by Roger A. Smith, CPP, Payroll Management Consultant
What the Heck is “Cloud Computing?”
Have your IT friends dropped the buzzword “cloud computing” on you lately? Some of us with an IT background have been accused of having our heads in the clouds for a long time, but what in the world are the technology thought leaders talking about now? 
As with many terms you hear today, cloud computing is a rather simple concept, which sounds more complicated than it really is. The “cloud” is simply all the infrastructure that transmits information between a server or mainframe computer and the “clients” (PC’s, laptops, PDA’s, cell phones, etc.). That infrastructure in today’s world is generally the Internet, and is represented by a cloud in computer network diagrams such as Figure 1. Thus the term, “cloud computing.”
Cloud computing is a concept that incorporates Software as a Service (SaaS), Data as a Service (DaaS), open source computing, Web 2.0, and other technology buzzwords you may have heard. Cloud computing offers end users the ability to have their applications fully supported by vendors and delivered by the Internet. For example, Google Apps provides common office applications which are accessed from a web browser, while the software and data are stored on Google’s servers. There are also instances of organizations developing their own cloud computing infrastructures for internal applications.
What’s the future of cloud computing? Not surprisingly, two of its big promoters are industry giants Microsoft and Google. Microsoft has been more business-oriented, while Google has been more consumer-focused. Previously, Microsoft sold software which has either been client-based (e.g., Microsoft Office running on a PC), or enterprise software running on a mainframe or server. Microsoft is now gradually moving to a cloud computing model. Google, on the other hand, has concentrated on delivering services to consumers, depending on advertising for its revenue. Google is now moving into the business arena with offerings such as Google Apps. Also, Google recently introduced a new browser (dubbed “Google Chrome”) to accelerate development of cloud computing capabilities.
So, what does it all mean to the payroll professional? Certainly cloud computing is here today with a growing number of payroll, timekeeping, and human resources SaaS applications currently available. These applications offer improved performance at lower cost for many organizations. They require significantly less investment in software, infrastructure, and IT support than traditional applications. If you haven’t looked into these offerings, you should. In the future, expect to see more and more cloud computing applications for small personal devices (cell phones, PDA’s, GPS’s, etc.) as they continue to become more powerful and more prevalent in the workforce.
We can look forward to increased availability of this model of computing, so we just need to do our best to keep up with the IT buzzwords and watch for more solutions to come out of the clouds!
As always, if you have any questions or comments, my email address is Roger.Smith@PayrollProf.com.
