The below information is something I found on line to explain cloud computing. If you don't go this route, you can try "Go to my PC" or other remote access type sites. There are numerous companies where your people can conduct an on line meeting, including reviewing the same documents.
Cloud computing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Characteristics
In general, cloud computing customers do not own the physical
infrastructure, instead avoiding capital expenditure by renting usage from a third-party
provider. They consume resources as a service and pay only for
resources that they use. Many cloud-computing offerings employ the utility computing model, which is analogous to how
traditional utility services (such as electricity)
are consumed, whereas others bill on a subscription basis. Sharing "perishable and
intangible" computing power among multiple
tenants can improve utilization rates, as servers are not
unnecessarily left idle (which can reduce costs significantly while
increasing the speed of application development). A side-effect of this
approach is that overall computer usage rises dramatically, as customers
do not have to engineer for peak load limits.[13] In addition, "increased high-speed bandwidth" makes it possible to
receive the same response times from centralized infrastructure at other
sites[14].
[edit] Economics
Cloud computing users can avoid capital expenditure (CapEx) on hardware, software, and
services when they pay a provider only for what they use. Consumption is
usually billed on a utility (resources consumed, like electricity) or subscription (time-based, like a newspaper)
basis with little or no upfront cost. Other benefits of this time sharing-style approach are low barriers to entry, shared infrastructure and costs, low
management overhead, and immediate access to a broad range of
applications. In general, users can terminate the contract at any time
(thereby avoiding return on investment risk and
uncertainty), and the services are often covered by service level agreements (SLAs) with
financial penalties.[15][16]
According to Nicholas Carr, the
strategic importance of information technology is diminishing
as it becomes standardized and less expensive. He argues that the cloud
computing paradigm shift is similar to the displacement
of electricity generators by electricity grids early
in the 20th century.[17]
Although companies might be able to save on upfront capital
expenditures, they might not save much and might actually pay more for
operating expenses. In situations where the capital expense would be
relatively small, or where the organization has more flexibility in
their capital budget than their operating budget, the cloud model might
not make great fiscal sense. Other factors impacting the scale of any
potential cost savings include the efficiency of a company’s data center
as compared to the cloud vendor’s, the company's existing operating
costs, the level of adoption of cloud computing, and the type of
functionality being hosted in the cloud.[18][19]
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The older we get, the more excuses we make for not chasing after our dreams. But truth is, goals are attainable at any age.
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