Ditch The Desk & Head For The Clouds

Sitting at your office desk, you try to power through the mid-afternoon lull. The small window on the far side of the room offers an uninspiring view but is in some way a highlight of the drab office decor. What if you could leave your office desk and still be as productive? Well, you can.

The increase in cloud computing technologies over recent years has meant great advances to the possibility of becoming reliant on an internet connection alone rather than being located in any physical location. Websites, services, tools and applications are available to help you ditch the desk and head for the beach, café, park or wherever else you'd like to be.

Nick Harley, managing director of new web start up zealance.co.nz takes us through some of the key areas of becoming an online worker. The zealance website offers the ability for New Zealand based freelance professionals and service providers to find new work and manage the progress in online job workrooms.

"When a client posts a job onto the site they will receive multiple bids and proposals from New Zealand professionals willing to carry out the work," explains Nick. "They can review each proposal and select the best deal after reviewing each provider’s profile"

"Once the job begins, users can manage the work progress online, remotely, with no need to be located in any specific location. Clients in Auckland can work easily with a provider in Dunedin. The internet becomes your office space. We offer online workrooms, the ability to setup custom job terms and milestones, accept payments, send files, messaging and more. If you’re a small business or new start up, you don't need to pay for office space or employ permanent staff to get started these days. You can simply outsource the work when you need to."

It's not just websites like zealance.co.nz however that can boost your production levels. The market is flooded with the latest in mobile technology and smartphone apps for just about every situation or problem you may come across. This doesn't have to mean just a handy spirit level and compass app which you use once in a blue moon. It means you'll have a wealth of useful business productivity apps in your pocket.

Dropbox for example allows you to sync your files and folders across multiple platforms. Meaning anything in your dropbox folder on your home desktop computer, will also appear in the dropbox folder on your other computer at the office, mobile app or accessed from the dropbox website. No matter where you are, your files are close to hand, stored in "the cloud".

Cloud computing allows storage of information online rather than physically carrying it around on your computer’s hard drive. If you use an email client such as Gmail or Hotmail then you’re already using a form of cloud storage as emails are located in "the cloud", on a remote server rather than the computer you’re actually reading the email from. Cloud computing is nothing new, but as more people become aware of its capabilities they start to realise the potential and the cost saving that comes with it. Google docs, Zoho and similar applications help you to manage your productivity remotely.

If you were a small business start-up 10 years ago you had no choice but to hire a web developer to code a sophisticated support and helpdesk system for your website when you needed one. These days you can use a system such as Zendesk that costs around $30 per month and gives you instant access to a fully featured help desk system. That is the power of cloud computing. It has allowed more small businesses to dramatically cut start-up costs and therefore survive their early years.

The future of cloud computing is an exciting subject. Google have just unveiled Chrome OS, an operating system that works based on cloud computing technology. Rather than have an operating system installed onto the computer the system is always online using a remote server to store all information, files and operational requirements. The computer only acts as a web browser which means you don't even require a hard drive on your computer. If it were to be stolen, all your files would still be there exactly how you left them next time you can get online and login with your username and password.

Cloud computing does not come without problems too. If everything is located on remote servers how do you know that those servers will be reliable? How do you know that your information is being kept securely? The problems with the Sony Playstation network recently is proof that user accounts and information is always susceptible to attack and in high demand to criminals, but do the benefits outweigh the potential problems?

Some businesses are no longer tied to a physical location. They can command high market share and reputation based on their online presence, working virtually, online, anywhere, anytime. Cloud computing is without doubt the future of what will be possible in the coming years where we shall see the worlds workforce become less location dependant, choosing to leave their desks and offices to work up in the clouds.

ENDS

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