Venyu Blog

An obligatory but necessary confession. Normally I’m not in the habit of co-opting popular cultural idioms in the service of producing headlines for this blog–especially when they could be remotely associated with any number of human rights organizations or those budding arborists among us who plant a tree in the hope the carbon dioxide it emits will somehow save the planet. Regardless of the source, however, I found Matt Hartley’s recent column – “Cloud Computing is the great equalizer” a fitting “take” on how cloud computing enables locally entrenched SMBs to compete for customers in the global economy.

Let’s face it. If all of the hyperbole and truisms surrounding cloud computing mean anything it’s a reinforcement that the Internet is, as Rajen Sheth, senior product manager for Google Apps who is quoted in Hartley’s article, puts it “ubiquitous.” In a sense cloud computing balances the scales. As Sheth properly observes “The cloud is this one central platform on which people can run and access their applications. So it doesn’t necessarily matter where your corporation is headquartered, you’re still going to be able to get great service no matter where you are. Basically, anywhere they have access to a web browser they can all of their information and access all of their applications.”

Courtesy of cloud computing that boxed-in “geo-longitudinal” feeling SMBs had been feeling up till now in trying to compete, often in vain, for business globally is finally beginning to disintegrate, enabling anyone with an Internet connection and a provocative service or product to reach out to far-off pockets of the global village. As Hartley suggests “the cloud” is helping more businesses go global, faster. By using cloud services like remote hosting and on-demand software-as-a-service, firms are able to not only grow quickly, but ensure that everyone in the organization has the most up-to-date technology and data, no matter where they are. With cloud computing organizations of any size no longer have to be concerned over scaling their technology infrastructure to meet demand. In other words, as Hartley concludes, by innovating locally SMBs can propagate those innovations across the organization and, ostensibly, to their broadened global base of customers.

So, the moral of this story is simple: Use cloud computing to grow your business and, by all means if you have the chance to do so, help to plant a tree. In either case I hope you’ll find the long-term benefits far outweigh your initial investment.