Head in(to) the Cloud!

Cloud is one of the biggest buzzwords of the last decade. But what is Cloud, what can we do with it and how does it impact my business?

What is the purpose of Cloud?

Cloud technology is all about taking away burdens on IT level. The technology existed for quite some time, but now there is a name for it. It is a rising phenomenon and is getting more and more adapted by companies.

We already work with Cloud technology without even noticing for quite some while. Think about your first free email account like Hotmail or Gmail. Isn’t it great to access your mail with a login from all over the world? A more recent example is the rise of Cloud-storage like OneDrive, Dropbox or Google-Drive. Very convenient to take a picture from your smartphone and show it on any device to your friends or family. The only thing you need to do is login on the right internet address.  Developments of Cloud technology gains momentum and it is inevitable to not use Cloud technology. Companies like Netflix or Spotify makes it easy for everyone to relax with just one login away. You are still in control: You can use it where, how and whenever you like. As long there is a device with a modern internet browser, you can watch your favourite show or listen to your favourite music.

Which burdens will be taken care of?

I used to do it and  I think a lot of others as well. Buy the latest and the fastest computer with a lot of hard diskspace, so we can assemble our own library consisting our favourite video or music. Following up with some software installation to actually play the media. The initial investment in a new computer and the huge amount of (external) disk spaces that followed afterwards. Not to mention the hours spent on collecting, configuring and testing, so we can make sure that the media could actually be played. All of this isn’t necessary anymore. With Cloud technology, most of all of this would be a relic of the past, because then we would only require to login  on the website to enjoy the same (or even better) results.

What does this have to do with my organisation?

It is a very good question, if the core business is non IT related. Why would any of this be matter if there is no IT relation in the company? It doesn’t, IF there is no IT in the company. But which company doesn’t have an IT department nowadays? This department is responsible for maintaining (virtual) servers/computers, which are a requirement to run the software which your business runs. Once this software is setup is done, there is also some infrastructure and network to be taken care of. All this effort solely for your core department, so they can do their job.

All the above mentioned factors which have a dependency. When one of these factors would change, every single one of them must be checked. In worst case: you might have to redo all your hard work. It takes quite some effort to keep up with the ever increasing pace of updates in the tomorrow’s business. It would be nice if your company don’t have to worry about these things and just focus on your core business.

But is the business world ready for this?

Just the thought of not worrying about the newest IT technology is nice, but can we actually bring software to the level where online platforms are the standard? Where you only have to sign-in to do your job? Yes it can.

Companies like Microsoft, Amazon and Google are continuously evolving in this area. In fact, if you use Office365 for example, you already have it. You only need a modern browser and off to work with Word Online. Of course you have the application installed on your computer or app on the tablet, but Word Online is more than a match to fill your needs for text processing. Could you even imagine what the future would be like?

Cases like Office365 are all possible through the Microsoft Azure platform. This is the answer of Microsoft on the gaining need for Cloud solutions of the business world. Azure is a platform which organizes al the earlier mentioned factors and dependencies orderly as building blocks and let them seamlessly fit together. This way you don’t have to look for the right setup anymore just to keep up the pace to use the latest software. The best part of it: You only have to pay for that single block you are using.

Focudis & Cloud?

Focudis is build on Azure platform and is focussed on raising the productivity of your core-business. We would also like to see a world where you only have to sign-in, so you can start working. Isn’t it strange you have to pay for resources like, servers, computers and other resources, besides the software just so you can do your job?

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