Green Debate: Cloud vs. On Premise

Does the cloud really make businesses more energy efficient? A recently released study done by Accenture and WSP Environmental Consultants boldly declares that it does.

The study states, "businesses that choose to run applications in the cloud can reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions by 30 percent or more versus running those same applications on their own IT infrastructure."

This week in our ongoing Q&A series, we are joined by Tom Lee of Quintec International. Quintec is a leading cloud based technology company based in the UK that is aimed primarily at the Legal, Insurance and Finance markets.

Q: First off Tom, tell our readers a bit about you and your company?

Tom: Great. I have been in I.T. for over 33 years and have witnessed many changes in technology from the early Mainframes to Super- Mini's, Client/Server and now to the Cloud! At Quintec, we provide our clients with business advice, consultancy, software, training and technical support. These services are delivered by an experienced team of consultants, a rapid support team and a plethora of technical guys who never seem to stop working! I wished I had their energy!

There is no question as to the importance a solid CRM application plays in a firm's overall business strategy. But just having the best-of-breed CRM app doesn't mean that you've connected all the dots in the end-to-end customer experience. Having your CRM integrated at the record level with your client-specific data will enhance not only the interactions with your clients, but also aid in predictive up-selling and retention initiatives.

This week I had a good discussion about technology for financial advisors with Bill Winterberg, one of the most technology forward minds in the Financial services market. Before joining the finance world, Bill was a software engineer for Hewlett Packard and this background in technology has allowed him to become a thought leader in the industry.

Bill currently writes technology columns for Morningstar Advisor, Advisors4Advisors.com as well as on his own blog called FP Pad. You can also find him doing his thing on Twitter from @BillWinterberg.

Part I: SaaS for Lawyers; Part II: SaaS for Financial Advisors; Part III: SaaS for Accountants

With SaaS technology, the PC can be made to serve as a global network. Today, in part 2 of a 3 part series, we will discuss how financial advisors and broker dealers can reduce hardware costs, decrease their carbon footprint, increase mobility and enable collaboration with clients while providing SEC and FINRA compliance through cloud computing and SaaS.

Tomorrow in New York, Microsoft is releasing its latest edition of Office 2010 Web Apps which, in my mind, will mark Microsoft's full acceptance of the SaaS software delivery model. Furthermore, Microsoft's development of web applications for the cash cow that is MS Office, officially shifts the standard from legacy software to SaaS.

In an interview with USA Today, Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce.com said, "We're entering an entirely new paradigm." This new paradigm is one where businesses and consumers alike are no longer bound to physical locations or forced to use complex technology to manage networks and files but freed to move about freely in the clouds. About this paradigm shift, ECM chief executive Joe Tucci said, "We're now going through what I believe is pretty much going to be the biggest wave in the history of information technology.''

Post Authored by Danny Johnson of the NetDocuments Marketing Department

I am one of the youngest employees here at the NetDocuments Orem office, if not the youngest (I'm 24), and if my calculations are correct, I am one of only two non-married employees at the company. So near the end of 2007, as the Twittershpere was reaching a Twittical Mass, the good folks in our marketing department, specifically Leonard Johnson, decided that it was time for us to join the party and see if social media was all @NikiBlack and @AdrianDayton had cracked it up to be. So after about a year and change of tweeting, we are believers. We've drunk the Kool-Aid, downloaded the iPhone app and continue to ride shotgun in the Twitter bandwagon.

Post Authored by Leonard Johnson, VP Marketing, NetDocuments

Leonard Johnson and Marc Duncan attended T3 Conference in La Jolla, California this past week on February 17th to the 20th. We not only enjoyed beautiful, warm weather at the Hilton La Jolla Hotel adjacent to the world-class Torrey Pines Golf Course, but more importantly we enjoyed visiting with many of our customers and consultants of this prestigious financial investment advisory industry. Marc works closely with our customers and prospective customers in this industry and he stated, "it was like a family reunion." We have wonderful customers who are great to work with and we greatly appreciate their business.

Post authored by Marc Duncan of the NetDocuments Sales Team

Wow, what a week and what a show. I have just returned from the Dreamoforce 09 show in San Francisco and had an amazing experience. As a member of the NetDocuments sales team I spend a lot of time "selling" the idea of SaaS, cloud computing, etc. During this day to day routine, it is easy to wonder: is this idea really catching on? On Wednesday morning during the keynote address I was assured that yes…SaaS and Cloud computing are here to stay.

NetDocuments was recently reviewed in the t3 newsletter which deals with technology for financial services professionals. It was written by David Drucker who, along with Joel Bruckenstein, administer the t3 conference and newsletter. Along with running t3, David Drucker is also a journalist, speaker, financial advisor, pit bull rescuer, biker, classic car nut, gadget geek, and bluesman.

In his recent article titled, "A Sampling of Client Portals," Drucker reviewed four different products that provide client portal functionality for financial advisors. The four products reviewed were Advisorsites, Family Office Network, NetDocuments and Make It A Good Day.