What’s Coming Next In The Cloud?

Grazed from CloudTweaks. Author: Jim Shepherd.

When people think of cloud computing, two benefits usually spring to mind: an end to burdensome onsite system maintenance and the beginning of real-time, Web-based data access. But there’s a third set of advantages offered by today’s cloud innovators. Through a new “living” approach to product development, system enhancements are developed in response to customer needs on an ongoing basis and offered to all users as they become available. That means users get new features faster, and those features are more closely aligned with their actual business needs.

This approach is quickly replacing old-school product development methods, where providers come up with enhancements and then push them out to users in the form of large packaged updates or versions…

A fluid process

The living system environment fosters open discussion among users, including online forums built directly into the system. Users participate in forums and other networking opportunities to share best practices and provide input on how to enhance the product.

When users request new features or improvements that cannot be met with existing settings or configurations, cloud innovators don’t wait months to deliver them. Features are developed using an iterative process and deployed when they are ready…

Read more from the source @ http://www.cloudtweaks.com/2013/05/whats-coming-next-in-the-cloud/