What’s your cloud communication strategy?

A previous blog discussed cloud technology from a data storage perspective. Now we’d like to draw your attention to some other options – as well as putting things in the cloud you can also access some remarkably helpful tools. They are simple, free and can help you share and sync your data including emails, calendar, photos, documents, music and much more.

Apple, Google and Microsoft are the three main organisations that have made their tools available online. Apple launched their iCloud storage and computing service in October 2011 and as of July 2012 they had more than 150 million users. As well as data storage iCloud acts as a data syncing center for email, contacts, calendars, bookmarks, notes, reminders (to-do lists), iWork documents, and other data.

Google Drive and Google Plus work together to provide a very similar service. One major feature here is Google Docs which is a tool for real time collaborative editing in which documents can be shared, opened, and edited by multiple users at the same time. The majority of document-sharing services require user fees, whereas Google Docs is free. Its popularity amongst businesses is growing due to enhanced sharing features and accessibility. It has also enjoyed a rapid rise in popularity among students and educational institutions.

Not to be outdone, Microsoft’s new Windows 8 will incorporate many of the services (previously offered by Windows Live) to deliver content and enhance communication services. These will include Windows Essentials, a suite of software applications that aims to offer integrated e-mail, instant messaging, photo sharing, blog publishing, and security services. Essentials programs are designed to integrate well with each other, with the Windows operating system and with other Windows Live web-based services such as SkyDrive and Hotmail, to operate as a ‘seamless whole’.

How genuinely seamless it all is will depend on how you apply the options across your networks especially considering how much you want to share and how much you want to keep private. Of course Chill IT can advise on similar strategies for your personal and professional life.

Another cloud-based file sharing option we’d like to add in here is Dropbox, a file hosting service that’s been operating since 2007. Dropbox allows users to create a special folder on each of their computers, which Dropbox then synchronises so that it appears to be the same folder (with the same contents) regardless of the computer it is viewed on. Files placed in this folder are also accessible through a website and mobile phone applications.

The cloud continues to offer a vast range of possibilities for business and personal communication and if you haven’t explored it already, perhaps it’s time to develop a cloud communications strategy to keep you well in the game, well into the future.

Next Week’s Topic: BYOD Policies – Hear the best and worst on Bring Your Own Device work environments, and how they could be changing.

At Chill we take the heat out of IT. No matter what pressure you are under, we will always keep our heads and make sure you get back up and running as soon as possible. So don’t sweat – Chill IT. Click here for more information on our consulting services.