Cloud Computing Collides with Business Coaching & Consulting 4

Have you heard of cloud computing?  I had heard of it but could not define it before hearing Jaime Casap,  Business Development Manager at Google, speak at last week’s Alliance of Technology and Women (ATW) meeting.   He explained it simply:  Cloud computing is the ability to pull data to any device from any location.  The data is typically held by a third-party supplier.  It is what allowed me to check my Yahoo e-mail account from a hotel computer in Greece a couple weeks ago.  It is what allows my friend Tom to send blog updates and photos while he makes his coast-to-coast bike trip.  He is pedaling from San Diego to Maine and he thinks it is fun.

Lightning Flashes in Cloud Computing

My business coaching and consulting company did not actually collide with cloud computing, but the speech from Jaime did cause a few light flashes in my head about how this technology will help business leaders navigate to success.  Google applications are available to anyone for FREE; this puts small businesses on a similar playing field as big corporations. Data on Internet trends is available from Google Insight and specifically for your web sight through Google Analytics.  If your company’s name is not in the clouds then people will not find you as easily or at all.  70% of business-to-business (B2B) prospective Buyers start their search on the Internet.

Internet Technology – 18% of the World is On-line

Learning about cloud computing and the other interesting things Google is working on also fanned the flames of my love for technology.  I have a long-time love and curiosity for high tech stuff.   In high school I was good in math and science and actually enjoyed computer programming (yes, I was a geek).  My corporate career was spent in high technology engineering environments; I loved being part of a science based culture that created electronics to improve people’s lives.   

But, with Internet technology, it has been more of a slightly dysfunctional love-hate relationship: 

I love that I can obtain an amazing amount of information about anything very quickly.  I hate that I can easily lose hours of my time to unproductive surfing as I go off on tangents or get pulled into interesting tweets and blogs.

I love the almost daily discoveries of new and better ways of doing things.  I hate the sometimes overwhelming feeling that I can not keep up.

It is more love than hate and I continue to learn how to avoid making the Internet a terrible master and instead a wonderful servant.

Web Sites as Servants

I’ve listed just a few of the sites that I appreciate as great servants:
 
http://www.pandora.com   Customize your music; it will suggest similar music for you.

http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/messaging.html   Google runs their multibillion dollar business on these same applications; they are FREE.  I love the real time collaboration capability of Google docs.

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock    Useful if you travel or talk with people in different time zones around the world.

http://www.expedia.com/  I have found great deals for travel with expedia.

http://www.flickr.com   I love the creative commons photos that I use in my posts and presentations and of course for posting my own photos to share.

http://www.entrepreneurship.org   The Kaufman foundation has packed a lot of great information on this site for entrepreneurs.

http://www.nielsen.com   Consumer trends by industry and globally.

http://www.yellowpagesgoesgreen.org/stop-yellow-pages/  This site will send a notice to your local phone book publishers to stop those obsolete books from being delivered. 

 https://www.donotcall.gov/ Stop the phone solicitors and/or register a complaint.

What Internet tools or sites are great servants for making your business and/or life better?  How is your relationship with technology and/or the Internet?  What cloud computing stories can you share? Please comment!

photo credits: fotograf1v2, Cyndie@smilebig, Esther17