Chapter 17. Adapting to Quickly Evolving Technologies

This chapter covers the following:

How technological innovations are causing cloud-based services to change

Why it’s important to take advantage of integration between services and applications

How to avoid common cloud-based collaboration pitfalls

Advice from cloud-computing experts

Every few weeks—not months or years—new technology or innovations related to the Internet, file storage, collaboration, data compression, encryption, mobile devices, cybersecurity, and computer hardware are making it possible for all of the cloud services to evolve. Because these services are based in the cloud and typically require no software to be installed on a user’s computer, updates to these services can be created and released quickly.

These factors, combined with increased competition among cloud services, have led to each of these services continuously adding new features and functionality. The enhancements not only improve upon the toolsets already offered but also add new tools that enable the services to perform in cutting-edge new ways.

As a result, the lines have blurred between the features and functions offered by each cloud service. For example, Dropbox is no longer just a cloud-based file-storage and file-sharing service. Cisco WebEx has become much more than an Internet-based video-conferencing platform. And Evernote now does a lot more than serve as a text editor that syncs notes between a user’s computers and mobile devices.

In today’s world of cloud computing, individual companies, like Microsoft and Google, are offering complete suites of online tools that can affordably handle all aspects of working in the cloud. Meanwhile, the cloud-computing tools offered by other companies are quickly expanding their respective toolsets, while providing secure integration with other popular applications and online platforms.

Thanks to well-established companies designing and building secure, cloud-computing platforms and infrastructures, companies of any size can now take full advantage of these tools and inexpensively migrate to the cloud without having to purchase and maintain their own servers or hire a team of in-house IT professionals. Instead, a single person (or several people), who might have minimal technical expertise, can be assigned the role of administrator to manage the user accounts that allow a company to take full advantage of the cloud while keeping all data, documents, and files secure. It’s no longer a question of whether a company should use cloud computing; it’s only a matter of which services a company should adopt.

Unfortunately, the answer to this second question has become somewhat of a moving target that’s sometimes difficult to answer with any certainty. After all, as soon as a decision-maker within an organization does her research to choose what is currently the most suitable service to adopt, new innovations allow other platforms and services to offer similar, or even better, functionality, sometimes at a lower cost.

Because the probability that cloud computing advancements will slow down anytime soon is basically zero, a company looking to utilize these tools needs to do the following:

Determine what’s possible right now using the most popular cloud computing services and platforms.

Clearly define how these tools can and will be used within their organization or by specific teams.

Determine what compliance regulations and data security requirements your organization needs to adopt and adhere to.

Choose one or more cloud computing platforms or services that currently meet the needs of the company.

Set up the required integrations between the applications and cloud services you’re already using with the new service or platform being adopted and be sure to test these integrations before deploying them.

Train everyone on how to use the selected services to reduce human error as much as possible.

Be prepared for, and be able to adopt change as it happens. This requires everyone to update to the latest tools as they become available. Ongoing training is necessary to ensure everyone remains proficient using the same tools. On the plus side, all services offer free online training videos, manuals, and interactive tutorials to keep users abreast of the latest advancements and how to use them.

As you begin using cloud-based services, you’ll likely discover that there are features or functions that your services don’t have but that do exist on other services or platforms. For example, if you’ve already adopted Dropbox or Office 365, you might want to make DocuSign’s functionality available to your team. Perhaps you want to be able to communicate using Cisco WebEx’s video-conferencing tools while also using the online collaboration tools offered by Slack or Trello. This is where integrations become extremely useful because you can bridge the gap between applications and cloud-based services without requiring any customized programming to be done on your behalf.

Along with everything you’ve learned thus far within Working in the Cloud, the additional advice offered by Teich will help you more confidently make decisions about cloud computing that will directly impact your team or company—both now and in the future.

To begin, Teich explained what Dropbox actually is and the misconception people often have about the service. “What people think they know Dropbox for is only a piece of the story. The genesis of Dropbox was that people should be able to access their stuff from anywhere, from any device, and share it with anyone. The original focus of just keeping someone’s own files in sync has evolved into being able to keep all content and your entire team in sync,” said Teich. “This is where Dropbox Paper comes into play. This toolset allows for better collaboration above and beyond just file sharing.”

