications such as iCloud and Drop Box providing simple, deployable solutions that work on your desktop, tablet and smartphone.An office based system is not too different to these applications; however the enterprise will want to often integrate its own IP Address Management (IPAM.) to maintain a tight level of control on its own server.

2. What can I expect?

A lot of business applications are now moving to the cloud, it’s a shift from traditional software as the internet has become more acceptable and advanced over the last 10 years.  Cloud computing will simplify the technology and eventuallyoverlap the network, because of its interconnectivity with phones and tablets, and any other further potential computing devices that may come around.

Cloud-based apps are also very quick and easy to set up. Getting them up and running in weeks and costing less than a network or a CRM tool for research, project files, progress charts etc. The cloud app will let you create projects, reports and manage data in a dynamic format, with charts, graphs and plenty of other formats that other CRMs charge much more money to use.

3. Public cloud access networking

Public cloud access networking, such as Oracle CloudWorld, Cloud Pro and vCloud by VM Ware are all examples of internet cloud access.  These cloud providers are able to support virtual private networks (VPNs) for large customers as well. It’s important to note that not all computing providers will support encrypted tunnels, so there will always be a security issue while your information is sent over the open internet. There are drawbacks to encryption as well, because this often delays data trafficking, slowing your transfer speed.

The more recent innovations in cloud computing are making our business applications more mobile and sleeker to collaborate with. As consumers we expect to be able to deal with information in real time, and business applications in the cloud are heading towards that direction now as well.

4. Will cloud computing continue to grow?

The future of cloud computing seems to be positive, with lots of growth, if not a little enterprising and prosperous as well. A new report from Visiongain entitled ‘'World Cloud Computing Market 2013 - 2018' cites the prospect of cloud computing for the years ahead, painting a starry picture for the industry.

Market revenue for Cloud computing services will grow to $35.6 billion by the end of 2013. This worldwide phenomenon in growth is evidence of the success cloud computing has in industry. It is undeniable that cloud computing is changing the business landscape, and is seen by many as the solution to the problems seen in slow deployment of applications, with limited resources and unpredictable system configurations that can occur in existing IT infrastructure.

5. What we do at my company

Working at The Genuine Gemstones Company a company which has brands selling jewellery live on television, we like to be innovative with ideas and embrace new technology. Our brands Gems TV and Rocks TV are televised in the UK and USA respectively to a TV audience who are shopping savvy and fashion-conscious.

Using cloud technology enhances our reach within the company. With many departments reliant on data, it is useful to keep some low key projects on the cloud and store away data in CRM based charts, processing private data used in the operations for day to day usages.

One example is so we can see what our customers like ordering, such as diamond earrings, silver pendants or a bright blue gemstone sapphire ring for example.  Once we can collate this data on the cloud, we can log in on any digital device connected to the internet, analyse the data and create charts instantaneously, making our own all in one CRM for order frequency and filter out variables effectively.

Our team are always working to keep up to speed with the latest technology, as it is in the nature of the business to excel and achieve and grow year on year.

This post is written by my dear friend Edward Meeks, digital marketing executive at The Genuine Gemstones Company

Mining Email Clutter in Salesforce.com

Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com, has an aversion to email.  At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2013, his keynote speech was entitled “How are you connected with your customer, your partners, your employees.  Email?  Those days are over.”   Marc should pick up a copy of this month’s Foreign Affairs and carefully read the article written by Kenneth Cukier and Viktor Mayer-Schoenberger entitled “The Rise of Big Data”.  Their key insight is that “Large amounts of messy data trumped small amounts of clean data”.

Marc needs to think beyond the current fad of social networking and realize that the next $1 billion of revenue is in making use of big data.   With big data in his pocket, Salesforce.com’s current overblown valuation might actually be sustainable.

Currently, the big data component of customer relationship management is email and voice; two old technologies that make up 99% of customer interaction.  Think about it, what else is there?    Currently, cloud integration technologies exist that can consolidate all voice and email interactions inside a CRM system and make them available for data mining.

Using that mountain of raw and messy data, sales executives can apply data analysis techniques that can unlock patterns in customer behavior and use those trends to monitor and optimize the sales process.  On a simple level, daily sales rep activity can be measured.  How many emails and calls did a sales rep receive; how many emails and calls did he or she send/make?   More specifically, identify those Leads and Opportunities that are hot and those that are cold.  Look for linguistic clues in the email bodies and voice-over-IP transcripts as to why certain deals closed and other deals were lost.    Look at correlations between won deals and email subject lines to determine which phrases led to commercial success.

