iPhones, SmartPhones and the Coming Cloud Addiction

I'm not your typical early adopter, but I pre-ordered Apple's iPad and have used it endlessly since the day it landed on the doorstep of my Virginia farmhouse. Wherever I take it, I end up doing a sales pitch for the darned thing.  From waiters at the only good restaurant in town to kids and adults at the hockey rink, everyone wants to know about Apple's magical device. The question I answer most often is "What do you use it for?" My answer is about 100 different things, but not just one thing. There is no killer app.  For all its sizzle and hype, the iPad is a subtle device.  It works its way into your daily routines in a hundred ways until you end up having separation anxiety when your spouse sneaks off with it to read a book.  Weird, but true. Then again, isn't that what great products do?  They subtly work their way into our routines.  We don't know they have crossed the path from useful to vital until we don't have access to them for a period of time.  Then we panic.


A few years ago, I bought a car with a Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT).  It wasn't why I bought the car.  Truth be told, I didn't even know what CVT was. I liked the car.  Five years later, when I went shopping for a replacement, I only considered cars with the smooth shifting CVT.  Marketers can fill Times Square with all the brightly lit messages they can afford, but unless a product delivers consistently every day until we are dependent upon it, the product ranks as fad not trend.


For all the fanfare surrounding the cloud, I suspect this is the way the cloud will enter our work lives -- slowly, steadily and subtly. We won't be aware of its integration into our lives until there is a problem and we can't access something. I think this is already happening on a much wider scale than we realize.


The savvy people over at ZDnet's CloudTweaks raised an interesting illustration of this point in their blog about yesterday's introduction of Apple's other wonder tool, the iPhone. Writing about the introduction of a whole new class of SmartPhones, from Apple, HTC, RIM Nokia, Motorola and others, CloudTweaks pointed out that "these devices are introducing cloud computing offerings to many who might not otherwise care. The folks purchasing these devices don’t really care about all of that, however. They just want a slick looking, highly functional device."  Exactly!


SmartPhone Apps have moved in one year from the novelty of Zippo Lighters to very functional network-based applications and services. And these are not just limited to apps of restaurants, maps and directions. There is an increasingly diverse set of corporate applications in areas like CRM, banking and communications.  The cost benefits and limited risk certainly make these applications appealing to SMBs.  But if employees start injecting cloud usage of their own accord via SmartPhones into the technology gene pool of large corporations, will their subtle reliance on the cloud accelerate the adoption of more mainstream cloud deployments?  How long will it take until the cloud wends is way into mainstream corporate usage?   For all the hype and marketing about the cloud, nothing will measure success in technology better than separation anxiety. In fact,  I think they call it addiction. Excuse me. HONEY, WHERE'S THE iPAD?!!!!!!

Cloud Computing and The Internet of Things

What if things could talk to us?  What if your garbage could tell you it was ready to be emptied?  What if a soda machine on the second floor of Building 7 could tell the supplier it needed more Diet Dr. Pepper for slot D2?  What if a river could tell us it was choking on PCBs that were excessively high and could show us the highest levels occurred next to a particular factory?

Once the domain of science fiction, many of these are happening today.

In a 2006 paper titled, A Manifesto for Networked Objects — Cohabiting with Pigeons, Arphids and Aibos in the Internet of Things, Dr. Julian Bleeker of the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Southern California, conceived the Internet of Things: 

"The Internet of Things has evolved into a nascent conceptual framework for understanding how physical objects, once networked and imbued with informatic capabilities, will occupy space and occupy themselves in a world in which things once were quite passive." Dr. Bleeker goes on to ask a fascinating question, "When it is not only “us” but also our “Things” that can upload, download, disseminate and stream meaningful and meaning-making stuff, how does the way in which we occupy the physical world become different? What sorts of implications and effects on existing social practices can we anticipate?"

This is a world envisioned by Joel Birnbaum, head of HP Labs in the 1990s, who spoke often about armies of sensors automatically providing ongoing data to ubiquitous networks to monitor everything from homes to rivers.  That vision is becoming a vibrant reality, if you read Kevin Novak's blog.

Kevin writes Cloud Feedback, Monitoring the Real World with Cloud Computing. It is a terrific source of real time applications of things that talk to us through the cloud.  He begins with the understanding that we can understand things that we once knew nothing about because they were neither measured nor controlled. But when the data is available and reliable, individuals, businesses and governments can achieve greater cost savings, great energy and water efficiency, reduced pollution, and higher levels of cooperation and productivity.

One example Kevin recently cited is  Cantaloupe Systems, a San Francisco company founded in 2002  that provides vending machine operators a device to install inside a vending machine to communicate every transaction the machine performs.  Kevin explains that "The data is sent over cell phone data networks to Cantaloupe’s data centers, allowing operators to schedule visits to the replenish the machines exactly when needed."  The result is cost savings for customers, lower fuel consumption by delivery trucks, improved delivery logistics and more accurate inventory management.

Cloud Feedback also recently looked at BigBelly Solar -- a Needham, MA, company that makes a garbage can for city streets with an enclosed motorized compactor.  Their cans "power the compactor from solar cells, so it doesn’t need an electricity connection.  It also uses sensors to detect and transmit how frequently it is used, and how full it has become.  A cloud computing service records the data and schedules trash collections. The combination of compacting and just-in-time collection saves a lot of fuel and labor; Philadelphia estimates a 70% reduction."
'
This is dynamic, groundbreaking change being generated through new ways of looking at ordinary problems.  Armed with the right tools, really smart people can change the world quickly and reverse years of neglect, selective listening and downright ignorance.  When billions of objects -- both organic and man made -- starting talk to us, we can do a better job monitoring and protecting the planet AND improve efficiency and profitability. This could not be accomplished without the cloud.

