One of the most popular terms going around these days is ‘the cloud’ or cloud computing. As with a lot of technologies that catch on quickly, I’ve noticed there seems to be some confusion about the cloud. Many people that don’t work in a data center aren’t sure how they’re actually affected by it, if they use it, or if they even need to know about it. Cloud computing is a technology that has use-cases for everyone so it’s good to have some understanding of it. In fact, you’re probably using the technology right now and don’t even know it. Do you use Gmail? Yahoo mail? Google docs? Then you’re using cloud computing.

To explain the cloud in a simple way, it’s using IT services from a remote location (from a cloud provider), often over the internet, instead of using physical equipment. To go back to one of the examples I used earlier, Google docs is an excellent example of cloud computing. Google, the cloud provider in this case, houses your document for you. You don’t have to worry about storing it on your hard drive or an external storage unit. They handle that for you, using their storage, servers, etc.

So how does this tie back into a paperless, productive life? ‘The cloud’ can make life even easier for you. Let’s say you use your ScanSnap to scan a document. You used to have to store that document physically on your computer, but you can now store it in the cloud and access it securely from anywhere – your computer, a friend’s computer, your iPhone, your Blackberry. You can work more efficiently and more productively from anywhere you want.

Whether it’s scanning content to iDisk as a personal disaster recovery plan or using MindTouch for enterprise level collaboration, cloud computing could be thought of as the next generation of document management. Going paperless was a big step. Now cloud computing allows you to go further and use even less energy and space from your IT resources. There are even some ScanSnap partners like Evernote and Oxygen that offer cloud applications to make document management easier. We’ll continue to talk about cloud computing here on the ScanSnap Community and show you different cloud technologies you can use to increase your productivity, efficiency, and mobility. Keep coming back to learn more about this popular trend.

Michael Sidejas
Product Marketing Manager
Fujitsu Computer Product of America, Inc.