Books On The Cloud: The New Horizon

Over the years, the Internet has grown into a large repository of data and information that can be accessed from anywhere through multiple devices. Today, you no longer need to be seated at your personal computer to read your e-mail or book movie tickets. Instead you could be on the beach, at the playing field, at the airport or in another country.

It has been our vision that books, like all digital products, should be accessible and available all the time. We watch with confidence as the market takes shape and as this vision of books being on the cloud turns to reality in the months to come.

There are three main reasons why books on the cloud makes sense:

1.) Consumer is King

Consumer expectation is to have services available all the time—from Webmail, to Google Docs, to salesforce, to Evernote—anywhere and from any device. Companies that understand this and create this access entry point are guaranteed success.

An example for me is a note-taking service. I have used several note taking applications: I put notes on my Mac, on my BlackBerry, and my iPad, too, has a few note apps. And then, a few months back I discovered Evernote. This amazing Web application wins over every other note-taking software because I can confidently use it knowing that I can access all of my notes at any time from any of my devices, no matter where I am.

2.) Muti-device accessibility

Given the speed at which technology is advancing, it is difficult to judge whether our lives are getting simpler or more complicated. Today, we use multiple multipurpose devices to stay connected. I have my laptop, my home desktop, my smartphone, my BlackBerry, my iPad and I work and live my daily life going between all these devices. For convenience sake, I expect my applications and software to work interchangeably between all these devices. While I might be an early adopter of technology, a few years down line, this—just like e-mail being available everywhere—will be a norm for most people.

3.) Follow the Leaders

Amazon announced last year that it is launching the Web-based Kindle. With this version, Amazon is now ensuring that its customer can access e-books from anywhere and on any device. I use a Kindle and I expect to read my books on my iPad, my Kindle and on my iPhone. As the market leader, Amazon is establishing an industry benchmark by providing this experience; it's a benchmark that all customers will expect to have when using books in the e-world.

These "new norms" will push publishers to deliver their content on the cloud. The good news is that there are companies, like ours, who can provide this infrastructure. This is just the beginning: Once books are on the cloud, the opportunities for the publisher are innumerable. Publishers need to realize that this is the future and start implementing their cloud strategy immediately.

About the Author
Sameer Shariff is the founder and chief executive officer of Impelsys, Inc., a leader in assisting the global book publishing industry with delivering and marketing electronic content. Impelsys is currently working with publishers worldwide on implementing cloud-based content delivery strategies. For more information, please go to www.impelsys.com.