As mentioned in Chapter 8, “Managing Collaboration with Dropbox,” the focus of these two toolsets is to enable people to share content and work together in real time to create, compose, exchange, and review information and ideas, and in Teich’s words, “to tell and share stories.”

She explained, “Today, a lot of back and forth between people gets fragmented across several different tools and platforms. This creates a lot of friction. By combining file sharing and online storage with real-time collaboration tools, a team can now have one helm for keeping their content and team members in sync as they’re trying to get work done.”

In the process of learning about each of the popular cloud services and platforms, you probably noticed a lot of overlap in the tools being offered. “The biggest differentiator between Dropbox and other services is our philosophy about who we’re building our platform for,” stated Teich. “Dropbox has always been built for our end users to be the tool that they want to use, know how to use, and trust using. People share through Dropbox because they know that the people they’re sharing with will receive the files being sent, for example. Other cloud-based platforms have been designed specifically for tech-savvy IT buyers, who then have to make end users adopt it, even though the service was not actually designed with non-technical end users in mind. This is a fundamental and philosophical difference between Dropbox and other platforms.”

According to Teich, the mandates when designing and developing Dropbox and Dropbox Paper have always been on simplicity and ease of use. “Our service was built for the more than 500 million people who have chosen to adopt Dropbox because of this philosophy and because we are cross-platform compatible. Especially in a small business environment, there are a mix of PC and Mac users, as well as iPhone and iPad versus Android-based smartphone and tablet users. Dropbox accommodates everyone with the same tools. Plus, Dropbox is designed to handle all of your content, not just specific types of files,” she added.

Ultimately, cloud-based collaboration and file sharing tools are also about building and maintaining interpersonal human relationships in a digital world. “So often, if you’re not looking at someone face to face, it’s easy to forget that they’re a person. Dropbox is working hard to help people build and maintain an emotional connection as they’re trying to get things done together,” said Teich.

This trend toward humanizing cloud-based services will, no doubt, continue across all of the platforms, as each now realizes the need to be accepted and usable by non-tech-savvy people. “When you’re not talking directly to a person, we’re not always kind. Something as simple as bringing faces back into virtual interactions can make a huge difference,” said Teich. “This can be accomplished in many ways, such as having team members include a photo of themselves within their profile and then having that profile photo appear in conjunction with messages and digital interactions that take place.”

There are also what Teich refers to as “moments of awkwardness” that can often take place as a side effect of virtual interactions. For example, you send an important message to someone and then wind up stressing out about whether the recipient has seen it, and wonder how they feel about it, until they eventually respond. This causes anxiety.

“We all start to wonder what the other person’s reaction will be, and then need to determine how to move forward. As the sender, you can nag the recipient, and ask, ‘Hey, I haven’t heard back from you, can you send me feedback?’ or you can go down the path of, ‘Oh, maybe they didn’t like what I said,’ which requires a whole different response. Of course, one reason for the lack of response could be that the recipient never actually saw the message to begin with. The sender needs to adjust their next step based on the reaction, or lack thereof, from the recipient. One way Dropbox overcomes some of this awkwardness is that we provide details about when information is sent, and when it’s received and opened. As a result, the sender can have a much more appropriate and healthy response, based on knowing whether a message was unopened, or opened and read, but not responded to.”

Teich believes that helping people have enough context, and the most current information, can go a long way toward better interpersonal communications in a virtual workspace. There’s also the element of collaboration that includes getting and giving feedback. When the right tools are used, this can become a more humanized process, even when working in a virtual workspace.

“Using stickers or emojis in conjunction with text-based feedback can be a powerful communications tool. What we’ve found is that people love these tools as a way to give emotional validation and feedback, which is distinct from the words. For example, you can provide qualitative feedback in words, but when you end it with a smiley face, someone else will instantly know your comments are well intentioned. These are simple visual cues that can be anchoring in a relationship. Often, the intention can be lost in pure words. I recently saw a study demonstrating that everyone reads emails more negatively than they were intended. The way to combat this is to add the emotional cues offered by an emoji or sticker,” said Teich. “When team members are able to build and maintain positive relationships even when they’re working virtually, this makes accomplishing things so much easier.”

Some people believe that using stickers and emojis is perfectly acceptable when communicating with friends on social media, or through smartphone text messaging, but that this lighter form of communication is not suitable for the workspace. This goes against the research that Dropbox has done when developing Dropbox Paper.