Here at Beyond the Arc, we sometimes get as overwhelmed as the next person when looking at the massive amount of information about the cloud.  While we are staunch advocates, at times we have to fight our way out of what Gartner Group calls the "the Trough of Disillusionment" and remind ourselves that the future of IT is intrinsically tied to cloud computing  But the magic of the cloud is that just when you think you have had enough, something amazing crosses your path -- something that can only happen through the cloud.

Four Cloud Applications Help Level the Playing Field for Small Business

It wasn't long ago, that the idea of a point to multi-point broadband video conferencing system was the exclusive domain of the Fortune 1000.  A low-end system cost at least $10,000 and required specialized videoconferencing hardware from companies like PictureTel and Compression Labs along with widescreen monitors, cameras and controls and networking equipment all tucked into a dedicated room whose layout probably tipped the scales at another $10,000.  Of course, your system only worked with other sites that had the same expensive system installed, and both sides usually required someone from IT to get you set up and stand by throughout the call. 

Today, thanks to the cloud, you can do a point to multi-point call to six separate people or locations with a $20 webcam on your desktop or laptop.  And it is easy enough for a fifth grader to use it. This isn't an instant-message-based system with postage stamp video, but a full-screen, cloud-based videoconferencing system from a company called ooVoo.  Like so many cloud-based apps for small business, it is easy, affordable and it works as promised.  We use ooVoo here at 3Point and have found the video to be smooth, the audio clear, and the experience of working with remote colleagues vastly improved. Our business is not among the Fortune 1000 -- or even the Fortune 5000.  But we can work like them and look like them for pennies with cloud apps like ooVoo.

So that got me to thinking what else is out there that gives small business the outward appearance of big business and helps level the playing field?  I could have listed at least 20 companies, but I'll start with three more in addition to ooVoo and come back to add others in a later blog. 

2. Cloud Collaboration and Project Management
What is so interesting about this topic is that some of the apps we think of as the toolkit of small business are now being adopted by large businesses as well. One such example is Basecamp.  I don't know about you, but I have a hard time believing a person who lives by a Gantt chart.  Life just doesn't work that smoothly, even if you are a certified project manager, of which there are thousands here in the Washington, D.C. area. To make a Gantt chart the essence of management is sort of like making an elaborately crafted grocery list the essence of your family values.  Lists change and evolve, deadlines slip, ideas evolve, budgets get cut, and people like to talk to each other and come up with new ideas. All those nice boxes, colored lines and finely tuned schedules may work in an autocratic command and control system, but in the Collaboration Economy there aren't many autocratic businesses I know that are cited in lists of best places to work. Basecamp is built on a concept of project management focused on communication and collaboration -- the way most of us actually work.  As their website says, "pictures and numbers don't get projects done."  Amen. 

Companies like ours need to collaborate with colleagues around the world and people inside and outside our walls. We need a sophisticated project collaboration tool to set goals, manage and measure projects and collect a whole lot of information to guide our analysis and decision making.  We found Basecamp at the recommendation of our friend, Jay Murphy, founder and CEO of Trionia in Boston. Jay is a really smart digital marketer who uses Basecamp for web projects, software development, client collaboration and a whole list of other core business activities. We got hooked on it quickly in developing a massive proposal for a client prospect that included teams from around the country. It was seamless.  We shared a range of research articles, ideas, drafts, edits, calendars and task ownership and put together a terrific RFP that succeeded in moving us to the next level of the competition. We could not have completed this without Basecamp, and we are not alone. Kellogg's, Patagonia, Adidas, USA Today, National Geographic, Warner Brothers and others are all Basecamp users. At $24 a month, the entry price is well worth it.

3. Ex WebEx
When we first started out, Jay also pointed us toward DimDim.  Have you ever tried WebEx? DimDim is WebEx for the rest of us.  Easy to use and free for up to 20 users, and the people you invite to your meeting do not have to install anything to join!  DimDim lets us do webinars, internal training, shared whiteboard, online conferences and a host of other applications.  We are satisfied customers who look and act like a much larger company thanks to DimDim's use of the cloud.  (But we'd really appreciate a name change to something that doesn't sound like the name of a cartoon character.)

4. Google Apps
Much has been written about Google Apps. Rather than repeat it all, let me just cite a statistic that should make you feel comfortable if you are considering the move: more than two million business run Google Apps and more are joining every day. They use it for email, company calendars and as a replacement for word processors, spreadsheets and other basic needs products. First adopted by individuals, then small businesses, Google Apps is being used by more and more enterprises at the expense of Microsoft Office, Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes.  The free versions will handle most basic needs of small business. With Google Apps Premier Edition (annual fee of $50 per user), a customer gets inboxes that store up to 25 gigabytes of messages, a video chat system (not equal to ooVoo in our estimation), anti-virus/spam protection, disaster recovery and a 99.9% uptime SLA. That is why Google can boast enterprise customers like Motorola Mobile Devices, Salesforce.com, Genetech and the District of Columbia. 

So, there you have it.  Four ways the cloud lets you level the playing field and look like a billion bucks for less than your monthly coffee budget.  They may not get you from the Inc. 500 to the Fortune 500, but the playing field is becoming more level every day.