But to gain the benefits of big data in a CRM system, Salesforce.com needs to adjust its thinking.  Up until now, Salesforce.com has been about a small set of clean data.  Salesforce.com account reps are trained to create FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) about email and voice-over-IP clutter.    More importantly, Salesforce.com pricing nudges customers away from big data concepts because storage is limited to absurdly low levels:  Enterprise Edition users get 20 MB of Data Storage, only enough for a few months of email and voice-over-IP data; Unlimited Editions users, which in fairness are used by the majority of major corporations, get enough storage for about 18 months.   Salesforce.com needs to unlock these constraints and give customers the space to import big data and analyze it.

There are two cloud services on the AppExchange that can be used as the foundation for email and voice-over-IP big data in Salesforce.com.  Match My Email offers automated Salesforce Outlook integration.  It is different from the other tools and services on the market because it creates a 100% complete and accurate email log in Salesforce.com with no user intervention.  This comprehensive data is then available for analysis.   Shoretel offers a voice-over-IP integration cloud for Salesforce.com.  The Shoretel service logs every voice interaction to Salesforce.com together with a transcript of the telephone call.  Because it works completely in the cloud like Match My Email and Salesforce.com, it captures every phone call regardless of where it is made – mobile phone or office phone.

Making use of apps such as these, Salesforce users can begin to harness the power of big data on their own, and maybe Salesforce will then move in that direction.

How Easily Hackable Are My Cloud-Stored Files?

Cloud computing, the practice of storing information on networks (usually the Internet) instead of yourdevices, has garnered a significant degree of criticism for being unsafe and easily crackable. However, is data fundamentally less safe when stored outside ofyour computer system?

The Pros and Cons

Storing data in the cloud is an easy and convenient solution to the constant need for more space and instant access to one’s accumulated data. It also keeps things safe in case of hardware failure. A computer is vulnerable to water damage or a cracked hard drive, but when a user’s pictures, videos, emails and other information are stored in the cloud, they are kept safe by the protection of many powerful servers.

Local storage has some advantages too, however. When the files are stored within the device itself, the device is able to access them instantaneously. In contrast, if there is network interference — even if it has nothing to do with the user — retrieving data may be slow or impossible. A UK private investigator, for example, could be cost precious hours in retrieving a criminal’s data simply because of a storm in New York.

Which to Choose?

To examine whether cloud storage is safer than hardware storage, the very term “safer” must be examined. Is password protection enough to be considered “safe,” or must the data actually be encrypted within the storage device? Should the files be accessible from the root user, or must they be completely hidden within the system? Determining what, if anything, can keep malicious users out of a personal machine is more complex than it sounds.

To complicate matters, the tactics used to hack passwords are the same whether the password applies to a cloud system or to a local machine. Dictionary or brute-force attacks can ping thousands of potential passwords at the system per second. If the hacker gets a lucky guess, it’s game over for your private data.

While it may sound like the two are equally matched as far as security, there is an added complication to cloud computing: the fact that data can be intercepted en route. Viruses and malware can hang in an operating system without the owner’s knowledge, silently transmitting data back to its source. Therefore if a personal machine isn’t safe, then neither is anything in the else in the cloud that that machine might connect to.

What to Do to Keep Safe

Whether you choose to entrust the cloud with your personal data or keep it on your own computer, there are a few basic safety tips to practice. Always choose passwords that are hard to crack, such as long strings of random numbers and letters. Removing the vowels of a phrase or substituting in numbers for letters can make this easy.

Additionally, when using the Internet, make sure that any personal data goes to a site with the https:// prefix, instead of http://. This indicates that it is a secure connection.

With the options available to today’s computer users, unlimited data access has never been easier. Just make sure your storage method is safe and takes advantage of these advancements to itsfullest potential.

My dear friend Michelle who wrote this for me is a blogger and freelancer. She’s written about almost every topic under the sun, and loves constantly learning about new subjects and industries while she’s writing. Whenever she’s able to step away from her computer she enjoys spending time outdoors with her dogs.

How to add Swap Space to Amazon EC2 Linux (Micro) Instances?

