I’ve been very fortunate during my more than 30 years in information technology to work in several different areas of this ever-changing industry. Through all the change, one thing has remained constant: computer systems, for the most part, exist to provide businesses with the tools they need to run productively and efficiently.

As a non-programmer and a person who understands business process management very well, I’ve often wished I could directly tell the computer what I need, or write the computer program myself. Alas, that’s not where my career has taken me. I’ve needed to define the solutions — the computer applications –  by coming up with a set of requirements that are then given to a programmer who then “tells” the computer what to do in order to meet my needs.

In years past, the programmers would work to develop an application and deliver it ready to do the job my requirements defined. Depending on the complexity of the application, this process could take several months, or even years. When the application was finally delivered and I saw it for the first time, it probably met 50 percent of what I required.

Why only 50 percent?

As applications are developed, viable businesses do not stand still. Opportunities to grow, expand and provide improved financial results are presented every day. However, changing an application’s requirements mid-job frequently resulted in even further delay.

As we all know, opportunities must be captured when they present themselves, and if we don’t, someone else — probably a competitor — will grab them. Highly motivated business executives and managers find ways to deliver the business results, which frequently means they come up with solutions outside of the agreed-upon strategy to deliver the applications needed to run the business. This starts or continues a perpetual cycle in which businesses’ requirements are way out “in front” of an IT department’s ability to deliver results.

Cloud-based solutions

Over the years, significant improvements in programmers’ tools and processes help deliver solutions more quickly. In general, solutions that businesses need still are developed and delivered by programmers.

My dream has been to provide a set of tools that would allow me, a non-programmer, to develop and deliver an application that I envisioned when I defined the requirements, and to take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves. I’m happy to say that with the advent of cloud-based applications, that dream appears closer to becoming a reality. Cloud-based applications not only give me the tools to develop and deliver computer applications, but they give me a much broader selection of affordable applications that can purchased on an as-needed basis, with flexible “pay as you go” options.

Offerings like Microsoft’s Sharepoint and VACAVA’s RapidBiz both give non-programmers the ability to develop and deploy web-accessible applications. Tools like these put the power of business solution development into the hands of experts in their fields. With them, we will start to see new, best-practice solutions become available that they can be run “out of box” and can immediately migrate into the computing cloud. They won’t require weeks or months to install.

We all know how easy it is to get computer applications for an iPhone, Blackberry or Android. That simplicity and power is available today through cloud-based applications, and their variety and simplicity will continue to grow. Truly a dream come true!

“Cloud-computing’’ has been around for years, engaging consumers and business enterprises alike. But now more than ever, business owners have the opportunity to put this concept to good entrepreneurial use – gaining efficiency and potential profits from something that’s already familiar to many computer users.

Consumers like cloud-based concepts, such as Gmail, FaceBook and LinkedIn, not only for their practical applications, but because they can access and use these tools relatively easily, affordably, safely and reliably from just about any location.

Now, just as consumers have moved much of their communication and social interactions to the cloud, businesses are evaluating and frequently pursuing similar movement, launching formerly on-site mechanics into the digital sky.

There are several things to consider when contemplating such a move:

Access

Web access is clearly a benefit – but what happens when the Internet goes down? If you’re running a critical business application when the ‘net goes down, significant challenges could arise – particularly if the outage affects customer interactions or convenience.

The truth is, the Internet on the whole has proved quite reliable, and the ability to access information from any location at any time is a clear advantage for businesses. Using the cloud, businesses can even provision new computer resources from anywhere at any time; if computer problems occurred with on-premise equipment, businesses could well need to buy and install new hardware, requiring a physical presence at the installation site.

Performance

If you’re putting your applications in the cloud, you will be sharing a server with others, which could affect the performance of your application. There are many potential solutions to this problem, but most will increase a business’s monthly cost.

On the positive side, however, the cloud offers almost instant scalability. If you experience peak times during a month, fiscal quarter or year, you can add or subtract capacity quickly and efficiently – a critical cost-saving tool, because you only pay for what you use.

As businesses grow, their IT infrastructures need to grow too. One problem associated with growth is application performance: As businesses add users to an application, and add applications to their servers, performance could suffer. Adding servers requires a capital outlay, not to mention time and money spent on set-up and troubleshooting. If an application is run in the cloud, though, it can be moved if needed to a larger server — with no impact on users.

As far as simplicity goes, if an application was easy to use before, it still will be easy if it’s put into the cloud. A consideration, though, is how easy it is to learn and use the tools that the IT staff will need to manage the cloud environment effectively. If you’re purchasing a solution in the cloud, be sure to review all aspects of the solution with the user community; and make sure you understand the length of your commitment.

Security

Data security is among the most talked-about issues related to clouding. There are several things to consider:

Security in the cloud will never match the security of your own server located in your own building behind your own firewall, managed by your staff. But security in the cloud is quite good.

Among the points to consider:

* Is the data that you’re sending into and receiving from the cloud at risk? There’s no more risk involved than someone intercepting an email or your credit card during an online purchase. To mitigate risk, entire applications can be created in an https environment. Additionally, or alternatively, a VPN could be used. Both of these security measures involve extra charges.

* Can my data be copied and then given or sold to a competitor? Conceivably, yes — but someone on your IT staff could similarly walk off with your data. The only people who should have access to your database are administrators charged with managing your entire environment. If this is a major concern, discuss the protections put in place by cloud-computing providers to mitigate this risk.

Price

Cloud-computing costs are variable; you’ll need to shop around to find the best deals. The key price advantage is flexibility. The most advantageous model might be “pay as you go,” which requires no commitments. You could start a cloud environment one day and shut it down the next, and pay only for the time it was used.

Even setting aside the advantages listed above, the best “pro-cloud’’ argument offered involves the new applications that will be created and available in the public cloud. Applications and the tools to develop them will let users try them on a pay-as-they-go basis. Business will be able to try and use solutions that once seemed pie-in-the-sky – but now, thanks to the increasingly real cloud that is allowing a wealth of information to be shared, has become a reality.