Tech Lover 9

Cloud computing, the delivery of information technology services over the internet, has come a long way in recent years.  New cloud computing products and services are proliferating like never before and these are creating enormous opportunities to improve business efficiency.

One area where this is particularly true is in project management.  Cloud based systems can substantially improve the processing and sharing of project related information by providing quick and easy access from any internet enabled device.  These devices now include not only desktops and laptops, but also tablets and phones.

Many projects bog down simply because of review and approval lead times.  By putting this information in the hands of individuals wherever they may be, project managers can reduce these lead times and speed up project completion.  Many of these new cloud based products and services can also improve the processing, quality and completeness of project related information.  This leads not only to FASTER project completion, but also BETTER results.

Below are just a few examples of how cloud computing applications can expedite projects:

• Approval Routings – Cloud based systems and services can speed up this task by providing availability of the approval routing and related backup information on almost any device.  In fact, this can be coupled with reminder messages to move the process along even faster.
• Testing & Development– Cloud based infrastructure companies can provide access to more powerful servers to speed up development and testing of resource intensive processes.  In addition, when the processing is done, the results are immediately available over the web for project teams to evaluate.
• Bandwidth – By providing critical information in a centralized location, file transfers and data transmission requirements are reduced.   For example, documents or data files which are too large to e-mail can now be quickly accessible to the project team from a variety of devices.
• Upgrades – By providing applications on a centralized platform, software upgrades can be completed quickly and efficiently in a single instance.  You no longer need to wait for your project team to download and install software patches and upgrades onto their local clients.
• Real-time Collaboration – Cloud applications provide many users the ability to review and discuss the same information on-line from multiple locations on different devices.  You no longer need to wait for a conference room in the office to review project information.

A complete list of cloud based products and services would be long indeed!  However, here are examples of just a few popular products that are rapidly changing the way we do business.

• Google Docs- Google Docs is a free Web-based application which enables documents and spreadsheets to be created, edited, stored and shared online.
• Salesforce.com – This web based software originally focused on Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications.  Salesforce.com has since expanded into a variety of cloud based enterprise products and services.
• Microsoft Sharepoint On-Line – This product allows you to create sites to share documents and information with colleagues and customers.
• Citrix On-Line’s GoToMeeting and Cisco’s Webex – These popular web conferencing services allow you to review information with other users and collaborate on-line.

Whether you are creating a new marketing plan, developing a long term budget, testing a software upgrade or designing the next “big thing”, these cloud based products and services will all jump start your projects and yield fast and accurate results.