With the right tools, you can be free as a cloud!
I was prepared to write a piece extolling the life altering benefits of using Outlook to manage everything: contacts, email, mail-merge, appointments, birthday reminders, to-do lists, CRM, etc. I was thinking how cool it is that I access everything I need via Outlook through an exchange server which makes me not particularly device dependent. Emails I send through
my iPhone, iPad or laptop are accessible from any of those devices. If I make an appointment while out on the road and set it up on the calendar in my iPad, it magically appears on my iPhone and at my laptop. And get this… I haven’t plugged a cord into anything to “sync” all those activities. It happens magically through the….cloud.
Then I realized that’s the tool that I don’t think I’d like to operate without - the CLOUD! Don’t get me wrong, Outlook is awesome! I couldn’t run my business without it. My iPhone and iPad share equal parts awesomeness but would be virtual paperweights without the connection to the cloud. My laptop has the computing power of what used to fill a warehouse of vacuum tubes back in the 60’s. But none of this hardware and the collective software upon which they run is worth a damn without some sort of cloud-based network.
Now, I’m using the term ‘cloud’ in the broadest sense of the word. You might be able to simply substitute ‘internet’ but it’s not the same thing. The Internet is an access portal. The Cloud is more magical. I can use DropBox to store photos, slide decks, and videos and it lets me access that data from any internet connected device. Exchange server technology lets my devices all talk to one another so that even if I drop my phone in the toilet, the only thing I lose is the co-pay to replace the device, enter a few account codes and usernames, touch the screen of the new device, and voila! I’m back in business. NOTHING LOST because it all resides in the cloud. The same goes for my music and reading library. Between Amazon and iTunes, all my music is safe and sound and with my Kindle or iBook apps, all the books I read to stay abreast of what’s new are with me all the time rather than stacked up on my bedside table or cluttering my cubicle. What’s more, each device knows exactly which page I’m on in all the books I’m reading!
Is the Cloud a tool? Absolutely! Could I run my
business without it? Probably - but I would be super grumpy and likely on a road to total burn-out. Some people think that connectedness and ever-advancing technology keeps us plugged-in all the time. That may be true for some – but for me, it provides the freedom to work from multiple environments and locales. I can get more done in less time and jump back and forth between up-time and down-time with just a few steps out the back door to a favorite fishing hole on the river where I can watch white puffy clouds cross the sky and remind me why I love what I do!
Comments(57)