The Lighter Side Of The Cloud – Down The Drain

By David Fletcher

Our comic collection has simply taken the light side of cloud computing to a whole new level.  So after a long day’s work in the cloud, you can stop by our comic library for that much deserved moment of fun before you call it a day. Review the full library

For the reuse of our CloudTweaks comic images for print, web or related, please contact us regarding.

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Cloud Based VoiP – Unlimited Opportunities For Businesses Of All Sizes

Companies around the globe are continuously seeking new ways to be competitive in rough economic times. A recent report estimated the VoIP market will reach $377 billion by 2016, emphasizing that many businesses around the globe are taking advantage of the enhanced communication and lower cost-of-ownership that comes with VoIP.

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone systems revolutionize business telephony and phone providers encourage the replacement of older POTS (Plain Old Telephone Systems) infrastructures with VoIP. VoIP systems may be hosted on premise or on a cloud. Premise-based VoIP systems have all the equipment (phones and servers) hosted on-site. With a cloud-hosted VoIP system, phones are the only equipment the customer has on site in some cases Voip cloud vendors like Mitel interface their solutions with mobile devices eliminating the desktop phone and all local servers, a pure SaaS solution.

According to the director of global channel sales for Digium, Jim Butler, the benefits of cloud-based VOIP’s are among the factors likely to influence small to medium sized enterprises in their communications decisions over the course of 2013. Cloud-based VOIP solutions offer businesses a reliable communication option at a lower cost.

Here are more benefits businesses should take into consideration before adopting a VOIP solution:

Flexibility. On-premise phone systems have capacity limits and require frequent upgrades. With cloud VoIP systems companies don’t have to worry about these difficulties. They allow companies to continuously add new users and offer the chance to upgrade for little costs

Scalability. As a business grows, it comes across new challenges, and ultimately it meets new technology needs. Cloud-based VoIP tools allow companies to add new features and capabilities and deploy them across the entire enterprise without any business disruption, or new hardware requirements.

Business focus. Cloud-based VOIP systems reduce some important IT resources costs and enable the IT team to focus on projects that increase business profits.

Mobility. Keeping the entire team connected even when they are on-the-go is a key objective for companies that want to increase profits and streamline processes. Cloud-based VOIP makes remote work available from any location and helps companies expand their business anywhere on the globe.

With cloud-based VOIP, the provider is responsible for almost all devices. For companies with different office locations and on-the-go workforce, a cloud VOIP may be a wise option. Before deciding to choose between an on-premise or cloud solution you should analyze your business, its intention and direction of development and its long-term communication needs.

By Rick Blaisdell

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BYOD And Mobile Device Management

As businesses grow so too does the need for constant connection to the technology that will make your business a success. Ever since smartphones, tablets, and laptops have become the business norm in our world, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) has been implemented into business, as many companies do not feel the need to provide their own communication devices. Yet, security and reliability have become extremely important while conducting business on a third party device.

For businesses moving to a mobile management strategy with BYODs, the Mobile Enterprise 360 community is built around four important content pillars:

1. Mobile Workforce: Focuses on providing a reliable network at anytime, with any device, on any location, and with any device experience that users demand, in a secure and scalable fashion. The community content on this topic will review the best BYOD policies for each organization’s needs.

2. Mobile Collaboration: Looks at virtual meetings, workspaces, secure file sharing, and data and files transfers on a growing number of mobile devices.

3. Cloud Services: Concentrates on best practices for integrating applications, data, security, working with third parties, and other strategies for cloud-enabling the mobile infrastructure. The relationship between the cloud and mobility strategies will be significant and the orchestration of mobile cloud services will dominate the discussions within this topic as data storage and sharing will become essential to the growth of your mobile management business philosophy.

4. Mobile Management: While understanding mobility, moving it away from the pure device management realm and incorporating it into the broader and more strategic realm of mobile data management to emphasize both device and platform independence is the next step in business technology. This is a very key item for IT managers moving forward as they seek out all the necessary pieces to manage and secure mobile applications, content and devices.

It is obvious that mobile technology will dominate the means of communications completely in the next few years as it becomes more affordable to use, with faster communication speeds and easy access. With so many wanting to use the technology that they already possess it would only make sense to invest with a BYOD technology network to better facilitate your employees and your customers. To understand more of the BYOD mobile management process and networking visit Mobile Enterprise 360 to see what is the best option for your business.