Micro instance (t1.micro) type is one of the most fashionable and highly acceptable instance types by IT fellows supported by Amazon EC2.  Other thing to note down is that the Linux Micro Instance doesn't have swap space.

Follow these steps to append swap space and boost the recital of your Linux based Amazon EC2 Micro Instance.

Login to AWS Console, switch to root and follow these steps to add the swap space.

Fire following command with count that should be equal to the preferred block size:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile bs=2M count=2048

Create the swap file with the following command:

mkswap /swapfile

To enable the swap file instantaneously but not automatically at boot time:

swapon /swapfile

To enable the swap file at the boot time, add the subsequent entry into /etc/fstab:

/swapfile swap swap defaults 0 0

That’s it…..Voila!

Just How Efficient Is Using Cloud Computing?

A lot of people now use cloud computing with various cloud sites or software. Cloud computing is seen as the new, easy way to transfer work, pictures or videos anywhere with internet connection, rather than the older method of storing documents on hardware such as USB sticks and hard drives. From recent reports and analyses, cloud computing is seen as a lot more efficient however, just how efficient is it?

For one, it’s a lot cheaper for larger cloud computing companies to make efficiency improvements as the cost is ultimately spread across a large server base which means it can afford to have more dedicated workers to then focus on the efficiency improvements. There are usually fixed costs for implementing techniques which are used to improve Power Usage Effectiveness. The costs of having an equipment inventory and assessing data centre airflow which is the same for implementing institutional changes like charging users per kW rather than of per square foot of floor area. Of course, there is also a great advantage of having in-house qualities which are devoted to efficiency, rather than having workers split between various jobs. We are in a world where technology changes extremely quickly which means that it is difficult for those who are not fully focused on efficiency to keep us with the enthusiasts.

Because more and more people are beginning to use cloud software and systems to store their work, it means one thing; diversity. More users in different places means computing loads are spread over the day, allowing for increased equipment utilization. 

Cloud systems also use virtualisation and various other techniques to divide the system or software from the characteristics of physical servers. When using this method, it means that you can redesign the servers and ditch expensive energy costs. Ultimately, this method redefines the concept of reliability from one that is based on the reliability of the delivery of IT services of interest, additionally; this is seen as the much more sensible approach.

Another reason why using cloud software is highly efficient is the fact you can work around organisational issues instead of having to face them personally which can take a lot of time.  Most in-house IT services encounter the problem of a disconnection from IT department which are driving server facilities and purchases departments paying the bill for electricity. This particular problem has been solved simply for the cloud providers.  They generally have one data centre budget and clear responsibilities assigned to one person with decision making authority.

My friend Jake who has written this article currently writes for Syntehsis IT a company that specialises in the maintenance of business and computer hardware and software.

Why Cloud Computing's Offer of Scalability is so Crucial

Business technology consultants would have no job if every business leader was always completely aware of all the ways the technology in their industry is changing. The problem is, as the curve of technology’s advancement grows ever steeper on the timeline from the industrial revolution to the spread of the internet to mobile technology to cloud computing and big data, the task of keeping up and staying ahead becomes an ever taller order.

Adapting to change has long been a key to the success of any business though technology is much more of a factor in business than it was hundreds of years ago or even thirty years ago. Cloud Computing offers effectively limitless depth and scalability, so essentially, the flexibility to adapt to change of varying extremes in needed computing power is available to all (given a reliable and sufficient internet connection). The speed at which a business is able to accomplish adaptation to change is also essential and there the cloud offers quick implementation of its services even as its contents are in a state of flux.

Growing to Become an Enterprise

One of the reasons that the most successful businesses such as Amazon and eBay are so successful is that their infrastructure was designed to be scalable. Before cloud computing was on everyone’s lips, having too much investment in computing resources might have been a problem, but the advance of internet technology bridged a gap and breathed life into cloud computing, illustrating how technology feeds and builds on itself. In 1999, Salesforce was able to offer enterprise applications through the web and Amazon capitalized on their excess resources by offering scalable access tohardware and even personnelthrough the web in 2002.

Smaller businesses and startups have to embrace the cloud in order to grow and compete. Especially during the first few years of a business’ existence, keeping costs down is a fervent focus. The low entry-cost and room to grow in cloud services makes them the only really sensible option.

