Collaborate in the clouds
While we're all accustomed to working on the Internet with its user interfaces, graphics and interactive abilities, we go back in time when dealing with internal documents—to nested folders and documents with no interface or interaction.
We're also familiar with Internet hosting companies, which handle much of the heavy lifting of maintaining sites for modest fees. Yet, when it comes to internal documents management, most businesses spend substantial money maintaining their own sites and hardware.
Now, such innovations as cloud computing and SharePoint have made this expensive and unsatisfying internal document technology antiquated and unnecessary.
Instead of using an on-site server with folders and long lists of documents, users can now access information and collaborate using a web interface with their data safely stored in secure data centers.
From a technical and business perspective, on-premise servers cost thousands of dollars and need constant maintenance, including spam protection, backup, Universal Power Supply, physical space, electricity, and air conditioning. For all of that trouble, the company only gets basic functionality.
IT professionals and executives alike advocate the cloud because it is much easier to manage, less risky, and less expensive. It's been so popular that on-premise Exchange servers could disappear within two years.
In a cloud computing environment, outsourced companies address the maintenance, backups, power supply, et al, while the workforce can concentrate on getting their work done. Productivity goes up; stress goes down.
Traditional Email versus Cloud Collaboration
One way to grasp the power and ease of SharePoint cloud computing (and drawbacks of traditional email sharing through on-premise servers) is to look at a group document review process.
Collaborating around documents via email attachments is difficult and confusing. After a couple of rounds of carbon copies and reply all's, the email chain becomes unmanageable, and tracking revisions can become virtually impossible.
SharePoint simplifies collaboration. For example, instead of scrolling through a long list of email replies, users can access information through a SharePoint Workspace that has bulletin boards, surveys, reference material, links, and Wikis.
SharePoint in the cloud means that a mobile workforce or a remote workforce has equal access to documents and a medium for collaboration. Employees can meet virtually by posting feedback, ideas, and comments on the SharePoint site, in the cloud.
Free webinar provides glimpse into computing one year from now
Intranets, cloud computing, mobility, instant messaging, process automation, and social networking are rapidly replacing on-premise servers, familiar email storage and access, and other traditional technologies. All of this represents a major shift in the way employees share information, IT professionals manage technology, and executives pay for the investment.
Join us August 3rd at 12:00 PM as we discuss the recent technology innovations that are reordering the way a company communicates internally and engages with clients. We'll address the business process benefits of cloud computing, SharePoint, Office 2010, and much more. Topics include:
- The end of the p:\ drive
- The decline and fall of email
- The decline and fall of documents
- Cloud computing
- Intranets (SharePoint)
- Process automation
- Mobility
- OneNote (Office 2010)
- Enterprise Search
The webinar is FREE and OPEN TO ALL!
