
Virtualization and Cloud executives share their predictions for 2014. Read them in this VMblog.com series exclusive.
Contributed article by Jeffrey J. Segarra, Senior Director, Imaging Product Management at Nuance Communications
Maturing Cloud Will Bring Wide-Reaching Impact to Businesses in 2014
As we approach 2014, cloud technology is
poised to impact a number of areas that are top-of-mind for organizations of
all sizes. As businesses are
increasingly focused on mobility and security with the proliferation of various
new devices and the transition to a BYOD workplace, the cloud is uniquely
positioned to help companies manage their environment. The cloud's storage capabilities coupled with
its computing power, broadband accessibility, and the increasingly mature
solutions it employs, will enable cloud computing to impact many business
functions as software continues its rapid migration to the cloud in the coming
year.
Document Management
In 2014, companies will have the option of deploying
hybrid cloud models, where both on-premise and cloud-based document management services
are used concurrently. As document
management and storage services become increasingly cloud-based, this approach
will help companies to better address their redundancy and backup needs.
Rather than purely operating behind a
firewall, companies will move to a middle ground that offers the security
benefits of the firewall and the user benefits of a cloud-based system. This type of hybrid cloud offers a solution
where the most secure documents are maintained safely behind the firewall but
can be retrieved from the cloud, while documents with lower security
requirements are published to the cloud.
In this type of structure, the security needs of the most sensitive
documents are maintained, while the demands for accessibility are also met.
Enhanced Security
The cloud will also contribute to enhanced document
security as its capabilities continue to mature. It is uniquely positioned to deliver secure,
seamless security, as it combines computing power and increasingly advanced
solutions with its storage function. The
cloud matured significantly in the past year, enabling
more powerful solutions such as biometric authenticators, like voice, to deliver
effortless and intuitive security. Rather
than requiring complex passwords and validation questions, a simple command
like "My voice is my password" will unlock the environment allowing users to
quickly and easily interact with the network, (e.g., "show me the last 20
documents I printed."
BYOD Management
In the midst of the growing BYOD trend the
cloud will help companies and users manage the multitude of devices and
documents in their environment. Workers are now using numerous mobile and desktop
devices that have unique display demands to access documents both in and out of
the office. With its separation from the
corporate environment, processing power, and accessibility, the cloud is the
perfect vehicle for rendering and delivering content in a format that is
adaptable to different devices and settings, and takes advantage of the unique
benefits and options each device has to offer.
When delivering documents, the cloud will reconcile whether a document
can be delivered to a particular device and convert the information into a
format that will display content in the most optimized way for that
device.
Software Licensing
The traditional model of a perpetual software license,
where companies must pre-purchase a set number of subscriptions, is too
inflexible for companies, creating problems for businesses that are expanding
and contracting. Increasingly, companies
want to be able to choose the number of seats they own for a software
subscription at any given time - adjusting up or down based on business
needs. Previously, the easiest method
has been using web applications, which require people to be online for use and
don't take advantage of local processing power.
Using the cloud, applications can be streamed in order to enable
subscriptions to be turned on and off on demand and allow access across devices
while in the office, on the go, or at home.
Small Businesses Benefit from the Cloud
Small businesses are especially positioned to
benefit from this licensing shift because of their budget constraints and small
in-house IT infrastructure. Software
moving to the cloud will be particularly advantageous for small businesses as
they will be able to choose from many available software options and consume
software by subscription rather than making a significant up-front investment
in a large number of licenses. This
benefits small businesses because it enables licensing to be centrally managed
and subscriptions to be turned on and off almost instantaneously. Companies
will be able to buy exactly what they need for a specific month, day or year,
instead of purchasing en masse for the year. A result of this trend and the
cloud's impact on business is that perpetual software agreements will continue
to decline.
Bring Your Own Software
Today, many businesses mostly use perpetual
licenses - in 2014, desktop, web applications, and infrastructure will increasingly
be streamed and able to be turned on and off.
This movement will create a "bring your own software" dynamic, in which
virtualized technology allows users to connect with centralized systems to
bring individualized content, such as a personal voice profile and personal
preferences, down to a user's computer.
This seamless exchange of applications and data will enable users to
keep their personal preferences in devices, data, and applications, on their
device of choice, catering to the unique needs of each user and organization.
As organizations and users continue to expand
the repertoire of devices and software options they choose to employ in the
coming year, there is a growing need to balance enabling this diversification
while simultaneously maintaining security.
Broadband connectivity to a cloud that has matured and become significantly
more powerful and secure in the past year will allow organizations to cater to
demands to support varying software, devices, and connectivity while still
protecting corporate assets, processes and workflows. Declines in perpetual licenses, powerful
solutions such as biometric authenticators, and hybrid cloud models for
document management are key ways in which companies will benefit from the
accessibility and flexibility offered by the cloud in 2014.
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About the Author
Jeff Segarra is Senior Director of Product Management for the
Imaging division at Nuance Communications. He is responsible for the team that
delivers the full line of scanning and business productivity products including
eCopy scanning solutions for MFPs, PDF Converter Professional for creating,
editing and converting PDF files, OmniPage for OCR document conversion and
PaperPort for desktop document management. He has an MBA from Iona College,
Hagan School of Business and has been working with software technology for 20
years.