Your business needs to stand out from the crowd, and since the world is a growing every day, you’re going to need to get creative!

Don’t jump on a bandwagon as it’s barreling through, be a member of the construction team that BUILDS the bandwagon to reap the most benefit as it picks up speed.

Easier said than done – a very select few thought that a micro-blogging platform that only allowed users to speak 140 characters at a time would amass into the social media giant Twitter is today. Ashton Kutcher was a bandwagon builder, and was the first to reach 1 million followers. How many followers do you have?

Not to say that Twitter is dead or dying soon, but if you don’t have a large Twitter following by now… perhaps it’s time to look for a new way of building your online reach and conversation. A new idea is emerging every second of every day, do some research and become an early adopter!

Here are a few leads to get you started:

Group Buying – is on the cusp of becoming huge, and it has been for a few years. Do some research and get involved with sites that give away daily deals- it might actually help promote your business/products. Best case scenario? The site becomes huge in your area/industry and sales skyrocket as a result.

QR Codes- Smartphone barcodes that are starting to pop up everywhere (heck, I even sit on one in the subway every morning). Since 1 in every 2 people will have a Smartphone by Christmas (it’s true!) this might just be the next massive trend in technology and advertising. “Social scanning” includes tools like Stickybits and SCVNGR that incorporate the new location ‘checking in’ fad that might also be on the brink of social domination.

Q/A Platforms – Millions of people are starting to ask questions on sites like Quora and Linked In. Pick a platform that speaks directly to your audience, and start answering some questions. Get in on the conversations; build a reputation as an expert and you’ll start to stand out from the rest of the social media crowd.

Find an alternative to the ‘biggies’ – use Statusnet instead of Twitter, use Aardvark instead of Linked In Answers, use Brightkite instead of Foursquare. Try to hit the bigtime with an emerging trend rather than trying to scream over the noise of the crowd.

In business, it is part of the job to look ahead, forecast for the future and be prepared for a changing landscape. The people with the corner offices are paid the big bucks to make these predictions and lead their companies to success.

What does the future of your business look like?

Here’s a window into the future of our business, Cloud Services and IaaS:

Recently, Gartner released a research report stating that Cloud IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) will make up 25% of overall hosting market share by the end of 2011. Infrastructure as a Service has flourished and become more and more attractive as a service for start-ups to enterprise businesses worldwide. It allows all hardware architectures to be virtualized, including processors, storage, firewalls and other network resources by cloud service providers. Often, it is provided as on-demand and/or pay-as-you-use plan to clients, which is appealing in both efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

According to an In-Stat report, IaaS is destined to grow quickly over the next four years, culminating in a $4 billion market by 2015. While implementing an IaaS plan will save large enterprise businesses huge costs in maintenance, network administration, energy budget and labour, “Infrastructure-as-a-service is also gaining traction, especially in the small business market.” (In-Stat)

Additional data concludes:

• Overall public cloud computing (IaaS, SaaS, and PaaS) is set to grow 153% from 2010 to 2015.
• Small business (5 to 99 employees) is the fastest growing size segment growing from $2.5 billion by 2010 to $6.6 billion by 2015.
• Small business account for over half of the market in SaaS and IaaS.
• The top 5 vertical markets for IaaS in terms of 2011 market revenue will be hospitality and food, healthcare and social services, and retail trade.  The bottom 5 verticals will be mining, forestry, fishing, and agricultural services and utilities.

Resource: http://www.instat.com/press

By all accounts, Cloud Services and particularly IaaS are set to take off in the very near future mainly because it offers businesses big and small a cost-effective, efficient and practical way to manage and build on their infrastructure.

The Cloud isn’t clearing any time soon.

Since it’s on our minds (constantly), now would be a good time to look at what’s HOT in technology trends! Face it, you’re either talking about the heat or the latest in technology news…right?

Here are 5 HOT technology trends this summer:

1. Google+ – we have yet to determine whether or not this is the ‘Facebook killer’ it was touted to be, but Google+ membership has already reached 18 million in its early ‘invite only’ stage. It’s about time Facebook had a true nemesis – competition breeds ingenuity and innovation which is great news for users! Will the initial Google+ mystique fizzle by end of summer, or will it reach new heights once it becomes available for all? Only time will tell…

2. MAC OS X Lion/ Airbook – Apple just keeps pumping out new products. This week, the new Airbook and Lion Operating System was made available to consumers – and with over 250 new features, early reviews are very favourable. Apple has a knack for instantly becoming a trend and consistently leading the popular technology charge.