Timing is Everything

One of the main reasons that any business project fails is that it runs into problems with resources not being in the right place at the right time. The accessibility and scalability of the cloud helps put the right amount of computing resources exactly where and when they are needed.With applications becoming increasingly integral to the functionality of the enterprise, this is ever more vital as it bodes well for the agility of software development.

Consumer Flux

Big data is also expected to be a key factor of successful enterprising in this decade. Business leaders hope to be able to have a much clearer understanding of their market through analysis of large data sets relating to consumers. Though the room for growth when utilizing cloud services is often cited as the benefit of its scalability, often overlooked is the fact that the ability to scale back can be just as important.

Consumerism fluctuates due to a vast variety of factors. Big data will aid in clearly identifying factors and better predicting fluctuations. The ability to cut costs by scaling back rental of cloud services during the natural valleys of consumption will be every bit as useful as being able to scale up during peaks. Cloud vendors charging based on measurable usage of their service is a step into much greater economical use of computing resources.

The importance of scalability of the computing infrastructure of businesses has been noted well before cloud computing became so prevalent. With the current state of technology, it has simply never been more important. The advantage of cloud’s scalability is such that avoidance bears the heavy risk of getting left behind by tomorrow’s enterprising competition.

My Friend Nichols, Who write this article post, is a Systems Analyst and writer. As computing environments evolve and complexify, he does his best to keep up with the challenge. When Arthur isn't drawing up diagrams and flow charts, he writes for BMC, leading provider of cloud design solutions.

What Makes the Cloud Such a Big Opportunity?

The use of cloud computing is growing all of the time, and there is not likely to be any let up in this growth in the months ahead.

Businesses and the Cloud

While there have been concerns from businesses that cloud services may be insecure and unreliable, a study set to be released from England’s Manchester University this week shows that use of the cloud has dramatically cut costs in relation to information technology. In addition, most businesses that have enjoyed a cut in costs saw this translate directly into vastly improved profit at the bottom line.

One of the biggest barriers to businesses embracing cloud computing has been their own attitude, with many believing that the cloud would ultimately fizzle out as something as a gimmick, rather than a service that can have a profound impact throughout a business. Many industry analysts feel that this study could be the final step in getting everyone to embrace the cloud. After all, if you are a CEO of a business and are seen to be turning down the opportunity to cut a cost line by 25%, your shareholders or board of directors are probably not going to remain supportive for long, are they?

Final Destination

The endgame of cloud services, whether it is data storage or server hosting, is that at some point in the future everything will be based there. The existing concerns that remain around security and reliability don’t show any sign of going away, although more will surely be done to minimise these issues now that the positive impact is so clear. For now, providers of traditional host services have nothing to worry about, but they could see demand for their products beginning to diminish in the years ahead as the need and clamour for the cloud grows ever larger.

Other Opportunities

The opportunities that cloud services give to businesses are clear, but how do they influence other groups?

In terms of individual consumers, they have been living their lives increasingly in the cloud for a number of years, whether they were aware of it or not. Services such as iTunes and Gmail have been cloud based for a long time, and consumers are perhaps only now becoming fully aware of it thanks to data synchronisation between devices and the way they use mobile technology interchangeably.

The cloud will continue to make consumers’ lives easier, whether that is via the streaming of television shows and movies, or the ability to access essential information at any time of the day.

Investors will also be licking their lips, or have the proverbial currency signs in their eyes, as the cloud continues to grow. Conservative projections show that the market for cloud services is going to at least double over the next three years, so anyone with money to invest should certainly be at least considering this area.

Something for Everyone

The technology industry has a habit of over selling certain things as ‘life changing’ or ‘revolutionary,’ but there is no doubting that the cloud is both of those. The opportunities the cloud will present to all of us in the coming years will be huge, and change how we do things forever.

This article is written by Jaguar PC where my colleagues are working, the original leaders in  VPS hosting, with 24/7 professional support and affordable Web Hosting plans.

How to Keep Your Business Secure When Using the Cloud

The role of cloud-based technology is growing every day, both in terms of our individual lives and in the way we do business.  While the benefits of using the cloud are wide ranging, easily the biggest concern surrounds keeping data secure. With the use of cloud platforms set to increase further in 2013, there will be more to keep safe and more due diligence to be carried out than ever before.

We explored how you can keep your business secure by effectively managing everything in your cloud space in the coming year.

