Page 58 - Demo

By: Taylor Hutchinson
Nexxtep THutchinson@nexxtep.com
Making a Match for Agribusiness and the Cloud
Agribusinesses and Cloud computing. It’s an unlikely romance, but it’s a match made in heaven.
Before I proceed, let me o er a quick explanation of what we mean when
we talk about the “Cloud.” The Cloud
is a metaphor for the Internet. When software services are o ered through the Cloud, it just means that you access those services through the Internet rather than through your computer or a server inside your o ce.
The Cloud o ers many advantages for businesses of all types and sizes, but one industry that you might not normally associate with embracing Cloud technology is agriculture. What does cloud technology have to o er farmers and agribusiness owners? A lot more than you might think.
Mobility
Agribusinesses seldom operate from a single location, much less a traditional o ce building. You may have multiple o ces, retail points, or employees
working in the eld (literally). With the Cloud, every employee can access all of their les and applications from any device and any location.
One example of the exibility that can be enjoyed with the Cloud is mobile apps. Patten Seed Company uses a custom mobile app to access inventory and sales data for reps at their various Super Sod retail points. The app feeds data directly from their accounting system. They also have a library of spec sheets and videos that the reps can share with customers on the y.
Security
With the right Cloud services in place, your business data will be more secure. For James Gillis of Gillis Brothers Inc., securing data was a huge worry before he moved his backups to the Cloud.
“Up until 2007, all of our record- keeping was done by hand,” he said. “We decided we needed a software system to manage our records. We purchased a package designed speci cally for the agriculture industry, and we were able to use it out of the box for almost ve years.”
“From then on, I was always concerned about losing our records because we no longer had a paper trail to back us up. If our server went down, and we were not able to retrieve our information, we were in deep trouble.”
Gillis Brothers moved its applications to a secure, private Cloud server where its data is replicated and backed up regularly in multiple geo-separate locations. The company now logs in to its server via virtual terminals at each of its locations, and it can connect
to the server from anywhere with an Internet connection.
Hands O
Let’s face it, farmers aren’t known
for being IT gurus (but hey, systems engineers aren’t renowned for their crop predictions, either). Operating
in the Cloud means you don’t have to worry about managing technology on your own. No more updates, patches, or installing the latest version of a software program. No headaches
or worries about installing new applications for employees.
With the Cloud, the latest versions
of your applications needed to run your business are made available
to all customers as soon as they’re released. What’s more, software updates are released frequently and incrementally. Contrast this to on- premise software that rolls out a substantial update once or twice a year. These updates often include a lot of time and energy to implement and contain major changes that could take sta days or weeks to learn.
Address these potential issues before proceeding:
The Cloud o ers solutions for practically every aspect of your business, but it isn’t always the best t or solution for your problems. Here are some things to think about before proceeding with any Cloud service or application:
Downtime. If your Internet connection goes down, you lose access to your applications. You can mitigate this risk by using
a commercial-grade Internet connection and maintaining a backup connection.
Data security. Many people don’t feel comfortable having their data in some o -site location. This is a valid concern, and before you choose any Cloud provider, you need to nd out more
58 SG MAGAZINE | SPRING 2017