By James Farrington

Sponsored post with expert opinions from the Mobile Enterprise 360 community

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Cloud-surfing can pay big dividends for your business through lower costs and enhanced service

In the never-ending search for competitive advantage, Cloud-based services like a Hosted PBX business telephone system can offer business owners and managers new opportunities for cost savings and service improvements that can help strengthen their market position.  A Hosted PBX allows businesses of nearly any size to have a state-of-the-art telephone service with minimal or no investment in equipment. Much like web-based email, the technology is well established and well-known to the business community.

Moving Your Phone Service to the Cloud Can Free Up Working Capital – and Your Employees

With a Hosted PBX solution, the service provider “hosts” the equipment and manages the network, freeing your  business from the need to purchase and maintain an on-premise PBX system.  A Hosted PBX system also provides significant, long-term savings, with an impressive set of features and greatly simplified management and configuration.

A Hosted PBX also makes it possible for employees to work from home, remote offices, cell phones or even overseas while still being connected to the same office telephone service. The technology allows for video conferencing, which makes remote collaboration more effective than ever.  Thanks to the virtual nature of the service, companies looking to cut down on office and vehicle costs can easily de-centralize without customers ever hearing the difference.  All employees are still connected to each other as if they were in the same physical office space.

The Hosted PBX solution offers significant advantages

Traditional on-site PBX systems, despite their often prohibitive costs, cannot match the advanced feature set of a Hosted PBX solution.  In addition to standard features such as auto-attendants with professional greetings, voicemail to e-mail and North American long-distance calling, a Hosted PBX gives companies who use their phones intensively the ability to go deeper.  With hunt groups, find-me/follow-me capability and time-based behaviors, the Hosted PBX is highly flexible.

For call centers and contact centers, which handle high call volume, the advantages can be even greater.  Advanced call queuing and skill-based routing help managers ensure the right agent always gets the call.   Ongoing reporting and performance tracking is made vastly more efficient with detailed, granular reports that managers can export at any time.  These reports include mission-critical metrics, such as number of calls answered and unanswered, average time to answer, average hold time and much more.

Through a user-friendly web interface, users with administrative access can easily modify nearly any aspect of the service.  Modifying an on-site PBX, for comparison, is considerably more complex and typically requires a service visit from a technician.

Make sure you have the right ingredients in place before you get on the cloud

Business owners considering  a move to a Hosted PBX, option need to ensure they have the following to enable the transition:
•       Internet connection: with ample bandwidth for all staff using the phones.
•       Network equipment.  At a minimum you’ll need a business-grade router capable of serving multiple employees.  An unmanaged switch can expand the number of available ports, if required.  Most Hosted PBX providers sell or recommend appropriate network equipment.
•       Phones designed for Hosted PBX service.  Again, nearly all providers sell recommended models.
•       Power over Ethernet and battery backup: optional, but recommended for systems where constant phone connectivity is mission-critical.
•       Network/IT provider: optional.  Although not required for smaller and simpler systems, or deployments on which the customer is technically capable, an IT professional can be a powerful resource in a larger build-out.

With these relatively simple requirements, SMEs can quickly start enjoying the benefits of a sophisticated telephone system without the need to make costly investments in telephone equipment.

By Adam Simpson

Adam Simpson is Founder and CEO of Easy Office Phone

Established in 2005, Easy Office Phone provides Business VoIP and Hosted PBX service to companies and organizations of all sizes throughout North America.

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The Future Gets Closer To An Intelligent Car: Or Is It Just A Passing Cloud?

Though Internet technology inside vehicles has come up pretty recently, 2008 or so, the look of things is changing rapidly in the auto industry in that vein. Cloud computing is quickly becoming a part of automobile blueprints in major assembly plants. One of the oldest makers of automobiles in the United States that began its operations after the first Model-T discovery in 1910 has already signaled a future of an intelligent car.

The vehicle will not only have the usual applications that are becoming commonplace like GPS monitoring systems, but may have psychic technology that can deduce what the owner is feeling. According to this particular auto manufacturer, plans are underway to bring about a car that will even sense when one is under the flu and needs to get to hospital. It will turn the automatic on and veer to the nearest healthcare facility by aid of stored direction memory or Google Maps. Of course this is a little overboard for no such vehicle exists as yet, but the assembly plant in question is already showing these marvels in its cloud computing center in three-dimensional video productions.

Whether the intelligent cars come to pass is not what is important but how the contemporary technology can help to achieve this goal. Already there are a few leaps for mankind that the auto industry, in partnership with cloud computing experts, has made.

These include:

1. Automating the atmospheric conditions inside a vehicle whereby the machine will be setting an interior temperature as soon as it senses the owner is approaching.
2. Use of voice commands that the system will decode and help to operate the vehicle, hands-free.
3. Storing of anything important to the car owner like traffic information, licensing resources, music and movies far away in a server to save space.

