As businesses grow in terms of human resources and inventories, spatial constraint is becoming a critical issue. Most importantly, as companies expand their client base, the more critical issues of providing reliable online data storage and other services demand a fail-safe resolution.  Could cloud computing save the day?

How cloud computing works

Cloud computing has recently become one of the buzz words in the IT industry in the midst of all the issues relating to the advancement of document portability. So how does cloud computing actually work?

Companies offering online services such as shopping sites, mobile application developers and gaming companies require huge server spaces to accommodate the huge amounts of traffic to their servers. To solve this, cloud computing service providers create a viable solution to ease small businesses’ capacity issues. Service providers rent out a portion of their server space according to the clients’ requirements. Companies are now liberated from having to acquire new hardware for data storage.
As an added benefit, with cloud computing, data can be accessed by predefined users anytime, anywhere, eliminating the need to be physically in the same location as the data source.

Cloud computing service providers

Internet giant Google is known for its various innovative services, which include cloud computing. Google Apps includes quite an impressive line-up of Web-based applications such as Gmail for email, Docs for file sharing, Calendar and Sites. With these applications, the line that sets Web-based applications apart from pc-based applications is gradually blurring.
Other companies offer software-as-a-service, a subset of cloud computing, as part of their small business solutions products. One such example is a Web-based leave-management form that conveniently allows employees to request for leaves online wherever and whenever. Similar software also features access to leave balance and automation of work schedules.

Benefits of cloud computing

There are great benefits to be had in cloud computing. While some business owners are skeptical regarding the security aspect of cloud computing, at the back of their minds, the call to explore this technology is constantly nagging.

Let’s take a look at some of the major benefits of cloud computing:

• Cloud computing effectively addresses the capacity issues of small businesses.

• The need to acquire your own servers and pay for a qualified IT specialist to run them is eliminated.

• Fees paid to cloud computing providers are based on the capacity you need at a given time. This is advantageous as opposed to investing in your own servers, where you pay a fixed price regardless of whether those servers are busy or not. The cost of implementing cloud computing for small businesses depends on the number of users and the amount of storage required. It can be anywhere from free to $50 per user per year and beyond.

• Cloud computing takes off the burden of having to manage all your business processes and lets you concentrate on your core business.

However, cloud computing also has its own drawbacks. The service providers’ systems may go down all of a sudden. In other words, there is no guarantee that cloud computing provides 100% up-time. Delegating your data, some of which are most likely proprietary, to service providers may also mean exposing them to possible intrusion. However, cloud computing vendors often do a better job at backing up data than most small businesses.

So, when considering implementing cloud computing to your business, examine your strategy. Which among your applications should you delegate to cloud computing? Do you need that extra, low-cost space for your email needs? Do you need to file and share your data so that any of the pre-defined users in your organization can access them anytime, anywhere?

The bottom-line is cloud computing can save small businesses huge amounts of money, either instantly or in the long run. In the face of the recession’s uncertainties, small businesses can choose to run some of their operations in the clouds, or run on constrained budgets and limited productivity due to expensive applications.

A quick thank you to my dad for pointing me to an interesting article on msn.com!  Possibly a little foreshadowing of what in store for us in the near future in the ways of technology, the article picks out 15 new advancements but I decided to highlight two of the least 'geeky' below:

Google's desktop OS

In case you haven't noticed, Google now has its well-funded mitts on just about every aspect of computing. From Web browsers to cell phones, soon you'll be able to spend all day in the Googleverse and never have to leave. Will Google make the jump to building its own PC operating system next?

I could quote a plethora of articles that focus on what market strategists say how brand management influences consumer behavior but no one would actually read it..

Instead I thought I could focus on why people begin to build a 'brand loyalty' to certain people or even a certain sales person over another.



In reality it's very simple, we all know that people do business with those they know, like and trust.  Now I need one of those red Staples buttons to say, "That was Easy!"  That's brand loyalty... People simply will continue to purchase a brand, or individual, they feel safe with and are familiar with.  It's technically called consumer behavior but it's not always about consumers and sales people either.

How do you get more clients.. are you a good prospector?  Have you dated much?  My girlfriend continues to date me because, thankfully, she knows, likes and trusts me!  She's brand loyal to the Rick Demko brand!  We often talk about relationships with our clients and how important it is to post sell and to massage them for leads.  I know of sales people that do much more than send popcorn tins around the holidays..

Brand Loyalty is the consumer's conscious or unconscious decision, expressed through intention or behavior, to repurchase a brand continually.  When we get past the 'trusted adviser' position, I often talk about, and when the chips are really down, to a brand loyal customer you can do almost no wrong.  Now that doesn't mean I'm going to take my relationship with Kelly for granted and force her to search for a new brand.  It just means that when you have that loyalty you can stay out a little longer than you could in the beginning.. just don't abuse the freedom and leverage the advantage to strengthen the relationship!

The image surrounding a company's brand is the principal source of its competitive advantage and is therefore a valuable strategic asset.  Unfortunately, many companies and sales people, are not adept at disseminating a strong, clear message that not only distinguishes their brand from the competitors', but distinguishes it in a memorable and positive manner.  Case in point, ask a sales person for their 'elevator speech' and see if you really understand what it is they actually said.

The challenge for all brands is to avoid the pitfalls of portraying a muddled or negative image, and instead, create a broad brand vision or identity that recognizes a brand as something greater than a set of attributes that can be imitated or surpassed. In fact, a company should view its brand to be not just a product or service, but as an overall brand image that defines a company’s philosophies. A brand needs more than identity; it needs a personality.

Just like a person without attention grabbing characteristics, a brand with no personality can easily be passed right over.  A strong symbol or company logo can also help to generate brand loyalty by making it quickly identifiable.  I even found that colors are undeniably affective.

And no that doesn't mean that having bright pink hair is an effective why to strengthen a romantic relationship!