Secure online document storage is set to grow further over the next few years, expert predict.
The popularity of cloud-based electronic document storage systems will only grow in the foreseeable future, a technology expert has said.
According to Paul Campaniello, vice-president of global marketing for ScaleBase, cloud computing is now a very "real" phenomenon and is here to stay.
He explained that cloud-based electronic document storage systems help to radically change the ability of companies of all sizes and growth rates to address fundamental information technology concerns – perhaps even more so than any other previous trend.
Moreover, cloud solutions give companies the ability to be more flexible when it comes to expansion.
Mr Campaniello explained that previous IT solutions tended to involve some kind of migration to another cost set in terms of an increase in operating expenditure or capital expenditure.
However, cloud solutions do not do this because of their real-world economics. Cloud gives companies the ability to be elastic and shrink and grow at whatever level their business demands.
Nati Shalom, chief technology officer and founder of GigaSpaces Technologies, added that cloud computing is an even bigger trend than the internet.
"It’s interesting to watch big companies, leading in the software industries – like Microsoft for example – [which] is now launching a new cloud offering [which] is now even struggling for its survival," Mr Shalom said.
"[It’s] also introducing things we’ve never heard of before, like support for Java and Linux and other operating systems."
Mr Shalom also pointed out that cloud solutions are allowing business start-ups to launch much more easily than before.
He explained that the cloud is significantly changing the environment and allowing start-ups to launch new competitive platforms that were never really possible before.
A recent report published by AIIM – a global community of information professionals – found that paperless offices are growing in popularity, with 35 per cent of firms saying they are using less paper and photocopying less.