cloud based technology

Guide to Cloud Computing

Posted on by maplespeaker

Enterprises have been making technological investments to keep up with the growing IT and web demands. The emerging technological applications and mobile trends have fulfilled the user expectations for communications and accessibility.

The cloud is a way for enterprises to quickly and easily tap computing, storage, software, development and network resources on demand. This model has offloaded the capital investments and has reduced the operational expenses.

The cloud computing can be defined as pool of hardware, software and operational resources offered by a third party to business users. The cloud is increasingly becoming the buzz of the market because of its virtualization and workflow automation that has enabled the businesses to work in a flexible mode to improve business process and increase profits.

Here are some of the noted primary characteristics of a cloud computing solution.

Virtualization – Moving the entire setup like servers, networks, desktops etc to the virtual cloud.
Centralization – Putting the applications, servers and storage location to one centralized location.
Automation – Automating the business functions to reduce the work load.
Internet Reliance – Extensive use of the internet for deployment and access
Self Service – Users can configure and choose the resources and services as required by themselves online.
Pay-as-you-go – Users need to pay for consuming the service as per the usage. No investments or up-front costs.
Simplification – Less complications in the use of services and in terms of maintenance as the provider takes care of all the upgrades and maintenance.
Technology convergence – enables convergence of multiple technology and makes it possible for integrations.

The cloud setup allows enterprises to control their IT costs through usage. Paying only for the resources an enterprise uses sounds like an attractive model. The cloud model enables enterprises to try things out with no upfront cost or commitment and pay for only the monthly usage.

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CRM Cloud Computing

Posted on by maplespeaker

Most of the applications, social networking sites and softwares are working on this new cloud computing technology. Cloud computing is nothing but doing things online. It is a virtual environment where people collaborate, share and work using a web interface. So there is something called remote server and applications or websites run over browsers but the actual data is stored in the remote server. Instead of having a storage unit in our computer systems or over a LAN based server, it is all all stored in the remote server. Well, in that case having all data in some place which we are not aware of is it considered safe? There can be unauthorized access over those data isn’t it? Oh now, lets take some of the good examples which works this way.

Starting from Google and its various products. We have complete data storage facility over Gmail, we upload photos on Picasa and then there are these social networking sites like Orkut, Facebook etc. These applications work on cloud based technique and they do provide secure connection and authorized access to our accounts. So there are free services like this and there are subscription based applications as well.

Cloud computing is not limited to individual user. It can be used by small and medium organizations or even larger companies. This technology is rapidly growing in both personal usage and for commercial entities. Its flexibility and the usage over internet is making it a huge success.

Many business owners consider cloud computing as cost effective especially SME’s look forward to increase efficiency in their working operation.

But ultimately one has to ensure that there is data protection over these. Customers would need to choose a reputable data service provider. It is always good to collect as much information possible about the hosting service provider and make sure that there is sufficient back-ups taken timely. Data security is the primary area of concern when there is cloud computing technology involved. All the information stored is absolutely critical and sensitive.

You can also go for private clouds instead of public clouds. Public clouds are the ones where other companies data is also stored in the same place as yours. It is called shared hosting. Though they provide secured data hosting, you can invest more money and get a private or a dedicated hosting and get a data space allocated only for you. Cost is not the only thing that have to consider when you are choosing a cloud based application.

For SME’s cloud computing is an enormous opportunity. They can concentrate on the business rather than working on to build their IT requirements and administration works. Cloud computing is now the latest trend in the CRM technology. Certainly, Cloud CRM is a fast growing business. Cloud computing CRM is an efficient way to store and maintain databases and is an especially helpful tool for businesses who do a lot of sales and provide service to customers. Using a platform on the cloud for your business helps everyone who uses it by streamlining data and procedures into one central location. It’s an easy way to organize information in different departments while still allowing for company-wide collaboration. CRM cloud computing has a strong future ahead, for both enterprise and small businesses.