The Cloud Can Cure the Common Cold - One of 5 Reasons I am In Love With The Cloud

The cloud can cure the common cold? Well, not really. However, it does a great job of limiting your exposure to germ carriers. It is great benefit I am adding to the top of my “I Love The Cloud” list.

By the way, for the purposes of this article “the cloud” and the “Internet” are one and the same. To be honest, the distinction is meaningless to most people.

Let’s get to it...

1. The Cloud is Healthier

I was reminded of the health benefits of the cloud just the other day when our “gal Friday” called in with what she described as strep (at last report it may be Mono.) This could be bad for me because I spent some time in close proximity to her a day or two ago. Bah! If only I had spent all day that day in my home office.

Not only can we stay away from “the carriers”, all of my healthy eating options and exercise equipment/environment is at my home office. I ALWAYS eat better and get more exercise when I work from home. I have tracked this with my wearable. This is not really surprising. We have all heard “it’s so hard to do well when you are not at home.” Well, it is. Since most of us spend most of our time at home, we create the environment we want there. It is very tough to carry all that with you everywhere you go.

2. The Cloud is Handy

The number of things I can do from anywhere is huge and growing. Through the cloud with only my phone, I can take do all kinds of things:

• adjust all the thermostats in my house including telling them I am not home and to go into super-saver mode

• see who is ringing the bell at the front door and talking to them even when I am not at home

• watch what my three dogs are getting up to when left in the house without supervision (turns out they sleep a lot)

• watch TV and movies

• shop for anything and have it delivered

• turn my security system on/off

• so many more…

As the Internet of Things continues to grow, the handier the cloud is going to be.

3. The Cloud is great for Productivity

Let’s talk about work for a minute. The cloud has made me more productive and given me the ability to work and play at the same time. I can go anywhere and get my mail, access my source code, build and deploy my apps and access and edit documents, spreadsheets, and slides. For many of these I can edit them collaboratively online with other team members. Finally, I can share them or download and email them. I can do all of this with whatever device I happen to have. We can talk about the wisdom of doing some of these on your phone, but that is a different discussion.

If you add in the extra time I get back when I don’t commute, my productivity is increased significantly. Personally, I get 90 minutes a day of productivity back by not commuting. I bet this number is much higher for many other people. Now that I see it on paper, I am shocked that I lose that much time every time I go to the office! Wow, that is a feature missing from our next release. (Albeit a small one.)

And who needs to get together in an office for a meeting? With the online tools we have for collaboration and communication, we probably get more done meeting online than in person. I like chatting about weather, sports, politics, movies, etc. as much as the next guy, but I also have to get things done. I like to get my things done in those hours that I reserve for them. I hate having to use my “personal” time for those items. When I am at home I get all those items done (and generally more than I planned) in those hours that are for those items (say 8 - 6). When I go into the office, I generally write off those days almost completely because of the number and duration of all the interruptions I get.

4. The Cloud is Beyond Great for Technology Workers

Continuing on the impact of the cloud for work, the cloud has made a huge impact on the lives of those of us developing applications. Let’s face it, I am a geek. Right up there with a great rock song, technology gets my heart and mind racing. From a geek’s point-of-view, this cloud revolution is like a huge shot of adrenaline. Build your app, deploy it to a public cloud and the fun really starts.

Using the tools provided to me by my public cloud provider I have created a geographically replicated database in just a few clicks. With just a few more clicks, I created a Content Delivery Network and pointed my domain at it. Several clicks later, I have app instances in data centers all over the globe and a load balancer in front of them all ensuring that even if there is a data center disaster, my users will never know. How many man-years of effort and bajillions of dollars did that used to take? Having done it in the past, I can tell you… Lots!

And the above does not take into account that my build and deploy mechanism is fully automated and integrated into my public cloud. Oh, and setting up the build and deploy only took a couple hours. Now, every time I check in code (or one my teammates does), the app is built and deployed in three versions to three environments for testing. Once we are happy with the release, a few clicks puts it into production all over the world and allows us to rollback if necessary. For a guy who has been around as long as I have and has planned and executed more production promotions than I can count, this is complete Nirvana.

5. The Cloud Lets Me Move Without Leaving Something Behind

Finally, let’s talk about how the cloud helps me create a home away from home. I have my own space in the cloud. It holds “my stuff”. It plays my music. It knows what movies and TV shows I like. I get to take it with me wherever I go.

Don’t get me wrong, super geek that I am, I am also a fully functioning member of the human race who can hold a conversation with the waitress at the Cheddar’s in wherever Illinois. I can go to the sales meetings the next day and present the tech in a way that connects to the non-technical buyers in the room. I am not a shut-in with my toys.

However, when I get back to my hotel, I feel a little less disconnected from home because I brought all “my stuff” with me. I get to listen to my music, watch the shows I want to watch when I want to watch them, look through all my photos since what amounts to the beginning of time, work on this post, read “my” newspaper. In other words, I can have many comforts of home and all I need to get to them is Internet access which is more and more ubiquitous.

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There you have it. My 5 reasons. Today. Tomorrow they could change with the next introduction, but I bet whatever the next new thing is it will fit into one of the above categories.