Cloud computing
has gone from, well, a cloudy idea to a real world of applications on demand,
new services and targets for business development. First, I'll use the current
definition of the cloud that is favored by tech analysts and the public
relations community: The cloud is everything and everything is the cloud.
That's right—a year ago, no one cared too much about cloud computing. Now that
is all anyone cares about.
So you work in a
business, right? Or maybe you are one of those ex-corporate types forced into
self-employment by the latest recession. Here are the 10 cloud services you
need to start using to build your business:
1. The Blog blob. Remember when the blog was the central
focus of your business digital experience? You spent a lot of time and money
finding a developer who would develop a blog that was cool and aligned with the
digital trends. I think that is ending. My current favorite is Posterous. Posterous is sort of a self-building
blog that can relieve you of a lot of content creation angst and allow you to
get on building your business instead of a blog. Analyst Paul Gillin recently
did a good piece on the siteless Web.
It’s worth a read.
2. Twitter. OK, I also find Twitter more and more a
repository of lame attempts to build site traffic and lots of direct tweets
from folks offering you services that are seedier than seedy. But nothing else
has quite replaced Twitter yet, except maybe No. 3 below.
3. Google Buzz. Google Buzz, in my opinion, got off to a bad start. But
Google is becoming more like Microsoft: It gets lots of turns to get stuff
right. The main attraction of Google Buzz as compared with Twitter and Facebook
is if you really want to do some business, you need to stop hopping around to
lots of social networks. Google is in the roll-up game, and you should give it
a serious look as your one-stop digital business builder.
4. The other parts of Google. E-mail is fine with Google, YouTube and Picasa, which you
can use to build out your business. Google is getting better at payments, and
of course you can buy ads to go against search terms, which is where it all
started.
5. Facebook. Facebook as a business medium can be
really useful or an incredible time sink. However, your company does need a
presence on Facebook. Do you want a group or a page? This guide
helps, but I'd say go with a page at first. The two seem to be moving to become
one and the same. The real one to watch here is Salesforce.com.
6. LinkedIn. LinkedIn could be a really valuable tool
if they stopped trying to upsell you all the time. LinkedIn is in danger of
being overused for promotion and underused for what I think was the intention:
a place where business people could connect and keep track of one another. At
$9.99 a month, a paid LinkedIn membership with folders and decent contact
management would be a winner.
7. Plaxo. Plaxo is coming back from the digital
netherworld, in my opinion. Contact management is still the basis of business,
and Plaxo has realized it had moved away from its path. You can't do it all on
a spreadsheet.
8. Your phone.
Maybe it will be an Android-based phone running in the Google world. But right
now, Skype is a still a great deal and has
worldwide reach. Let's see if it can keep ahead of the phone cloud. I'm
thinking the big carriers still have something to say here.
9. Your storage cloud.
This has gone from few options to lots of options. I am a current fan of Dropbox. These services don't always seem
important until your hard drive crashes, you forget your laptop in the cab, or
you need to share a common version of one file.
10. Your security.
This is a change. As I use more services in the cloud, I'm thinking it is more
secure to have your services (e-mail, files, contacts and social network
information) distributed in the cloud and assembled on your laptop rather than
keeping everything in one place.
