The fast pace of the modern age demands a high degree of adaptability, but thanks to technologies now at our disposal, versatility is possible even for the least technically able. If you’re an employer, the people working under you are going to increasingly look to you for flexibility in their approach to work, and you should be more than willing and able to provide it. If you’re an individual, you can take advantage of recent technological developments to bring more flexibility to your own schedule, even if your initial reaction to any tech blog might be to defensively raise a spear and yell: “But what is cloud computing? Get out of here strange beast!”

Put down the spear if you want to find out the answer to the question ‘What is cloud computing’ –it’s essentially just distributed networking on a grand scale. The ubiquity of wireless internet access has made cloud computing a commercially viable model for data processing. This means that it’s now possible for you and your colleagues to easily access materials from anywhere in the world, on almost any device. Specialist software can also be run externally in this manner, which means that as the Cloud’s power and integration capability increases the traditional office will likely become a thing of the past: beyond occasional meetings at particularly stressful times in a production cycle there will simply be no need for most people to actually put in face time anymore. Worried bosses can rest easy too, because cloud services are well placed to track exactly who is accessing what material and any changes that are being made – so it’ll be just as easy for you to make sure everybody is doing what they’re supposed to be doing.

Instead of trying to find excuses to slow down or even circumvent this process, it is best for all concerned to attempt to embrace the Cloud as wholeheartedly as possible. Businesses may even find that this approach to organising workflow can save them a considerable amount of money. While cloud computing can allow for instant access to utilities from any location, you can also go one step further and eliminate the need for more expensive traditional computers altogether. It is now relatively simple to turn a tablet into a proxy interface for a much more powerful remote system with absolutely no loss of functionality and low to no risks to security. Apps which allow for this functionality are available on an individual basis, or for multiple devices across a company’s system. Instead of paying for expensive computers with dedicated licenses for your company’s specialist software, why not simply allow them to use much cheaper alternative devices to access a single central system?

As cloud computing develops, the normal structure of businesses will evolve to match it, substituting centralized, highly-structured organizations for more dispersed, fluid, and self-organizing models – and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It allows for issues – great and small – to be tackled in real time whenever they arise, rather than becoming ongoing thorns in your side due physical limitations. Stay aware that new solutions come with new threats, like hacking programs, but it also creates new opportunities. Online programs have been developed to help students and employees get the knowledge they needed to face these threats and get a Master of Science in Cybersecurity. It helps them learn about the critical national infrastructure and security, cyber intelligence and advanced telecommunications forensics, while having a full time job. And if your competitors are taking advantage of this, you should too. Flexibility, fluidity, and knowledge that the old certainties of a nine-to-five world have evaporated will be the only constant in coming years.