Teich explained, “For years, there’s been debate about whether stickers and emojis belong in a collaborative workspace. Some believe that if the collaboration becomes too social, people will stop doing work. What we’ve found is that more often than not, people recognize that it’s their job and are afraid of going too far when communicating using collaboration tools. Most people are able to determine for themselves what’s appropriate versus what’s too casual or inappropriate for a work setting. In general, the anxiety people have will prevent them from misusing stickers and emojis when collaborating with co-workers.

“The cultural norm of a company will come into play when it comes to users determining whether or not stickers and emojis are suitable within their work-related communications. If you work in a conservative environment, people won’t use stickers or emojis anywhere near as much as if you’re working in a super casual, young environment, where a group of friends are working together. Teams will establish their own ways of communicating with each other. The platform being used should, however, enable the culture and values of the company to come through.”

When collaborating with others on the creation or review of content, Teich recommends that it be made clear as to what part of the process the team is in. For example, if you’re in the brainstorming phase, it should be made clear that team members should share their ideas and opinions freely. However, if you’re in the final review phase, this is when someone should be able to point out major errors but not start recommending new ideas or approaches. When everyone understands what type of feedback is needed and when, the team will be much more productive.

“Simply stating, ‘Please provide feedback related to this document,’ versus ‘Please provide your approval for this document,’ sends two very different messages about what is expected from team members during a collaboration process,” said Teich. “Giving people the right context for what’s expected makes the social interactions much more productive.”

Whenever a company or team adopts new software or a cloud-based service, Teich believes in the importance of having an in-house champion or evangelist in place to oversee the transition or migration to the new tools. “This person needs to demonstrate to the team or other users how the software or service will be used and show some examples. People are very good at picking up on those examples and modeling their work habits after them. So, if the evangelist uses a smiley face emoji at the end of a message, this shows the team that this practice is acceptable. Even a very small amount of content shared by the evangelist can set the perfect example for how a new tool can be used and showcase what’s acceptable,” she said.

Another example is when the evangelist starts assigning names to files, folders, and subfolders within a cloud-based file-sharing service. People will pick up and adopt the methodology demonstrated to them without being told specifically to do so. “Practices like this tend to evolve and come together in a natural way, especially when something that doesn’t feel right for the team is discussed and adjusted right away,” explained Teich.

When asked about the fear people have of the various cloud-based services evolving so quickly, Teich stated, “We are forever seeing the pendulum swing between best of breed and the suite. A suite of applications may offer all forms of functionality that’s needed, but each individual tool in the suite may not actually be good or powerful enough to meet the needs of the people using them. The alternative is to use a best of breed, and to choose a separate solution for each task that needs to be accomplished. Which methodology to adopt is a permanent source of anxiety. My advice is to figure out which tools work the best for you and your team, and go with that until something better comes along. Don’t change for the sake of change. Find something that works now, but be able to identify when something is no longer working for you.

“If you’re working around a tool more than using the tool, that’s an indicator of a problem. This is when you should do more research and ask yourself if there’s a better tool that will work for you. It comes down to really understanding the problem you’re trying to solve using cloud computing and then choosing the tools that solve that problem.”

Teich further explained, “More and more of these tools are now integrating together. People are working with all different systems, both cloud based and not. Being able to connect all of this together is critical. The integrations that are available allow you to use the best tools for the job. This is why we have seen the CRM apps and writing apps, for example, fully integrating with online file-storage, file-sharing, and online collaboration tools, and making the integrations work very well. Thanks to integrations, it does not have to be an either or choice when it comes to choosing which applications and cloud-based tools to adopt.”

When looking to adopt new software or a new cloud-based tool, pay attention to how well it integrates with the software and online-based tools you’re already using. If you find a set of tools that work together, any company or team can create a powerful ecosystem that works like a suite and that works very well to meet the unique needs of a team or company.

Dealing with integrations can be a confusing challenge onto itself. For example, you may know that Office 365 and Dropbox are secure and manage your files in the proper way, but what happens when you try to integrate these two services together?

