Cloud Computing For Small Businesses

Software giant Microsoft Corp. is banking on cloud computing services for long-term growth in the Philippines and its local arm, Microsoft Philippines, Inc., is looking at providing such services to small and medium enterprises and start-up businesses. Microsoft said multinational firms in the Philippines have begun using cloud computing. “As we look for the next 20 years to come, we believe we have a unique opportunity to provide continuous cloud services to every person and business,” Microsoft International President Jean Philippe Courtois said in a briefing last Friday.

These include “productivity applications,” e-mail, online “portals,” video and Web conferencing, and office slide meetings. In cloud computing, tasks are assigned to a combination of connections, software and services accessed over a network. The network of servers and connections is known as the cloud. There are about 40 million paying businesses using either Microsoft services as infrastructure or software as service.

John Bessey, managing director of Microsoft Philippines, said newest technologies will reduce the office workload of small firms, allowing them to focus on the business aspect.