on technology ❖
john kamm, ctp
Into the Cloud THE FUTURE HAS A way of creeping up on us, like the double habanero burrito that seemed like a good idea at 3 a.m. All of a sudden it’s there, demanding urgent attention. There are several technologies worth your attention, and while the action is not burrito urgent, your business may be able to benefit by understanding what they offer. The future of computing is clear: it will be in the clouds, or more accurately, THE Internet cloud. Utilizing the cloud requires a shift in our thought process and enables dramatic changes in our computer usage. The cloud provides applications and services, instead of the pictures/text content of most of the half billion active web sites. We use services like eBay, Amazon, Google and FaceBook to shop, shop, search and snoop. A critical aspect of the cloud is that the physical relationship between us, our digital stuff and computer hardware can no longer be defined in simple terms like “office,” “home,” or “laptop.” If yours is like most companies, all the data you require to run your company is located on the computers in your office; your employees work in your office and, except for outside sales people and tour managers, if
they are outside of the office they are not working. The cloud makes that model obsolete. Its resources make it possible for your sales and marketing data to reside somewhere in a dedicated application like Constant Contact or SalesForce, your email on some other remote server, your mapping to come from Google Maps. In fact, all of your data files and applications may be served from a cloud server rented from Amazon or
Today’s forecast: The future of computing will be in the Internet cloud Google. Because of the advances in network bandwidth and reliability, employees can access the resources they need to perform their jobs from almost any location. When I call my daughter at school, I “know” where she is when she answers, she is with her cell phone. Really, I don’t have a clue where she might be – unless I activate the GPS chip functionality of her phone, but that’s another story. The point is, are you ready to make this leap with all of the digital assets of your company? The technology to make this shift is relatively inexpensive
Become a fan of ours on Facebook and we’ll keep you informed of the latest news in the industry by sending you Facebook updates when news breaks. Simply search for “Group Travel” and look for the Premier Tourism Marketing logo! Leisure Group Travel is also joining the Twitter craze. Go to Twitter.com/LeisureGroup to get the latest “tweets” from the Leisure Group Travel staff.
38 December 2010
and readily available; the hard part is getting your head around the possibilities and letting go. If you do rent space from a serverfarm, it will likely be on a virtual server. Think of this as the computer version of Joanne Woodward in The Three Faces of Eve. Multiple machine “images” run simultaneously on a single computer. A software layer called a hypervisor runs on the host machine, doing for a server what the cubicle does for office
space. There are excellent reasons to utilize virtual machines on your office network as well – separating your data server from your web server or creating virtual workstations for remote-access employees. Aaron Smith, author of a recent Pew technology study, found that 96% of adults 18-29 years old have cell phones. Six in ten seniors have cell phones. Why do we have them? Because they provide a desirable, reliable service. How can they provide that service? Through the cloud. We have already proclaimed our trust in the cloud with the highest form of affirmation we have – our wallets. John Kamm is a tourism industry veteran, former tour operator and developer of software. He founded TourTech Systems, Inc. in 1996, to develop and support TourTools®, a software solution providing comprehensive automation for more than 240 packaged tour companies and tourism organizations throughout North America and Australia. Visit www.tourtools.com or call TourTech Systems at 1-740-439-0738 for more information. LeisureGroupTravel.com