Business-Building Ideas From Terry L. Brock
“Permanent fortifications are monuments to man’s stupidity.” General George S. Patton, United States Army
For you, as a mobile professional, salesperson, entrepreneur or over-achiever you have to be able to move quickly today. General Patton would have considered it silly to depend on a big computer fortress for your data. That means having the right kind of technology to support you up and get the job done to serve clients. A big trend now is having your software loaded “in the cloud†vs. on the desktop or even a laptop.
Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google is credited for coming up with the concept of doing business “in the cloud” a few years ago. It is catching on fast and it means solid business opportunities for you out in the field and in your office.
The Old Way
Way back in the 20th Century (remember that?) you would buy software, load it on your computer, fiddle with it to make it work, protect it from viruses, pay big dollars for the new upgrade and then cry when your hard drive crashed because you lost it all. Raise your hand if you can relate to that.
Yes, I thought there were many of you in that situation.
That was where we lived before and it created an endless stream of aggravation for people just trying to do business.
The Way Today
Today we do it differently. By being “in the cloud” you have the bulk of your contact management, your word processing, your spreadsheets and most anything else you need on a server that is accessed over the Internet. As long as you have access to the Internet, you do business there and get the most updated software on a regular basis. When a new upgrade is released, you don’t have to load it yourself. It is done by the geniuses at the company that provides your service. This is why is it also called “software as a service” or SaaS for short.
Today we access that data through a variety of Net-accessible devices. This could be a SmartPhone, your iPad, your Netbook computer, your laptop or even that desktop back at the office (yes, we can still use those).
I am using several tools now to keep all my contacts on a website, and then use Google Docs for word processing, spreadsheets and a lot more. By keeping the data in the cloud, I know it is constantly backed up. I also know I can access it with a variety of computers, including an Internet cafe if I’m on the road and cannot use my own computer for whatever reason. This is really nice. I can focus on generating sales and helping clients and let the wonderful IT people take care of the details.
Security & Backup
About this time many start wondering about two important concepts. The first is, “How do we keep our data secure?” This is quickly followed by “What about Backup?” These are both important.
For security, make sure you have good password protection on your data access. Also make sure you are dealing with a company that has a rock-solid reputation for security. If possible, password-protect the documents that you put online so they have a double protection — one from the document and a second from the site.
And a further protection is to make sure you don’t put any very sensitive documents online where there is little security. For instance, Google docs is good but the security part of ti is very shallow. I’d love to have password protection for individual documents on Google Docs. Don’t put sensitive documents on Google docs. Keep those elsewhere on your computer system or on a specialized website that uses Department of Defense level of security.
Regarding backup, yes, you will want to have a copy of your database on your laptop or portable device. I have my main contact management in the cloud and have it regularly send the info to my iPad and my laptop. That way I’m able to access what I need even if I can’t get to the Net. The database in the cloud serves as a regular backup if I have a computer crash or theft.
Bottom Line
The bottom line on this is that cloud computing is changing the way we operate and live. Instead of looking for the next cool software program, look for a good company with rock-solid support, security and service in the cloud.
Somehow I think General George Patton would be smiling as we become more flexible, adaptable and less reliant on the “permanent fortification†of software loaded on our computers.
Copyright (c) 2010, Terry Brock and Achievement Systems, Inc. Terry Brock is an international marketing coach and professional speaker who helps businesses generate profitable results. He can be reached by e-mail at terry@terrybrock.com or through his website at www.terrybrock.com. Join the Twitter adventure with Terry through his Twitter address: TerryBrock. Join Terry’s Facebook Fan Page at: http://www.facebook.com/SpeakerTerryBrock