Don’t Rely on Firewalls

Place whatever you are keeping in the cloud, whether that is data, server processes, or web hosting functions, behind a firewall. The mistake, however, would be then to think everything is okay, and not carry out any further monitoring.

As good as firewalls can be for preventing attacks and viruses, they are not infallible, and leaving them unmonitored will inevitably lead to a breach eventually. Combine technology and an element of human IT management in order to get the best results.

Get Service Guarantees

Some of the service guarantees you will seek from your cloud provider are obvious. For example, it goes without saying that you will want to be able to access your data securely and quickly wherever you are, and whenever you want.

Many companies that use a cloud service make the mistake of thinking they are the only clients using a particular space. If you have paid for a private cloud service, get a written guarantee that you are the only group that can access it. Some cloud providers will ‘re-sell’ your space if you leave a significant chunk of it unused, which could lead to others accessing your data and leave you at risk. Be sure to take this possibility out of the equation.

Have a Back Up Plan

Even if you have a stringent policy in place, have a firewall and a human set of eyes on your cloud operation and performance at all times, and believe you are the only person with access to the data, you can still be open to an attack and lose some of your data.

Keep an action plan active at all times, so that any data is backed up elsewhere, and have a clear idea of timescales when it comes to dealing with any breaches or restoring services. Part of this will be down to you, although your corrective actions are better to be planned in conjunction with your service provider, especially if you can get them board with carrying out security monitoring on your behalf.

Make it a Big Thing

Anyone who suffers any data security breach of any kind, not just in terms of cloud computing, does so for several reasons. One common factor shared by everyone this happens to, is that they have not made it a big deal in their organisation.

Whether you are a one man company or are responsible for a team of employees, ensure cloud security is high on the agenda on a daily basis, and something that everyone in your business lives by day in, day out.

Keep yourself secure on the cloud throughout 2013 and beyond, and you will soon find yourself well positioned to make full use of its great potential.

This post is from Posterita where my colleagues are working,  is revolutionary new inventory management software that allows chain stores and single stores to manage every aspect of their operations via an easy-to-use web-based platform.

EC2 Micro Instances - Best Among AWS Cloud

Micro instance (t1.micro) type is one of the most fashionable and highly acceptable instance types by IT fellows supported by Amazon EC2. During November 2010, AWS announced the free tier and started offering 750 hours of Micro Instance usage free per month for the first one year, but it's available as an Amazon EBS-backed instance only. You can now launch EC2 micro instances within a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC). AWS now extends to t1.micro instances running inside of a VPC also.

Talking to it technical specifications, the Micro Instance type doesn’t have that much power required for heavy stimulating. The main memory presented in Micro instance type is 613MB. It comes with explode CPU capacity that can be goes up to 2 Elastic Compute Units (ECU). That means the CPU performance is not conventional. This is just not enough for running any severe workloads. And yes, storage can be added through Elastic Block Storage (EBS) and the free tier covers up to 30GB of storage space.

But from the technical specification it doesn’t mean Micro Instances are totally ineffective. They offer excellent worth in certain cases. In this article, I want to share how to get the best out of the Amazon EC2 Micro Instances.

Optimize Swap Memory – This is pertinent to Linux based Micro Instances. By default, these types of instances do not have swap space configured at initial level. I ran my Cloud Magic World Website on a Micro Instance for a few days. During the crest loads, I have experienced Apache Server or MySQL crashing unexpectedly. So with just 613 MB at your clearance, you got to make sure that you have set aside enough disk space for the swap. This will radically enlarge the reliability of Micro Instance.

Auto Scaling Out – The funda on the Cloud is auto scaling out. Running a convoy of low-end servers in parallel is more competent and cost effectual on any virtualized infrastructure. As per the load and use-case, splitting a job across number of Micro Instances may be cheaper and faster than running the same job on a single Large Instance. This scale out structural design provides better fail over and quicker processing.

Mull over Caching – If you are scheduling to host sites on these Micro Instances, be clear in your mind that they are not very dynamic. Dynamic websites demand more CPU power and memory due to the approach each request is processed. Straightforward websites like blogs and marketing sites with a few dynamic contents are ideal participants for the Micro Instances. Moreover, consider caching the content to avoid CPU spikes. For example, if you are running any blog or website, you can enable caching plug-ins to increase the performance. There are plenty of plug-ins available for caching by free of cost.

