SCIENCE

Entrepreneurs launching new companies may want to start "in the cloud," which lowers startup costs and allows them to focus on generating revenue. 

Cloud computing expert Ivanka Menken, CEO of the global IT education company The Art of Service, said that cloud computing has played an important role in the success of startups. A huge lump-sum investment to launch a new business isn't even required because the cloud computing technology and services basically give the entrepreneur the ability to "rent" business equipment and IT services on an as-needed basis with no upfront investment, she said. 

For example: many startups are told to use IT equipment and services such as exchange servers for email and calendar sharing. Now, with services like Google mail, this type of investment is no longer needed. For a small amount per user per year, startups can have corporate-looking email systems and fully integrated calendar sharing. 

"Cloud computing lowers the dependency on startup capital and gives the business owner more freedom to focus on generating revenue," Menken said. 

It might be less expensive for a startup company to start with cloud-based solutions rather than switching to it later. Costs and problems add up with the necessary transfer of data. Not only that, the business members need to "unlearn" the way they used to work with the in-house systems as the cloud offering may be less flexible and customized. Then there's the cost of the already purchased in-house equipment that's no longer needed. 

In general, cloud computing is any program or service that is run on an Internet connection. The servers and software are taken care of externally, so small business owners don't have to worry about storage issues in their headquarters. 

Entrepreneurs can become knowledgeable about cloud computing by taking The Art of Service Cloud Computing Foundation course, which offers big-picture analysis and in-depth study of the concepts and processes of cloud computing. The program's coursework and support materials are comprehensive, easy-to-understand and applicable to the real-time IT world.