All the above trends have, in one way or another, helped to demystify the cloud and make it become a household terminology. In fact, the advent of voice commands that vehicles will decode to shift to the left or right lanes may even turn the automotives into cell phones with mobility. Just like it is robbing the desktop computer its virtual right as home to the cloud, the automobile may soon be denying the Smartphone its reign as a handheld device.

The fact that data will now be available offshore for the driver to access, whether it is family or professional, also points out to a future of intelligent interactions. The vehicle may even come to sense that the driver is in the middle of business when driving and park by the side of the road of itself. If the three hundred and sixty degrees screening media that the auto makers with an interest in the cloud are using to demonstrate how they want to transform the industry is anything to go by, then car owners should brace themselves for a virtual future.

Though adjusting temperature in the interior may be an act of presetting something just like an alarm, every discerning person has to acknowledge that it has some element of artificial intelligence in it. The fact that the vehicle senses that the driver is about to disembark may be a sign that technology has advanced to more than just manual adjustment of memory settings. It is quite a zany idea to think that one’s beloved car is waiting impatiently for the master to come and drive it away.

As a matter of fact, the sketchy details surrounding ‘impossible’ fetes in the car industry are not just a passing cloud. Cloud computing has already prepared the ground through visible applications that are turning vehicles into moving computers and phones. The only thing they cannot be, and quite convenient at that, is become servers.

By John Omwamba

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Flipping The Coin For The Security Of The Private Cloud

The world of Cloud Computing is a relatively new phenomenon that has even eclipsed the earlier discovery of the web as the most significant development on the Internet. Be it as it may, the new web offering has already elicited healthy debates. One of these is a comparison between the private and public clouds on issues concerning security. While the former is semi-detached from the rest of the web, the latter is encrusted deep into it which often leads to questions of database safety.

Private cloud computing is the typical methodology that provides the entire network as an ensemble to the independent operator. The owner of the cloud literally takes charge of the extremes from the access to the core layers and everything in-between. This is unlike the web-based model that creates a plethora of channels, each having a network that manipulates it.

The private model is common in intranet situations. The most appropriate, though a more expansive example, is the Local Area Network (LAN). However, being in the Cloud, the LAN spans its wings to cover the consumer base, only that here the control is still firmly with the owners of the network.

The security of the model suffers from loopholes within the computers of the LAN that may lack firewalls. Though independent entrepreneurs make it their priority to have many of their inherent members adhere to a certain security measure such as proxy, firewall and the like, some nodes still fail to follow the rules with information leakage as the inevitable consequence.

Additionally, there are the actual cloud computing infrastructural issues to deal with. Since this is an infrastructure that conjoins various administrators and users into one portal, it leads to a break in the wall here and there. This is inevitable of broadband technologies that try to create a compatible layer between phones, tablets and PCs, all in one. Recent studies, for example, show that the mobile network alone is prone to major security hitches.

Thirdly, there is the issue of bringing together different resources. These databases do not necessarily have to be sourced from within the private cloud. This helps to create diversification. Of course this importation leads to some security issues such as bugs from external networks. While most of the data-related concerns are to do with CPU antivirus deactivation and such, some of them are overblown and may lead to machines crashing. Below are a few ways that can overcome the above three examples of cloud issues.

Solutions

The foregoing three issues pertaining to Cloud computing security, in the private model, can all ebb under one trigger: automated systems. Platform as a Service (PaaS) is the best source for the automatic systems. The platform can lead to an even distribution of safety apps in an intranet. It comes with resourceful apps that are in themselves security. Virtually all applications have encryption control over them. The best example is the monetary system where credit and debit cards can never transact business without a password. Since the password requirement applies to the provider and the user alike, it leads to a streamlined cloud that one man can run to serve many.

The first solution regarding to user’s machines is by having the right information systems and high-end CPUs in place. Otherwise, there is no point in offering others delicate networks whose hardware and software is riddled with loopholes. Indeed, one of the arguments for private cloud security is that without dynamic machines together with firewalls, there would be no operations.

It is easy to overcome concerns in the infrastructure by advocating for automated facilities. This means that the system at the access point is open source, which then allows users of phones and an array of other broadband gadgets, to tap into the network without having to install security measures of their own.

Finally, it is important to verify the sources of external data. When the resources are going to the customer, the latter need not have to request permission. It should be a tacit agreement within the intranet community in a private cloud that all their resources are ready to provide because they are bug-free and are highly encrypted. This leads to a system of responsibility within the providers who usually use their high-end machines to entrap bad content. The user will only come to shop for the information like in a supermarket.

