An article by Ben Wong
Let's connect: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminwongvt/
It was a holiday and a relatively relaxed and slow day, I decided to spend some of my time playing with what Google has to offer in terms of productivity tools.
Let's connect: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminwongvt/
It was a holiday and a relatively relaxed and slow day, I decided to spend some of my time playing with what Google has to offer in terms of productivity tools.
I tried Google Docs, Calendar, Contacts and Mail to see how far they could bring me if I so decided to switch full time to the Google environment, on my laptop, for a day. If feasible, it would save computer users and the organizations they work for a boat load of money.
Must say that the applications can almost match up to their desktop counterparts in the area of, normal, everyday use. They worked rather reliably too I might add.
Now here's the punchline... My Son accidentally powered down the internet router at home and guess what? The cloud world came to a stand still until everything restarted. Being very mobile and not only in Singapore, would mean that cloud wise, I can only work when there is a data connection. What about when I am on a plane or somewhere where there is no connection? Do I stop working?
Data roaming is an ongoing concern...
Remember the days of SMSes where service providers actually charged for every message sent? It was a big money spinner for them! I remember being charged for sending an average of 1000 messages a month for many years. Today, the same service provider allows me to send 2000 messages for free a month. Why? Because consumption has turned to data. Service providers are not dumb, they will follow consumption and hit the consumers where it hurts.
With the rise in data consumption, the service provider I use replaced my unlimited subscription with one that charges crazy money for 25GB a month! Even with data passports, global roaming and the like, charges for overseas data connectivity stack up pretty quickly and before you know it, the costs run in the hundreds or sometimes thousands of dollars a month. Let's not forget the executive who was charged $1,400 for using internet in a plane.
Could you, now, imagine the effects of working on cloud based applications while you are out of coverage?
So what do we do?
Ensure that there are contingencies in place to provide continued operations in the case of a network loss. A way is to fall back onto deliberately defined manual processes. Sure, operations will slowdown but not come to a standstill.
One other consideration would be in the area of hybrid cloud services where vendor created applications are available to cater to online and offline modes. This will allow an organisation to keep some lights on independent of network coverage. Hybrid applications are, for the most part, important when they involve critical operations - POS, order management, sales management, customer support, executive information systems, general productivity.
What are your contingencies? Is your company able to serve customers without data connectivity?
Ensure that there are contingencies in place to provide continued operations in the case of a network loss. A way is to fall back onto deliberately defined manual processes. Sure, operations will slowdown but not come to a standstill.
One other consideration would be in the area of hybrid cloud services where vendor created applications are available to cater to online and offline modes. This will allow an organisation to keep some lights on independent of network coverage. Hybrid applications are, for the most part, important when they involve critical operations - POS, order management, sales management, customer support, executive information systems, general productivity.
What are your contingencies? Is your company able to serve customers without data connectivity?
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