Can cloud computing change the way we communicate?

Alan Lepofsky, an analyst at Constellation, says companies have a variety of options when it comes to employee productivity applications. In addition to completely ignoring cloud selection, it leaders can also choose:

Transfer their existing enterprise internal products, such as Microsoft Office, to the cloud environment and choose applications that are based on the same web format or similar

Simply transfer storage instead of tools to cloud environments, using applications like Dropbox to share files

Use cloud applications to create a new way to handle workflows and communications

"You can move to the Cloud Office suite, and then you might ask, ' Why do we create word processing documents? ' Maybe we want to move directly to blogs, wikis, and online communities, ' Lepofsky says. ' For many people, 80% of the content doesn't need to be saved as a Word document, just a wiki page. ”

Lepofsky says cloud vendors offer many alternative applications for Microsoft Office suites, but may need to change how information is created and shared.

For example, an employee switching from PowerPoint to Prezi (cloud-based demo software) needs to "rethink how you do a demo." Employees who switch from Word to Evernote or Microsoft OneNote will find that these applications can share and collaborate, completely eliminating the need for document files, "just one page."

Lepofsky added that companies will also find other cloud options (such as Jive, Socialtext, and Yammer) to be better used than word processing applications.

For these changes, companies will need to train their employees to adapt to new ways of working. After many employees have been able to use these new apps in a comfortable way, those who are accustomed to using traditional word processing and presentation tools will slowly change their attitudes.

The professional interest Management company Carecore National LLC is already adopting this new approach.

William Moore, executive vice president and chief technology officer, said the company had been active in using cloud solutions in 2010, and now has 80 applications in the cloud.

"Cloud computing raises the question of how it will change the enterprise," Moore says. "We want to see how users are using the tools and find out if there are more fine-grained tools to support our work." ”

Moore says the answers to these questions bring some seemingly radical changes. First, he canceled the email address of most of the company's 1200 employees, saying that most people simply used the mailbox inbox for storage, so he offered Cisco Quad---Enterprise collaboration platform to create new space for them to collaborate. He then canceled the Microsoft Office Tools of a large number of employees who now use blogs and other web-based tools to communicate and collaborate to improve their productivity.

Approximately 200 employees, including enterprise managers and account managers, are still using Microsoft Exchange and office because they need these tools for their work and responsibilities.

"Cloud computing provides us with better functionality and provides a new perspective on the world around us," Moore said. "(邹铮 compiled)

(Responsible editor: The good of the Legacy)