Teich explained, “This is a valid concern, but it’s rarely a real problem that users or companies encounter. My advice is to look at who built the integration. Does it come from one of the two companies whose software and services you’re trying to integrate together? At Dropbox, we build many integrations ourselves, because they’re so important for allowing our users to have a great experience. When a company puts their own name on an integration, you know that they’re standing behind it and supporting it. One thing you don’t want to do is build your business upon something that eventually goes away. Find tools that you can trust will be there moving forward and that will not ultimately lock up your data in the future.”

Another thing to evaluate when choosing whether to adopt a new cloud-based application or service is how much training will be required to get everyone up to speed on using it. Because many users won’t come from a technical background, you want the service to be as user-friendly and as intuitive as possible. The service also should offer the training tools and resources to help people easily acquire the skills needed to use the newly adopted tools. The decision-maker, however, needs to pay attention to ease of use and then be able to demonstrate to their team what can be done.

“In my experience, once you provide team members or users with an example or two of each feature being used in a real-world situation, they’ll develop a faster understanding of what’s possible and will catch up in terms of how to use each tool. It all comes down to building awareness of what’s possible and then demonstrating how things can actually get done,” said Teich.

Make sure that any service you choose has data security in place. As for compliance issues, you need to understand what’s required for your business and then make sure the service adheres to those requirements. According to Teich, most of the cloud services publish whitepapers that focus on security and compliance.

“Security is there, and whatever you think you need, the major cloud-based services most likely already offer. When you have specialized needs—this is where a company needs to take a much closer look at what a cloud-based platform offers. Beyond that, don’t worry.

“When you see a bunch of big-name companies listed on a cloud-based service’s customer reference pages, this should eliminate much of your concern. If you see large companies that you respect and aspire to be like already using a specific service, you know those companies have already done a lot of vetting. Most likely, those companies have a lot more to lose then you do. Look for real case studies from major companies that have adopted a cloud-based service or platform, not just a listing of companies, which could mean that just one person at that company uses the service. Published case studies can be used as proof that certain platforms offer adequate security-related tools and resources,” said Teich.

As for taking precautions to prevent user errors from causing data breeches or security problems down the road, Teich believes that companies can take two approaches—preventive and reactive.

She explained, “The cloud computing services typically offer security tools, like two-factor authentication for user accounts, that can help prevent problems from occurring. Using common sense when it comes to choosing with whom to share information and content is also a preventative measure that everyone can take. However, a company or team needs to be able to react properly if and when something does go wrong and be able to fix the problem and then recover from it quickly.”

Be able to answer questions like the following:

What actions need to be taken if someone sends the wrong file to the wrong person?

What actions need to be taken if someone leaves the team, to prevent them from taking important files or data with them?

What happens if someone deletes files that they shouldn’t have?

Having a plan in place to deal with predictable mistakes will make them much easier to recover from.

One way to protect content that’s stored online, as well as individual user accounts, is for the administrator and individual users to periodically review the adjustable default settings related to each account and make sure they’re set appropriately for how the tool is being used. The administrator should also review the types of content being stored.

The final piece of advice that Teich offers is for people to seek out cloud-based tools that allow them to work and interact with people in a way that they want and need to. Users should not have to dramatically change their work habits or be forced to utilize impersonal interactions to accommodate the tools they adopt.

“I don’t see a timeline where it will be mandatory for a company to be cloud-based. But right now, it’s becoming less and less practical to not be working in the cloud,” stated Teich. “The idea of a hard drive crash causing catastrophic data loss is foreign to most young people who have grown up storing their content in the cloud. By not working in the cloud, you’re not taking advantage of all of the tools that are available and that can make your team or small business more productive. Yes, change can be scary. However, these days, when it comes to cloud computing, individuals and small business can get a ton of stuff for free, or at a very low cost, when they take advantage of the cloud-computing tools and services that are available to them today.

“When comparing cloud-based services available today, versus what was offered just a few years ago, it’s important to understand that the experience is better, the quality is higher, and the costs are lower. So, unless you have a really, really good reason to avoid working in the cloud, you should err towards the side of taking full advantage of what cloud-computing technology offers today. Then you can focus on what you are uniquely great at in your business, because chances are, it’s not running an IT infrastructure. The established cloud-based services provide the required IT infrastructure so individuals and small companies don’t have to. Cloud computing makes it easier for you to run a much higher quality business, and you don’t have to become a technology or cybersecurity expert to utilize these tools and truly benefit from them,” she concluded.