Are We Living In The Clouds?

I listen to a lot of tech-centric podcasts, and recently have been regularly hearing a computer phrase called “cloud computing“. It sounded interesting but I kept forgetting to find out what it was really all about.

Turns our we have been “in the cloud” for several years. In beginnig the training for a new employee, I realized that I was causing some confusion with my explanation that sometimes she would be accessing files on our own in house server, sometimes at Fedex.com, sometimes at Goodbuyguys.com, etc., etc. In reality, it didn’t make any difference in how she would do her job, but not understanding the difference between running local and online applications could be pretty confusing.

Apparently, cloud computing simply means that the applications you are using on your own computer or workstation reside not on your computer or network, but somewhere on the internet.

When someone enters an order in our office, the information is downloaded “from the cloud“. That is, the order was entered in an online shopping cart that we developed, but is hosted by our partner, Pair Networks. Once the order is entered, our employee goes to Authorizenet.com (back into the cloud) to get the credit card verification, then returns to our inhouse computer system to print out the order for our shipping department.

Once the order is ready to ship, its “back into the cloud” at Fedex.com so that a label can be printed and the package information uploaded to Fedex. They can begin to schedule their planes and trucks long before the packages are picked up at our loading dock.

Then it’s back “out of the cloud” to make sure that the customer’s payment is credited to their account. That information resides on a server in our own offices.

Finally, there is one more trip “into the cloud” in order to send a tracking number to our customer so that they can know that their order has shipped and when it will arrive.

It didn’t take us long to get over our initial fears of having so much data crucial to our operation residing on someone else’s computer. It is incredibly efficient and plays a large part in our growth.

Still, its a good idea to know where you’re really working!

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords , OnStage Stand mic stands and “value added” customer service.