Although cloud computing has been around for over a decade, for most people outside of the tech industry, it will feel like a relatively new concept. But it's easy to forget, just how much it has changed office life since its arrival.
Employees have broken out of their cubicles and into open plan offices in a bid to increase collaboration. The days of fax machines and landline telephones are disappearing. The rise of the hot desking means that you don't even need to sit at the same desk every day.
There is an argument that the traditional desk has already been retired from the office. Gathering spaces are now frequented by the uber cool who can be found intensely staring down at a laptop screen or managing a breakout session while sat on multicoloured bean bags.
The cloud-based agile business no longer relies on physical quarters, specific locations, or other potential single-points-of-failure.
Companies are increasing employees productivity by offering the flexibility to work wherever they get their inspiration. Whether that be on a beach or the top of a mountain if it gets the work done at a higher quality and more efficiently, it seems everyone is happy.
The price for this new-found freedom is that employees are now expected to be always online and available anytime, regardless of their location. On the flipside of this coin, a cloud approach is becoming an essential tool to attract the kind of talent that enterprises need to be competitive.
Towards the end of last year, mobile web browsing overtook desktop for the first time. For many, this was a watershed moment where organisations should ensure that apps should be cloud-native and mobile-first as a priority.
Cloud, mobility and security have become incredibly desirable. Essentially, cloud-based technologies not only unlock efficiencies, but also allow a company to become more innovative, agile, and mobile.
As the digital transformation gathers pace, anyone with an idea can create a virtual startup consisting of team members scattered around the world. Without meeting in the physical sense, they can disrupt an entire industry.
Meanwhile, traditional businesses are facing a dilemma on how to deal with those that are resistant to change. Moving away from the old way of doing things, archaic processes and delivering a meaningful culture change is proving to be the biggest challenge.
By refusing to let go of both legacy thinking and technology, many organisations are also turning to hybrid IT solutions as a halfway house. Some are also treading very carefully due to security, compliance, or performance concerns. However, even the more cautious cannot ignore what is possibly the biggest shift in computing.
A cloud-based infrastructure along with a consolidation of applications is the utopia that is attractive to CIOs for obvious reasons. But it's the simplifying of business communications that are proving to be most valuable.
Despite trepidation from certain areas within the tech industry, Australia is frequently cited as one of the most mature markets for cloud adoption. Ultimately, the standardisation of IT infrastructure and the lowering of costs to deliver IT services is something that should be celebrated rather than feared.
As users, we have a plethora of devices from smartphones, tablets, laptops and beyond. But it's business cloud collaboration tools that will allow employees to work more efficiently. Although collaboration is the big buzzword of the moment, it's meaningless without communication.
Cloud technology now delivers multiple communication channels from instant messaging, video and voice calls with attendees located anywhere in the world. A new "future of work" is already here. The only question that remains is why so many businesses are still waiting nervously on the sidelines.
As we enter the world of the software-driven revolution, organisations will be forced to make a giant leap forward to move away from legacy thinking. There is an insatiable thirst to innovate and desperately remain relevant to customers.
Cloud-based technologies are offering a tremendous opportunity for business to get digital and form new business models around technology. In a world where businesses must disrupt or be disrupted, being innovative, agile, and mobile are no longer just buzzwords, they are necessities.
