Be Not Afraid of This Cloud

We've talked here about the Cloud before and it's likely that we'll be talking about it again. Whether you're ready for it or not, no other advance in business computing has had this big an effect since the dawn of the Internet in business.

So if you want to get ahead of the curve, and be ready for a technology that empowers your business, this is a good time to talk about it. We talked earlier about the what the cloud really is. It's most certainly more than just a decision about whether you'll put your business documents on Google Docs, or store your backups on Dropbox servers. Those are just the leaky edges of a trend that will engulf IT strategies for at least a decade.

Here's how to think about the cloud...

About Cloud Storage

What do you know about Cloud Storage? Everyone is talking about it, some people are using it, some aren't sure if they are, and as with any major shift in technology or computing, there's a lot of folklore and wives tales swirling around the concept. So let's talk about it straight.

Straight Talk

The questions on everyone's lips are, "Is it safe to use cloud storage," and "how will this change what I do when I save documents and media files," and "which cloud storage choice is best for me?"

In the first place, when we talk about cloud storage, we're actually talking about a place in some company's data center where your data resides. This is in contrast to your own hard drive in your own safe, secure home computer or home office.

But is it safe? Cloud storage seems to put your data out of your reach, and in someone else's control. How can that be good? On the other hand, just how safe is your data on a hard drive at home? Let's tell the truth about that first.

Email Has Failed Us - What To Do Now?

It's been a long time for most of us since email was something other than a depressing form of slavery in our work and social lives.

Either we receive too much unsolicited and irrelevant email for us to find the useful messages, or we chain ourselves to an hour or more each day answering correspondence just to keep the pile from growing out of hand.

From the other side, it's also become common for us to send a carefully crafted message to someone and discover that they have only scanned it briefly, or that they've never even seen it in the blizzard of messages they receive. And heaven help us if they are trying to manage both work and personal email accounts separately.

I used to teach a micro-class in productivity that addressed some of this and offered tactics to keep the email pile to a manageable level. (Okay, I still teach the class, but I think the focus will begin to change.) We can talk all day about tactics, and maybe even adopt some of them as habits, but the root cause will not disappear.

There is good news however!

Through with Passwords? Almost.

...if you're like me, you hate passwords with a passion.

They're almost gone from our lives, but it won't happen for some time yet. (Even if it takes another 2 years, that's about a generation and a half in Internet Years.) In the meantime, there is hope!

Where Next? How About Here!

My friend asked me the other day, "what do you think will be the next big social media influence? I'm hoping to find the next Facebook before it gets big."

After more consideration, I thought that the question we should be asking ourselves is how well we use the networks we already inhabit.  You see, the well established networks (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ -- all of which have well over 100 million subscribers) are vital to business and media communication strategies.  If we fail to use these tools well, then seeking out the 'next hot platform' will not work any better. The endeavor simply dooms us to being participants in the "Red Queen's Race."

Vital questions to ask are: