Cloud computing, or application hosting, offers something for everybody. And even when something is not yet offered, you can bet that someone is already developing it or at least thinking about it.

     It is easy to assess how much damage a storm does to an IT business by simply judging the length of interruption in business services, not counting physical infrastructure and equipment damage. The cost to a company due to lost business begins accumulating at the announcement of an evacuation until the time that the storm passes, cleanup has finished and business processes can resume. With most IT businesses operating nationwide or internationally, losing business in a major hub often results in losing business in other areas as well, and can end up being a massive loss.

The rapid advancement of telecommunications technology and the mobile industry is ensuring that cloud computing is the paradigm of the future and will not look to be replaced anytime soon. The emphasis is shifting to the mobile space with small and easy to use apps rather than full blown “fat applications” which need a specific hardware to run. Though we can still consider cloud computing and telecommunications technology as young, having yet to show their true potential, it is getting apparent that this is the path we are headed in.

The U.S. held its breath as Hurricane Isaac made landfall along the Gulf coast in southeastern Louisiana, on the 7th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Luckily the city of New Orleans, which was devastated by Katrina, was shown mercy by Isaac. Nevertheless, it is a reminder of how in the face of a disaster such as this, companies could be crippled due to the mass evacuation of workers, which undoubtedly would result in losing valuable data and work because of infrastructure damage. Even after a disaster, a considerable amount of resources will be spent for recovery before work can resume. This sort of impact can at least be mitigated through cloud computing which allows online integration of the office environment, eliminating the need for a static workstation.

Most businesses have mobile users.  People who need a laptop with business data and applications installed on it.  It is one thing to lose a laptop.  It’s quite another when you lose the data that is on it.