By John Omwamba

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Mobile Cloud Computing: The Next Logical Evolution

Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC) is the next logical evolution for cloud computing. Though mobile technology is still evolving, especially the operating systems, it is doing so in a very rapid pace. Most modern mobile devices are now sporting capable web browsers mainly due to advances in mobile operating systems done by Google, Microsoft, and Apple. Because of this, mobile devices are now able to consume some cloud applications, with some tweaking on the part of the provider, of course. But the divide between a mobile browser and browsers found in PCs is blurring quickly and pretty soon all web-based cloud applications can be run on mobile devices like smart phones and tablets which will allow further flexibility and freedom to those users of cloud applications.

Mobile cloud computing can be considered as the blend three technology foundations, namely mobile computing, networking, and of course cloud computing. Cloud application developers will now have little trouble developing applications that will run on mobile browsers because the restrictions created by the limitations of mobile operating systems are now gone, giving developers and providers a wider market for their applications and services. This is also because mobile hardware has progressed quickly that today the power of a high end smart phone may rival that of smaller netbooks.

This is a revolutionary step towards how people do computing, but it is not without its hurdles. The biggest one would be money. Currently smart phones and tablets are pushing applications though a market system that provides big revenue for the owners of the mobile OS. Think Apple and the AppStore and Google and the Android Marketplace. Let’s say Apple does not make any money when people consume cloud applications on their iPhone, then there is a big possibility and the guys at Cupertino will restrict the use of these cloud applications, effectively hindering the progress of MCC. This could be the same for Google, but they are way more tolerant when it comes to things like this.

Another problem would be the infrastructure. MCC is dependent on the reliability of the network which allows people to use cloud applications properly. However, carriers around the world never really achieve their advertised connectivity prowess and even some locations may not have 3G at all. 4G is set to change that but so far the promises that come with the technology have not yet been met. If you cannot access cloud applications from anywhere then that defeats the purpose of MCC, and it could then be limited to metropolitan centers because of connectivity issues.

But I am still hopeful that mobile communications technology will be able to provide everything as advertised, and this will certainly help secure the future of mobile cloud computing.

By Abdul Salam

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The 5 Best Ways For Startups And Small Business To Leverage The Cloud

The number of cloud apps targeted at small businesses and startups has exploded in the past few years. While hundreds of new cloud apps come out every month, many of the categories are still not mature enough for enterprise usage. Some applications are highly suited to the cloud (such as communication management), while other applications (such as video editing) are still more suited to the desktop.

This distinction is especially important for small businesses who don’t have a big IT team to fix the issues. In this post, I will cover the top five cloud categories that have matured and are ready for small businesses to leverage the best out of.

1. Backup files and documents

This is one of the fundamental ways to tap into the power of the cloud and the most mature category in cloud computing. While traditional backups incur a high cost to keep updated, cloud apps provide easy ways to store, sync and retrieve data. In fact, cloud backup should be an essential part of every business disaster management strategy. While Dropbox is the leader in the category, there are also others in contention for the top spot. Read our review.

2. Create and manage documents

While Microsoft Office might seem indispensable, you should give Google Docs, Office 365 and Zoho Suite a try for document management. The advantages of cloud-based document tools include lower upfront costs (from as low as $3/user/month for Zoho), easy sharing of documents with coworkers and clients, the ability to work from multiple platforms, and an inbuilt backup solution. While the features have not yet fully matched desktop office tools, for most small businesses these cloud apps provide a convenient alternative at an attractive pricing.

3. Communication Management

Communication management is another category that really belongs to the cloud. The options include Google Apps for emails and chat, and Twilio and Skype for voice and text messaging. The advantage of using Google Apps over managing your own exchange or other email server include better out-of-the-box security, lower costs and top-notch spam management.      

4. Office Productivity Tools

This category ranges from project management tools to accounting and  Customer Relations Management (CRM) tools. Salesforce and 37 Signals are the leaders in this sector. Among the best tools available are Basecamp (project management), Highrise (CRM), Zendesk (customer support), Wunderlist (task tracking) and Freshbooks (invoicing and accounting).

5. Note-taking and Collaboration

As the work force gets increasingly mobile, it is imperative that collaboration tools are built to enable teams to get more productive in a dynamic setting. There are a number of cloud-based tools to undertake Web research and idea collaboration. Evernote is the leader in the category, although other tools such as Springpad are getting closer.

