More than 100 Edinburgh business people gathered for a special technology event focused on the benefits of cloud computing.
Capital Document Solutions’ IT director Kevin Lorimer was in attendance for Scot-Cloud 2015. This annual conference offers a unique forum for engagement through networking, knowledge exchange and discussion.
Organised by Scot-Tech Engagement, the event was held at the city’s Our Dynamic Earth. It welcomed business leaders and IT professionals from a wide range of private and public sector organisations.
Key speakers included Peter Sturrock of Skyscanner, who explained the scope and scale of cloud infrastructure around the firm’s website.
In addition, Ian Massingham of Amazon Web Services shared advice on how companies can tap into the wider expertise of Amazon.
Scot-Cloud was an entirely “paperless” event
All delegates provided with an app upon arrival, containing the delegate list along with other key information.
Kevin Lorimer said: “While cloud computing isn’t necessarily the right solution for every business, what the technology does offer is tremendous scalability, particularly for start-ups or fast-growing businesses as the level of data they are required to store securely increases significantly.
“Effectively, companies can grow their infrastructure at the same pace as they grow the size of their business – without the need for any additional investment in hardware.
“For any business these technologies can form part of a long-term strategy to help maximise return on IT investment. Here at Capital, we’ve been steadily increasing our use of cloud computing. Our long-term objective is adopting a hybrid variation of this and other technologies across our entire business.
“Cloud computing has given us access to significant resources which can be turned on and off as and when the company requires. Along with enhanced data recovery and business continuity is the peace of mind that comes with access to complex infrastructure that otherwise wouldn’t be available to us.
Customer portal
“We are currently developing a customer portal which sits on the Microsoft Azure platform. This has resulted in significant upfront cost savings for the business. Instead of an initial expenditure for hardware of about £15,000, we have paid only £40 over the first six months.
“As well as allowing the business to keep costs down, this technology will bring wider benefits. Members of staff, either working remotely or at operations across Scotland, will have full access to applications and programmes from wherever they log in.
“As a forward-thinking company, we fully recognise that cloud computing is here to stay; it’s then imperative that IT professionals embrace the technology as a vital means of bringing added value to businesses.”
Scot-Tech Engagement was established to allow IT professionals across Scotland to engage, network and discuss advancement in their sector.
Posted in Control Costs, Special Interest
