Valor IT Technology Blog

When I first saw the iPad, my reaction was that it is a giant iPhone without the ability to make a phone call. Those who already had an iPhone – including me, know what I mean. Or maybe that was just my way of convincing myself that I didn't need an iPad.  Then I picked one up for the first time and immediately realized the power of the device.  It has become a staple in my daily technology use and in many ways started to replace my laptop, but not entirely.  The question is can Android, iPad or other tablets replace laptops in the workplace? My answer is yes - eventually.

We are in a great technology transition period. Users are seeking computing experiences that are more interactive, faster and much easier to use.  The tablet meets many of these needs as it is very simple to use, no crashes, fast on/off, better battery life and applications tend to be more efficient than full scale applications.  In fact there are some applications that we are already using to greatly improve our work efficiency.  For example....

Are you still using notepads and pens in your meetings? If so, try OneNote, EverNote or Dropbox with iPad or Android based tablets.  OneNote and EverNote let your create notes on your tablet and then automatically syncs it with your desktop computer and mobile phone.  This allows you to access your notes from anywhere.  Dropbox allows you to access all your important files from any type of device, providing you access to important files from any location.  Imagine no more searching through notebooks for that note you scribed during the meeting you had a week ago.  Just do a quick search of EverNote and you have what you need instantly.  I am sure next version of the application will automatically create and assign tasks for you on your Outlook calendar. Did someone say virtual assistant?

The primary objective of technology is to make our lives better. Technology has no value unless it solves a business problem and is simple to use. Ask my 2 year old son, he was able to put a password on his iPhone Touch. Obviously, he doesn’t remember the password, so he is locked out of his iPhone Touch. As Geico will say– it is so simple even a 2 year old can use it.

25 years ago, Bill Gates had a vision to have a PC in every home. Why? It wasn't to make Billions - it was because he truly saw the potential computer applications and how they may help educate, entertain and enrich people's lives. PCs were the right technology for the past twenty years but as we move into this great technology period – we want simple, efficient and valuable technology. Looks like Steve Jobs vision is to replace all those PCs with a tablet.

With the recent economic downturn, many companies are trying to find ways to decrease IT costs, yet still maintain a highly reliable infrastructure.  Finding the right solution to this problem has become a challenging task. Fortunately, the advent of Cloud computing has made reliability, scalability and lower costs a possibility for most business owners.

Cloud computing allows businesses to own a lot less equipment and yet get a lot more technology. With Cloud based computing your technology resources are housed off-site in highly reliable hosting data centers. All the maintenance, administration and hardware/software updates are performed by your managed IT partner allowing you to focus on your core business initiatives.

Cloud computing reduces investment in technology and increases the value of investment. With a cloud based service businesses pay a fixed monthly fee for their technology needs.  This includes both your software applications and hardware based systems.  The costs can be based on user counts or company needs.  The flexibility of this subscription-based service ensures that your business only pays for the services you need and use.

Could Computing can benefit your company/s bottom-line in the following ways:

• Reduce capital expenditures and operational overhead.
• Provide Scalability and Flexibility similar to a subscription-based or pay-per-use service. Basically you pay for the services you need and use.
• Increase IT responsiveness and efficiency. 24-7 Service.
• Reduce the training of new IT personnel.
• Reduce the cost of Licensing New Software.

As with any technology there are risks and mitigating those risks is a very important element when considering your move to a cloud based model.  The recent catastrophic failure of Amazon’s cloud-hosted Web Services failure last month knocked hundreds of sites off the web. These sites went down due to failure in implementing the key principle design of technology – backup plan for failures. Sites like Netflix were not affected by the outage due to their disaster recovery design.

The most important component in risk management is selecting a technology partner that can ensure proper design, transition and support of your cloud. Valor IT has been implementing cloud based technologies for over 5 years.  Our executive and technology staff are well trained and versed in the best practices for implementing cloud based solutions.  We have painstaking looked at every step in our transition and support process to ensure that clients data is never lost and their is a backup plan for every outage.

Over the past 5 years, many Valor IT customers have made the switch to cloud hosted solutions. In 2010, we saved those customers over $2 million in IT spending while improving system availability and up-time.  Call to schedule a Cloud Adoption Assessment to see if the cloud is a good fit for your company.