As a cloud computing expert my constant job is not only to convince people of the merits of cloud computing but also in many cases explain what the hell it actually is.  Most of Damson‘s clients aren’t techies and they don’t like when you make it technical.  So finding real world examples of how cloud computing/WEB 2.0/SAAS can really change their working environment is vital in helping people to understand the true benefits.

Technical explanation:  With cloud computing your data is synchronised across all your devices and is always backed up.

Real world example:  When you create a file on your laptop at home it appears on your desktop in the office (instantly!).

I know what your thinking, sure that’s just sugarsync or dropbox or putplace.  That’s easy, right?  Well for a lot of people its not, in fact most techie’s would be shocked at the amount of people out there that don’t know about these technologies that we use everyday.  More importantly then that, trying to get across the actual benefits (not features) of these services can be a challenge.  So when I come across a real life example of how to explain a complicated technology I save it away in my data-bank of analogies and metaphors, for the next customer meeting.

So, while my  iPhone was  off for repair last month it was time to find a replacement.  I had temporarily began using my P910i, great phone, but old and it couldn’t handle SLL which ment no email for me, not acceptable.

The brother was kind enough to give me a lend of his slightly younger XDA Orbit from O2.  It was running windows mobile 6.

So with my new device I formatted it (deleted everything) just to be sure and went about adding mt email settings and Google sync settings.  After about 15 minutes of synchronisation I had 1200+ contacts,  1 year+ of calendar and 200 emails on the XDA.  Impressive and it was all thanks to keeping everything on the cloud.  The mobile was simple a photocopy of the real data held safely online.

Now using the windows mobile OS, is another days post.  However, I live safe in the knowledge that come rain, hail or thievery my data is safe…always.

So its 4am in the morning, my 4 day old is finally settling down  for some sleep…sigh.  I notice out of the corner of my eye that my iPhone has stopped charging.  At first I am not too alarmed, check the plug and connection all fine.  Hmmm…I go get another charger, still nothing.  I get another iPhone cable and this time connect it to my computer…still nothing!

Now I’m getting a little worried to say the least!  I eventually try everything I can possibly think of but it still won’t charge or even be recognised by a mac or PC.

So time is ticking, my precious iPhone won’t charge and I have valuable data on it.  A full format takes 2 hours…but I don’t have that long.  The race is on to delete the sensitive stuff just incase I have to send it away to be repaired!

I delete my emails, bank info, logmein etc…

Finally the last few bars disappear and she shut down.

Tomorrow I will tell of the fiasco that was the REPAIR and getting my data back onto the phone