Cloud-based applications are a common part of most people’s lives today. Online banking, social media and personal email are all cloud-based applications. Last week’s blog focused on cloud email, one of the most critical technologies for a business. Today, I’d like to focus on cloud-based apps in general and get you up to date on the new norm.
The focus on mobility and accessibility
Every day millions of users access common cloud-based business applications such as LinkedIn, Docusign and Dropbox. These and other applications are quickly becoming mainstream for the cloud market. So why would a company want their applications in the cloud? In the simplest of terms, businesses are demanding quick and easy access to applications that can be run online from any machine or tablet browser.
SalesForce.com is an example of a company that took advantage of taking its app, and market, to the cloud. This company built their customer relationship management database in the cloud, before cloud was a buzzword. Forbes listed them at number one in the 10 most innovative companies in America. They are now one of the top customer relationship management (CRM) database companies around the world. They leveraged the idea that small businesses could utilize a highly functional database without the capital investment of costly hardware and licensing and are reaping its success.
The rush, after early adoption
Surprisingly, it took a while before the cloud soared and others followed. Today, however; most companies are only releasing their app in the cloud-hosted version. Businesses that already have an established local software version are working feverishly to convert their applications for the cloud as well. Companies like Intuit who have one of the largest shares of the accounting market have recently launched QuickBooks Online to begin transitioning customers to the cloud.
Let’s face it, this is the direction that IT is going. Leveraging bandwidth and technology to reduce hardware costs makes perfect sense. In the near future, most small businesses will not have a need for a local application server in their office. Depending on how they progress, they might not need a local server at all. Now is the ideal time to begin planning how you’ll take advantage of cloud technology and visualize your transition.
Based on research on more than 100,000 Google Enterprise end users, CloudLock, a cloud security vendor, has published the 20 most popular cloud-based apps downloaded into enterprises.
Are you ready yet?