What is this Cloud Computing thing we have been hearing so much about? Once you found someone else to host your site, without knowing it, you stepped into the world of Cloud Computing. Pretty much from the start, home based internet businesses work in the Cloud. All of your customer data, when it is maintained and sent out through your webhost, i.e., your autoresponder tool, goes out in the Cloud.

This aspect of Internet marketing is what makes it so convenient. Can you imagine if you had to store and organize all of that data yourself? Here’s a scenario to consider:

Let’s say you have been in the Internet marketing business for 6 years and you are finally seeing all of your effort and hard work translating into profit. You have all of your customer’s emails organized according to their past purchases and specific interests and each week, you are sending out your well-planned internet marketing material. Let’s even say that you have thousands of customers and every day you are getting orders.

Now imagine that you have all of that data stored on a hard drive in your office. Do we really need to keep going with this scene? What if something happened and you lost all of that data? Cloud computing removes that possibility because everything is stored on a virtual hard drive, also known as the Cloud.

Google documents are another example of working in the Cloud. Not only is your data stored securely, but you have access to it from wherever you are. Not only do you have access to it, but the “share” features of Cloud computing makes that document accessible to anyone who has permission to access it.

This makes running a virtual office possible. You can have as many employees as you want in as many different places. You are no longer confined to brick and mortar buildings with 4 walls. You can work from anywhere that you have Internet access – which these days is just about anywhere you think of. Gone are the days where you have to set up shop and pay rent and utilities.

Cloud computing also gives you access to exponentially more data than you could possibly store on your machine. Again, this lowers your overall cost of operation.

What are the disadvantages? Well, the most obvious is going to be Internet reliability. Your access to your data is only as reliable as your Internet connection. Anyone who has experienced a sudden loss of connection to the Internet knows what that feels like! It is almost like being stranded on a desert island. Again, though, this is fairly easily remedied for the reasons we already mentioned.

Hacking is another consideration. While it is true that as it is being transferred in the Cloud, your information is encrypted. However, once your information is sitting “out there,” it is technically susceptible to invasion. Here you have to consider the kind of information you are storing in the Cloud and whether or not it is worth the risk. As more and more people enter the Cloud, we can expect that security will continue to get better.

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