Select 64-bit – Always pick 64-bit when running Micro Instances. This is assured to give you better recital than the 32-bit complement. You will see the difference when you are running batch processing that deals with large files and processes.

Pull the Cron jobs – Many patrons operate a Linux Micro Instance to run cron jobs and precise locale tasks that monitor and handle their entire AWS infrastructure. If you want to run a cron job, stop all other running services, add swap space to instance and pull it to make it a tilt and mean cron job machine.

Summary:

Hope this article gave you the basic fundamentals to get best out of the Micro Instances. I have mentioned core advantages and use cases of EC2 micro instance type over here. From Best-of-breed, you can use micro instances for normal dynamic websites and contents with caching power and scaling advantage.

The sunny side of cloud-based AP

Having your “head in the clouds” means different things to different people. If you’re managing the finance department within your organization, having your head in the cloud is the smart way to go. Once considered a luxury, cloud-based SaaS (software as a service) for workflow automation and invoice processing is now a necessity in a world of uncertain revenues and controlled costs.

The fact that SAP recently acquired SaaS provider Ariba for $4.3B should tell you all you need to know about the importance of cloud accounting for the future. Gartner forecasts that spending on cloud computing will increase at a rate of 19% compared to the total spending on IT, which is predicted to rise just 3%. As far as the growth in spending for cloud-based SaaS, Gartner expects that to grow from an estimated $12.1B in 2013 to $21.3B in 2015.

So what are the conditions that are making smart CFO’s and Finance Managers who haven’t already done so, put cloud-based automationcloud accounting software at the top of their wish list?

A paper-free environment is not the only endgame.

Moving into automated financial processing definitely has a paper-elimination advantage, to be sure. The problems that may arise from paper pileups and lost or misplaced invoices, and the efficiencies realized from accounts payable automation can’t be overstated; but the silver lining in the cloud is its value as a business information and cash management tool. One of the truly major transformation companies are experiencing is the changing role of accounts payable, from a transactional back office cost center to a strategic position within the organization.  AP automation solutions enable this transformation by providing access to real-time data, and thus the insights necessary for procurement and treasury to effectively manage cash flow. Invoice Automation allows AP to:

• Increase invoice processing speeds with streamlined workflows
• Gain higher accuracy and faster access to data by removing touch points in the payables process
• Eliminate late payments and take advantage of early-payment discounts with automated invoice approval workflows and payment disbursements
• Enhance visibility at the click of a mouse for accurate reporting, better cash flow management, and improved supplier relationships
• Improve supplier relationships through a seamless exchange of transaction-related information and payments.

Automation is a clear advantage, but why in the cloud?

New infrastructure, new software, and additional personnel are investments few companies are able, or willing, to undertake. Using a cloud-based SaaS provider means that companies only need a computer and internet access to run the application software, so there is no need to purchase hardware or software, make new hires, or pay the high cost of ongoing upgrades and training. Cloud automation has the advantages of:

·    Low upfront costs

·    Fast deployment and flexibility

·    Minimal IT commitment

·    Access to data, anytime…anywhere

·    Rapid adoption and easy ERP integration

·    Automatic backup

·    Continuous software updates and upgrades

When real storm clouds appear, cloud-based AP software is essential

It’s no secret that storms are becoming more frequent and more treacherous, and that companies need to have a disaster recovery (DR) plan for all eventualities; but having multiple off-site servers, the personnel ready to implement emergency backups, and additional redundancies may not be feasible or optimal. Data stored in the cloud exists on the servers of service providers, who have their own system of servers at a variety of locations, constantly backing up data. Companies that have lost the ability to operate out of a brick-and-mortar facility can still access the necessary data through the cloud accounting system using their laptops, smartphones or tablets.

It’s clear that AP’s the future of Accounts Payable is in the clouds, and the future looks pretty bright…and definitely sunny. Have you transitioned into the cloud for your AP functions? If not, why not?. If so, let us know your experiences.

For more than 15 years, Corcentric’s cloud-based financial process automation solutions have revolutionized how the world’s largest organizations manage and protect their financial assets. By connecting best practices with deep expertise, Corcentric’s ground-breaking Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable automation solutions have enabled organizations to reduce costs, streamline processes, and provide unmatched visibility executives need to make critical business decisions.