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.