Repost: 10 Cloud Solutions For Common Business Challenges, with comments

https://www.openforum.com/articles/10-cloud-solutions-for-common-business-challenges/?extlink=of-syndication-sb-p

Eye Opener Seminars

The cloud is becoming a pervasive delivery mechanism for software.  It offers cost-effective, easy to use, on-demand capabilities for scalability and usability.  The industrial automation industry has been slowly introduced to the cloud (Invensys was a leader in bringing cloud-based apps to market, partnering with Microsoft for their Azure platform) and after two years we are seeing not only interest, but demand, in solutions hosted on the cloud.

Why the cloud?  Firstly, because it's scalable.  You can start with one user, or a plant, and then scale on a cost-per-use basis.  Secondly, it's portable.  You bring your application with you, so productivity and uptime are enhanced.  Thirdly, it's light.  A browser is all you need.  And lastly, it's adaptable--it adjusts to your needs, you pay for only what you use, so access and performance are ensured.

Invensys now offers multiple cloud-based apps. Some are client-based, such as the Wonderware Workflow Mobile Client, others are fully cloud-enabled, such as the smart-device enabled reporting capabilities of SmartGlance.  Both offer as-you-need-it capabilities to bring either work tasks (Workflow) or reporting (SmartGlance) to users in an easy-to-use format.  Historian in the cloud and other applications will follow, as will services capabilities for application monitoring.

The cloud is now "real" and offers value to both the office worker, as well as the industrial worker.  More applications will leverage the cloud's "elasticity" and scalability, and it's the users that are the beneficiaries of this technology, as well as it should be.

Repost, with comments: CPG marketing differs for boomers and millennials

http://www.smartbrief.com/08/02/13/cpg-marketing-differs-boomers-and-millennials

An interesting commentary on the differences in buying habits of boomers and millenials--tried and true versus try anything.

How can we take this knowledge and better attract a new audience for our automation products?  I'd say, in the same way that they buy CPG products.  Tout the new stuff, versus the stuff we do now that highlights the safety, security, and standardization of our products.  Not that it's not important, but it doesn't tip the scale.  It's a given.

Apparently, the newer generation isn't afraid to try new things, make mistakes, push the envelope.  And that's great from an industry momentum perspective.  Because we have long been wrestling with an industry that is slow to change, and rightfully so, because productivity and lives have depended on that thoughtful, rational approach to process control and industrial automation.

This definitely has me thinking--mobility, cloud, usability of our apps--is that the way to go?
What do you think?  Let me know: maryanne.steidinger@invensys.com

Microsoft: SMB Views on the Cloud Vary Widely

http://talkincloud.com/cloud-computing/microsoft-smb-views-cloud-privacy-security-vary-widely?utm_source=062413&utm_medium=TLK&utm_campaign=NL&elq=~~eloqua..type--emailfield..syntax--recipientid~~&elqCampaignId=~~eloqua..type--campaign..campaignid--0..fieldname--id~~


Invensys has been working with Microsoft since February 2012 to build industrial-grade reporting, analysis and collaboration products that can be hosted on the cloud.  Since that time, what we've learned is that companies aren't adverse to a cloud-hosted solution, but want to be sure that their internal security policies are adhered to, and the products in that form factor bring more benefits than if they'd be traditionally hosted on an on-site server.

This study, funded by Microsoft, explores some of the issues that small and medium sized businesses are grappling with when going to the cloud.  At the onset, these companies are likely to be the ones benefitting from the "no touch" hosting and self-service environment, but there are lingering concerns about safety that must be addressed.

Are you ready for the next wave in software?

It seems as if industrial software plunks along for a time, bringing new features and functions to existing software categories, without anything really earth-shaking occurring that makes you stop and go “huh.” I’ve talked a lot about the cloud, and yes, you are getting it from me again.

The reason that all of us are so enthralled with the cloud is not because it’s a cloud, but because of the flexibility, cost savings, and scalability that it can provide you as an end user.  If you think about the change in your behavior when you first started doing on-line banking: some of you were early in, some (like me) carried kicking and screaming into the new technology.  But now, I couldn’t imagine NOT having it.  Late charges on credit cards?  Thing of the past.  Immediate access to my checking, savings accounts? You bet.  But it took an event (well, a couple) to drive me to consider that option—late charges.  And so, you learn, you adapt, and it becomes part of your normal day.