By Balaji Viswanathan

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How Cloud Computing Is Threatening Traditional Telco

The standard AT&T small business phone plan (unlimited local and long-distance calling) costs about $50 per month in most areas of the US. The plan comes with a basic set of features—e.g., call waiting, caller ID, and call forwarding—but does not include advanced features, such as voicemail transcription, voicemail and email mailbox integration. Neither does it include the ability to use your phone service anywhere there’s an Internet connection.

Unlimited calling for $50 per month certainly beats the era of $0.20 per minute long distance, but it’s nothing compared to what the cloud can offer. In fact, cloud computing is revolutionizing voice communications—and, in the process, mounting a direct challenge to the dominance of traditional telecommunications giants.

Consider VoIP companies such as RingCentral and Vonage. Vonage’s basic voice service costs $25.99 per month and includes all of the features of an AT&T service, plus free international landline calling to 60 countries—plus unlimited international mobile calling to 10 countries.

RingCentral’s cloud PBX service costs $40 per month for all the features of AT&T’s comparable plan, but it also includes unlimited extensions, a virtual receptionist, a dial-by-name directory, unlimited Internet fax, and the ability to access voice and messaging services from any VoIP-enabled phone with an Internet connection.

For the tech savvy and ambitious, the cloud offers even cheaper solutions. Using Skype, nearly anyone can purchase a US phone number (with unlimited incoming calls) for $6 per month with Skype Online Number, which includes the option of using a headset or a Skype-enabled standard phone. By combining Skype and Google Voice services, users can add free outgoing calls to all US and Canadian numbers with international calling rates as low as $0.02 per minute. Best of all, Skype (with Google Voice) allows users to make and receive calls, and access their voicemail on any Internet-connected computer or smartphone.

Beyond the SMB and consumer markets, telcos are also under assault on the enterprise front. Microsoft Lync, an enterprise-ready unified communications platform (and complete PBX replacement), is becoming increasingly popular in corporate America. In addition to handling traditional voice communications, Lync offers instant messaging, Web chat, video and audio conferencing, mobile app access, and integration with Microsoft Office. While Lync was originally an on-premises solution, companies such as snom technology AG and Chinook Communications have also recently begun offering services as a cloud-hosted solution for SMBs.

Given the competition that cloud-hosted voice services present, the only thing traditional telcos have going for them is inertia. They’re currently providing a substandard service at inflated prices—and relying on brand-recognition to keep them afloat. There’s a huge opportunity here for cloud service integrators who already provide IT services to sell their existing (and new) customers a cheaper, better service.

Unless AT&T, Verizon, Time Warner, and other telco providers learn to adapt, the day is fast approaching when IT departments, managed service providers, and SMB IT consultants will wrest control of voice communications from telecommunications companies and place it squarely in the hands of IT.

By Joseph Walker

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Cloud Start-up: StearClear Starts Your Car When You Can’t

More often than not, when you’re too intoxicated to drive and the designated driver is more or less in the same condition (or you went drinking alone), the sensible thing to do is to take a taxi back home. Unfortunately, most of the time this leads to your car either being towed away, stolen, broken into or missing a couple of tires by the time you manage to get back to it in more-or-less driver-ready condition. While there are a lot of designated driver services all over the place (if you don’t look, you won’t find them) StearClear is taking the SaaS approach by offering you a quick-and-easy way to get both you and your car back home in one piece.

While StearClear does provide designated driver services itself, it is more like the bigger umbrella organization under which these designated driver franchises operate. Utilizing three apps working together in tandem, StearClear makes it easier for you to contact these designated drivers, for the nearest designated driver team to be notified and for the franchisee bosses to organize their driver teams. This helps to keep drunk drivers off of the road.

The way it works is that you activate your iOS or Android app on your smartphone (which has already been prepared with payment details, your drop-off address, and so forth) – it’s a kind of SOS beacon. The franchisee boss app will pick up the signal and then route the nearest available designated driver team to your location. The team will then have one person drive you and your car, while the team car follows behind with the designated driver team app calculating the cost of the distance traveled. Once you’re safely back home, you can click your app once more, and the driver team will be paid according to the costs calculated by their app and the monthly subscription you’re paying. The third franchisee boss app is designed more for the iPad and provides an easy-to-use view of where driver teams are, customer requests and other reports.

This SaaS approach makes everything a whole lot easier, as StearClear will take care of all the HR, tax, payment processing, driver checks (criminal background, sexual predator, etc.), and even periodic drug tests. Franchisee bosses just need to organize things, while the driver teams get an easy way to be contacted and paid, making it a win-win situation for everyone involved. The StearClear startup is currently operating in parts of New Jersey and is backed by $500,000 worth of funding.

By Muz Ismial

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