Cloud computing has nothing to do with the weather, yet most people actually believe that storms can cause problems with the technology. It's a fair guess that HR managers make up a good chunk of the mis-believers -- at least according to William Tincup, who argues on Human Capitalist that fear and ignorance of the cloud is still a major drag on workplace innovation.
"In almost every other aspect of our modern life we implicitly trust the cloud," Tincup explains. "Facebook, cloud. Salesforce.com, cloud, LinkedIn, cloud. Almost everything delivered over our 'smart' phones touches the cloud. Then why do we question the cloud at work?"
Institutional fear in HR, Tincup explains, is founded in its longstanding aversion to change. The way out of that jam? Tincup suggests it starts with a few simple lessons.
"The boogie man uses code words that enable our fears. This just in: the boogie man and other nefarious characters are going to somehow harm us by impinging upon our data. Wait, bad people do bad things — news at 11. That logic is so flawed it’s hard for me to muster up a paragraph about it. Realize that those same bad people could do anything they wanted before the cloud. In some ways it was easier to steal stuff that was client-side."
"Everyone hates change. You, me, the dude at DQ that hustles up my Blizzard... all.of.us. We hate it. Hate with a capital H. And the cloud represents two parts of change that are really difficult for most people...
- The status quo oftentimes referred to in a folksy voice, "if it ain’t broke, why fix it"
- Learning and/or re-learning stuff is hard."
"We don’t need to fear the cloud — in any way, shape and/or form. And, those of us that love the cloud have a responsibility to help those around us that might not get it and/or are completely inept (j/k). One of the ways I do this is by pointing out places and instances where the cloud has saved my ass. (Hello Dropbox.) Personalize the cloud experiences as you see fit."
Photo: Can Stock
