A little perspective can add a great deal to perception.
Let’s consider a cultural icon that:
- Is still going strong after more than 25 years
- Survived the terms of four U.S. Presidents (soon to be five!)
- Has weathered multiple contract disputes
- Contributed – and still contributing – dozens of catchphrases to the English language
- Has been commemorated with its own ride, indeed its own world, at Universal Studios Orlando
Yes, it’s The Simpsons.
The show originally debuted during primetime way back in 1989—which means the 27 year olds that watched it then are now 54, and the babies that were just born then are now 27 year-olds themselves. The show has mercilessly skewered American culture. Along the way depicted potential inventions of the future that actually came to be– including a watch that allowed communications, the Farmville game, and video phones.
Prescience? Sarcasm? Oftentimes, a mixture of both, such as in the 1999 episode “Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo” in which Homer famously responded to daughter Lisa’s offer to teach him how to ‘order pizza on the internet’ with:
“The internet? Is that thing still around?”
At the risk of over analyzing this classic Simpson’s nugget, let’s just say the humor is based upon the internet’s promise to be a lasting technology—everyone knew that (except, apparently, Homer Simpson) even back in 1999.
You could cut Homer a little slack if you keep in mind that the first trials of the World Wide Web had only happened only some nine years before—December 1990– at the CERN laboratories in Switzerland. Or that in 1999, Google had just moved from their garage office and into their first ‘official’ digs at 165 University Avenue in Palo Alto– with just eight employees. They hadn’t then even issued their first press release.
We know from our perspective today that the full potential of the internet to change the world had barely been hinted at back in 1999. Kind of like cloud technology and where it is now.
Computer Weekly published an interesting history of cloud computing which you can read here. It’s been only a little over a decade since Salesforce.com offered its IPO and made cloud computing history by pioneering the idea of delivering enterprise applications via website interface.
Today, Salesforce.com has a market cap of over $50 billion.
In January 2016 RightScale conducted its fifth annual State of the Cloud survey of IT professionals and their business environments. This survey showed that 95% of all respondents are using cloud computing technology. That is an amazing ram since 2013, when just over half of all businesses utilized cloud computing.
Much like the internet in 1999, cloud computing today is almost everywhere—but is its true potential being fully utilized by business? The answer is almost certainly “No.”
The cloud’s ability to positively impact almost any kind of business is near limitless. Forbes Magazine shared these points from an Oxford SAP study of cloud computing:
- Top-line growth, employee collaboration, and managing the supply chain are the three areas enterprises expect cloud computing to impact most over the next 3 years
- Developing new products and services, creating new lines of business, and entering new markets are three key areas in which cloud computing is already transforming enterprises.
- 58% of enterprises predict their use of cloud computing will increase top-line revenue growth over the next three years.
- 67% of enterprises say that their marketing, purchasing, and supply chain operations are already somewhat or mostly cloud-based as of today.
Is your business fully embracing cloud technology and all it can do for you? If you aren’t quite ready just yet, listen to Diane Greene, who is leading Google’s cloud business:
“We are dead serious about this… We’ve spent billions on data centers and are going to use them as much as we can. This is a long-term, forever event.”
The Cloud Comes to You
5i Solutions brings cloud computing technology to your business and tailors it to meet your current business needs. 5i’s solutions deliver all the benefits of the cloud, scaled to your budget and matched to your needs. Imaging a document management system that ensures the important data you need is available for retrieval instantly. And the 5i Cloud Vault allows complete access balanced with security: your data protected with encryption, network security, access logs, penetration testing, key management, and more— yet you get total access from anywhere in the world.
Today the cloud means more than just storage—it means streamlined business processes and service redundancy to ensure your business stays in business all day, every day—all the time. And 5i can provide this to your business, not matter its size or industry.
5i Solutions. Don’t be a Homer. The Cloud is indeed still around. And 5i is there to make it work for you.
5i Solutions. One single, secure point of intake, access, and storage. One singular solution.
5i Solutions, Inc.