3. The Cloud – a cute buzz word for virtualization that has grown from just an IT term to mass consumer vernacular. Businesses are harnessing the internet to deliver services and host infrastructure instead of keeping servers in house. Independent consumers are jumping on the bandwagon with cloud app services from Microsoft and Amazon. It’s cost-effective and scalable…perfect for the rise of start-ups and small businesses in this economy.

4. Spotify – Currently the world of online music is monopolized by iTunes , but that could change with the emergence of Spotify Instead of downloading songs onto your computer for a price, Spotify allows you access to an on demand streaming songbook of over 13 million tracks. The downside is that as of this week, Spotify is only available in certain countries and regions.   

5. Invites – limited access, availability in specific areas and by invite only is the newest way to roll out a product or feature. It creates a frenzy, a la Google+ whereby people are clamoring to be the ‘first’ or ‘early adopters’ of the next big thing. Google+ will not be the last venture to use this method, it’s a new trend…and it’s working.

There are plenty more hot items of discussion. How will Facebook stay on top? What will Justin Timberlake do with the floundering MySpace? How will RIM rebound? Once again, technology is the hottest topic this summer – enjoy the heat!

This is particularly relevant in a technology boom era where new gadgets, Apps, and trends are emerging on a daily basis. The Tablet Wars between Apple and RIM have exposed some weaknesses and questions about the future of RIM. Where does a company go when it reaches the top? It can’t stay there forever – ask General Motors.

The playing field is evening out – every business can become the ‘next big one’. Sure there are still the behemoths like Apple, IBM, Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Facebook to contend with, but now is a perfect time to challenge their supremacy. They are not infallible – ask LulzSec.

If you are a small business, it would seem impossible to contend with such giants. But you can connect to your clients through social media, relationship building and offering a better service. Change your direction, don’t get stuck in a rut, be proactive. That’s how the most successful companies have reached the top. Their ultimate demise occurs when they have stopped pushing innovation and reinventing themselves – ask Atari.

Just this past week, one of the last known producers of the typewriter announced that they will be stopping production of the product indefinitely. Thus, unless there is a sudden surge of demand for typewriters, or the typewriter faithful rise up… one of the original technologies of the last century will end its run.

In other news, Apple reports that due to strong iPad2 and iPhone4 sales, the company made a profit of over 5.9 billion this quarter. Holy smokes! Just as the Great Great grandfather of computer technology becomes more and more archaic, new technologies are growing more and more relevant.

It makes you wonder what will ‘die’ next. Do we really have a need for cassette tapes anymore? The pager has been completely superseded by mobile technologies, and your old VHS tapes are collecting dust in a box in your basement!

I’ll bet even your work space is changing. Less fax machines, less file cabinets, less out of date machinery. That’s where Atum can offer solutions to take your business into the future of internet advancements. Get rid of cumbersome, dated machines that take up space in your workplace – the way your Nintendo 64 collection does at home!

Think about giving your company a virtual refresh – cut costs and resources by customizing an IT solution that gets rid of the dying technologies in your office. Freedom is the future…

And we were there…

Atum team members at the iTech Summit Toronto

Particularly in the corporate world, we are becoming more and more dependant and fascinated by the latest and greatest in technology advances. Your kids aren’t just messing around on Twitter anymore; your business is connecting with consumers and clients in new ways every day, and finding innovative tactics to help you stay ahead of the crowd. Technology is the influencer and the implement that expands our business horizons and ventures. That is why events such as iTech are so important and appealing to the current corporate market.

Equally as compelling were the creative methods each vendor used to draw a crowd. The largest throngs gathered around the FREE giveaways (Tech Swag), the draws for techi gizmos and the food handouts (note: the smell of popcorn is impossible to walk-by!).

Perhaps a favourite moment was the man vs machine show-down between the IBM Watson computer and its eager challengers. One of our Atum team members took the opportunity to contest the computer adversary in a heated game of wits. Ultimately, the Ken Jennings slayer took down the human rivals in an embarrassing display of knowledge… but what a treat for our in-house Jeopardy fans!

