Complete Cloud Adoption: Are We There Yet?

Published by Rebecca at December 19, 2011

In the past few decades, we’ve witnessed the business world transition from using things like printers, paper, and filing cabinets to cloud computing, e-signatures, and online file storage. Now, companies are ditching internal email and adopting systems like instant messaging programs, project management applications, and collaboration tools like Salesforce.com Chatter.

Articles are popping up everywhere that describe CEOs taking some extreme measures to force their organizations into the cloud. Doing away with past archaic systems and adopting cloud computing can be quite a transition for a company of any size. While we’re not saying you should walk into work tomorrow and smash your fax machine with a baseball bat, we’re just a bit curious to know what a paperless world would be like. Is it on the horizon?

If so, here’s our opinion of the changes that need to happen:

Say goodbye to your all-in-one Printer/Fax/Scanner/Copier

We live in an era that perceives printing a document and faxing it to someone as a joke. Literally. Carrier pigeons have been mentioned as a happy alternative.
Employers shifting their everyday business processes and workflow into the cloud have been known to remove these devices all together, claiming that printer access is a form of enabling.

Below are some cloud-based replacements, should you show up to work and discover your all-in-one has mysteriously disappeared:

Obtaining a signature on a contract = DocuSign, EchoSign, or other e-signature programs
Making copies of a proposal to hand out prior to a meeting: iPads/tablets with downloadable apps for document viewing
Printing a document to pass to other departments for approval: Salesforce Chatter

DIY: Putting your office supply store out of business

This shouldn’t be too difficult considering you may never need another pen, pencil, filing cabinet, or manilla folder ever again… at least not once you’ve completely moved into the cloud.

Grouping files by Account name and city alphabetically in a filing cabinet: Salesforce.com does this for you
Jotting to-do items on a sticky note on your desk: iPhone/iPad/other mobile or smartphone applications for notes and task lists (the sticky note won’t alert you with a reminder!)
Writing items into your paper calendar and calling up a coworker to inquire about their progress on an assignment: TaskRay or other project management solutions – no need to write anything down, or even pick up the phone!

What’s wrong with E-mail?

Once thought of as the communication tool of the future, e-mail is very slowly becoming a thing of the past. This is not only true for companies and professional use, but for personal use as well. Think of how you’d choose to contact a family member, friend, or neighbor while sitting in front of your computer. Do you open your browser and create a new email? Or do you click into their Facebook profile and message them?

Translating this to professional use is almost as easy to explain. It makes more sense to communicate with others when you are directly accessing the material in discussion. As an HR Manager, you may need to contact an Interviewer regarding a resume for a new applicant at your company. You could copy/paste a section of their resume into an email and highlight your notes and comments, or you could use a tool like Chatter in Salesforce to upload a file and comment on specific aspects of that document. Assuming the applicant has a record within your Salesforce org, you can attach their resume to the record and view the information all in one place. Then, by using the “@” symbol, you can directly ask an employee for information regarding that specific person. This erases the need for email, and performs several functions that email simply cannot do.

Additionally, Chatter now supports private messaging and inviting outsiders to Chatter Groups to collaborate. For Salesforce users, internal email could one day be as unnecessary as a fax machine.

If you find that you’re using Google docs to share files, and utilizing the Search feature to skim your previous emails for needed information, it’s probably time to invest in some form of CRM. We choose to reference and recommend Salesforce.com.

In conclusion…

We feel that the appropriate time to ditch old technology is upon us. In the work environment, removing internal email could be impossible unless you have a substitute system set in place. Likewise, our proposed solutions for a paperless world simply cannot take effect unless we’re all in it together.

No worries, though… Complete cloud adoption isn’t too far in the future. The global cloud computing market is upwards of $41 billion, and growing by the minute. Trusting that the most productive solution will always prevail, businesses could be 100 percent ‘in the cloud’ by 2020. Here’s hoping!

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