A Business Executive’s Definition of the Cloud

When I graduated from college, a “cloud” was typically described as a visible mass of liquid droplets or crystals suspended in the atmosphere. Calling a client from the road required finding a phone booth, going to the office was a drive downtown in a very nice business suit and an office computer had a large green screen. At the time, I had no idea my sales career would emerge from technological innovation.

My first exposure to programming was with an IBM card punch machine, praying I wouldn’t drop my huge stack of cards. Mainframes, centralization, personal computers, decentralization and ultimately the advent of the Internet. Yes, I have seen a great deal of technological evolution from the 1980s and 1990s to the 21st century. Technology automates the most complex of processes, be it in communication, education, medicine or any other industry. With the application of technology, critical and time-consuming processes are executed with ease and in less time. Nothing has changed my daily activities as much as technology and cloud technologies have had the most significant impact.

Today, I describe the cloud in one word-efficiency. As a business executive using Office 365, my life has and continues to change in many wonderful ways. OWA gives me access to email, contacts and calendars no matter where I am. Lync provides me with the ability to IM internal and external contacts, host voice and video calls, share my desktop and see if my colleagues are free or busy. SharePoint helps me collaborate, share files and documents and create projects sites for colleagues and clients. These capabilities are always at my fingertips via my cell phone or laptop. In addition, it is a comfort knowing everything I do is automatically backed up to a safe, secure location.

Going to the office is no longer defined as a specific location, now my office is anywhere I choose for it to be. The cloud gives me freedom, flexibility and efficiency. At Synergy Technical, we use the technology we sell and are here to help you explore the cloud and how it you can make your workforce more efficient.