Here’s a picture of the duel of intelligence between IBM Watson and Atum’s Marketing Coordinator Christine:

The Mortal vs The Machine

It wasn’t all just fun and folly – our team members sat in on some great speakers and topics relevant to our business. Conferences focused on everything from Avoiding a Virtual Stall, Desktop Virtualization, How to Avoid Pitfalls of ‘The Cloud’,  Backup and Recovery, and The Cost of Downtime to name a few. These are exactly the kind of services Atum offers – managing your servers virtually is definitely a cost-effective and efficient trend emerging in the corporate space.

The Atum team enjoyed the chance to hob-nob with other industry players and see what’s new and on the horizon for every business from start-up to large enterprise! We are constantly staying current, and will make sure to keep you posted of any new trends as they come to light…

Were you at iTech? We’d love to hear your thoughts!

That’s the world we live in. Facebook isn’t a passing trend, 65% of all searches go through Google, Apple isn’t stopping at the iPad2, and face it… you can’t stop using Twitter! It’s becoming part of our vernacular: ‘Google it!’ ‘Friend me’ ‘I follow your Tweets’ ‘There’s an App for that’. Try to get through your day at the office without running into tech-lingo that has become a common idiom. So yes, it makes sense that the social networks and technology followers are amped up about this Conference like it’s the World Fair. Steve Jobs is the new Edison. Jim Balsillie is the new Tesla.

Just as the World Fair did in the turn of the century (two centuries back!), SXSW and the like are giving inventors of new technology a direct forum to unveil their idea to the masses. It’s not a new concept by any means, but the ideas are ever-fresh and seemingly limitless!

So guess what has emerged as one of the hot-trends of the conference this year.

Virtualization – not so much a ‘trend’ but rather the future of home and business computing. Cloud computing or Cloud services and VPS are changing the way we utilize our technology resources. The need for virtualization is growing as the demand for faster speeds, less overhead costs and higher dependency on computers worldwide. Atum has been a leader in this technology for years and we have seen the spread of virtualization as it becomes both mainstream and common business practice.

All that to say, it is getting easier, faster and more effective to ‘go virtual’… and it’s all the rage. Just ask the thousands who attended SXSW where virtualization was the table-topic of the week!

With every new day, global trends are emerging and your world (big or small) is affected by this constant change… need proof?

Apple has released its iPhone4, Gas is over $1.20, Angry Birds is coming to Facebook and Subway has overtaken McDonalds with the most locations worldwide. Who’da thunk it this time last spring?

That’s right; more people are choosing sandwiches over fries. What kind of changes are you making in YOUR business?

Perhaps this will be the ‘spring forward’ you need to radically transform your business and its strategies!

Maybe you’ll decide to finally dip your toe in the Social Media waters and embrace the world of Twitter and Facebook. It worked wonders for Charlie Sheen, connecting with over 1 million followers in a matter of one day (call Guinness, that’s a record!). You can’t expect those numbers right off the bat, but building a direct line to consumers and clients will help you hear their needs and start a conversation. New Twitter-tools are surfacing at a rapid progression as the power of Twitter takes hold. Twitter may once have been a means to briefly gripe about your day… now there are so many ways to take full advantage of its interactive nature. Analytic tools, Mobile Apps and sophisticated dashboards are all helping to better connect you with a consumer from the Durham region or Durham North Carolina!

Have you given any real thought to going virtual? This could be another topic of interest to bring to the meeting Monday morning. Virtualization is quickly becoming the most innovative, secure and cost-effective advancement companies are embracing worldwide. By now you should  know, that’s what we do here at ATUM Corporation (hint, hint). You shouldn’t spend any of your time worrying about hardware upgrades, unrelieable hosting, server crashes, paying for IT support or fearing data recovery. Out of sight, out of mind. Virtually house your servers in your own dedicated space (no sharing!) in a fire-proof, bomb-proof, crash-proof facility… and let us take care of it for you. Call it 24/7 ‘server-sitting’.

Or, perhaps you will simply decide to install a coffeemaker with a mocha latte option.

It is your choice whether to Spring forward or Fall back… what will you bring to the table Monday morning?