If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that we need to be able to work and pay bills and generally live wherever we happen to be. This means that we need to be able to have access to our, well, everything anywhere, any time, and from any device, we could possibly want. This is why I’m completely obsessed with things related to Cloud Technology. Having this ability to access all of our data whenever we are is such a game-changer for every aspect of our lives.
1) Cloud offers you mobility – What’s great about the Cloud is that you can access your systems and do everything you want, wherever you are. The one thing that I always cite as a great example for the mobility of Cloud computing is a year or so ago, I was walking around downtown, and someone in my office called my office line. Because I happened to have the appropriate app on my cell phone, I could pick up the call, help the caller with the question they had, and carry on through my day. If We didn’t have that ability, then the person would have called my office and gotten my Voicemail and been frustrated. With it, they could carry on doing what they needed to do.
2) Cloud offers convenience – I have said it many times before, but it’s worth repeating; in my job, I only really need a laptop, internet access and a generally flat surface to do my job. I could do the work that I do from the back of a boat if I needed to, and I did one time. I like that cloud connection give us the ability to work anywhere we want (particularly when we get locked down). This means not only are we able to do our work from anywhere, but it also means that we can do better work. I’m thinking about not just office workers, but also as an example maintenance people. Suppose you have a (just using a random example here) Boiler technician working in the bottom of a building instead of bringing every technical manual known to man with them to work on a boiler system. In that case, they could have all the manuals in PDF format, and then they could call up the correct manual as they would need it.
3) Cloud offers Continuity – There is nothing worse than being halfway through something and then realizing you need to go to a meeting and can’t quite complete what you’re working on in time before you have to go home for the day. With Cloud Tech, if you save the document to the Cloud, then you can pick up working right where you left off. It also makes it so that it doesn’t matter what device you’re working off. If you have your settings configured correctly, then any work you do on one device will be made available on any other device you use. This is particularly convenient for me as when I’m working at home, I like to work on my Mac, but I have a PC in my office.
4) Cloud can offer complications – I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the security concerns that can occur with Cloud technology. As all of your data is accessible on the internet, if you do not take appropriate precautions, others will be able to access your data and do whatever they would like to with it. It’s important, therefore, to enable any and all security functions that you can for your Cloud-based information. This can include two-factor authentication, complex passwords, and you as the user performing regular backups of your data to an external hard drive. There is also the possibility that some of the data you are holding in your cloud system will not automatically show up in either your Finder or File Explorer. Unless you tell the system to do that, which is another step, you may not see your data show up in your File Explorer. If you decide to access your data online from a computer or device which is not strictly your own (Say a computer in the business centre of a hotel as an example), it will be up to you to make sure that you log out of the system in question and delete any of your credentials that you used to log in.
5) The need for discipline – Something that I heard about over and over when people were locked down was the inability to walk away from their work computers. I get it; I do. When you get the notification of a new e-mail, the need to check it can be REALLY tempting. With everything else, you need to be able to walk away from your work to get the much-needed rest so that you can do your job properly on a regular basis. Whether that’s setting yourself specific hours that you’ve available, and not taking calls or e-mails during your “off hours” and closing your laptop, or in my case where (because I work in my basement at home) I can physically walk away from my work when I need to. Even when I’m working in the office, my colleagues know that I am willing to make myself available at certain times, and when it’s not those times, they will hit my Voicemail or get their e-mails returned the next day. I admit this is not a technological solution, but being able to Organize your Digital life, is also about knowing when to walk away from your devices.
Cloud technology is amazing for a lot of different things. Being able to do what you want, wherever you are, has been one of the main things that have allowed us to function during the pandemic. I occasionally think about what it would have been like if the pandemic were to have happened when I was a kid. I believe that the road to recovery would have been so much longer. Not just from the standpoint of finding a vaccine, but from the simple perspective of people figuring out how to work from home, to say nothing of being schooled from home. Having cloud technology has been something that has saved us. It has allowed us to connect with our colleagues and peers even though it’s remotely, and it has made it so that we can carry on, and it will continue to do so.
How do you use your Cloud Technology?
Let me know in the comments section below. If you like this blog post and want to see more, you can follow me on Social Media (LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @jasonlovefiles) or Subscribe to my blog to get new content delivered directly to your mailbox.
Thanks for your valuable insights!