Cloud:
the great equalizer and enabler for the professional
& creative services sector
By Arup Maity
Knowledge is borderless, and so is
the output of professional and creative service providers that are mostly
small- or medium-sized enterprises. Their key assets are knowledge and skills.
With these assets working together, the sector creates value for their clients.
Website designers, writers, graphic designers, software developers, architects
and engineers are representative individuals from the sector who collaborate in
producing billions of dollars worth of output globally.
By Arup Maity
“The World is Flat” by Thomas Friedman
defined the 10 flatteners coming together, acting as game changers in creating
a new world of business and way people live and work. Though he did mention the
Internet and the businesses that are ripe to benefit from it, the situation has
progressed further since the writing of the book. I will try to explore some of
the catalysts and developments which push the boundaries towards a flatter
world order, and how the professional and creative services sector is perhaps
in the most advantageous position to benefit from the Internet and cloud-based
technologies.
All the things mentioned above are
already covered by Friedman, and you might be wondering what value cloud technology
brings to this equation. True, the ball started rolling in this direction in
early 2000, but the momentum has recently picked up dramatically. The key
enablers in this game would be the following, not in any particular order:
-
Online Marketplace for Global Talent: oDesk, Guru, eLance and several others provide the option to go online and find skilled professionals from across the world, and they are perfectly designed to help manage one-man engagements, though might be challenging if you want to do a larger project with multiple members.
- Paypal enabling global currency for sending and receiving payment virtually. Although banks and Western Union-type of facilities have been around for years, what Paypal brings to the table for this sector is truly game-changer because it makes it much easier to transact with anyone from anywhere in the world with just a few clicks on any device.
- Instant Communication. Key players like Skype enable people across the globe to be in constant touch through chat/SMS, voice call or video call, making distance practically irrelevant. Since this sector thrives on communication and collaboration, the role of IM is huge.
- Social Networking. At first glance, Facebook and LinkedIn might come off as great tools to feel good and waste time, but we have to remember that business happens between people. Trust comes from familiarity and social network gives everyone a unique way to know and learn more about each other beyond just work and tasks. They can definitely provide some of the main benefits of meeting physically at office and having small talk by the water cooler.
- Government’s Acceptance of 100% Virtual Company: Vermont passed a law in 2008 that enables formal legal existence of virtual companies, I am sure many more around the world will follow suit or just silently allow it within the current limits of regulations. Here is the excerpt from an article by Wagner James Au from Gigaom.com “On June 6th, Gov. Jim Douglas signed an inauspicious-sounding bill entitled ‘H.0888, Miscellaneous Tax Documents’’ that could revolutionize the way startup companies are formed and run. As New York Law School professor David Johnson explained to me, up until now, U.S. law required LLCs to have physical headquarters, in-person board meetings and other regulations that have little relevance in the digital age.”
- Virtual Business Platform: A cloud-based, virtual infrastructure would be the last piece to bring all of these developments together. This infrastructure would keep all aspects of a business intact and enable the virtual business – like in a mid-size organization with departments, processes and responsibilities – to grow without losing control. With a virtual business platform, even a one-man-show with freelance resources across the globe can offer sophisticated process management and ensure delivery quality – something that a traditional mid-size company would find difficult to achieve. Such technology would enable people to start a business with just skills, virtual teams, and clients – without the need for investing in a physical office, bench and support staff, and large startup capital.
We saw the need for this platform
that helps put all the above factors together and helps virtual organizations
do real business, and developed Xamun. Xamun is a set of productivity
web apps addressing the 3 key areas of business: project and task management,
client and sales management, and people management for both full-time employees
and consultants. Xamun also provides a collaboration and project exchange
feature enabling interaction and future business amongst others in the Xamun
community. Xamun also integrates with the other tools mentioned above to enable
users to take full potential of the new way of doing business online.
We believe a virtual business setup
would liberate the players in the professional and creative services sector and
give them the freedom to choose what they want to work on, who they want to
work with, and where they want to work – staying true to the statement, “work
where your heart is.”