Patrick Burke

This election season marked a major shift from the traditional ground game of door-to-door get out the vote efforts to "Big Data politics" -  in which algorithms are run in the cloud on databases of voter information to figure out who volunteers should target.

As captured in Rackspace's 2012 election "Powered by the Cloud" infographic, nearly every digital component of the 2012 election utilized the cloud: from the smartphone campaign apps to the social media systems to the super-secret voter information files. The cloud industry was well equipped to handle the terabytes of data-crunching demanded of the multi-billion dollar campaigns. For example, over 80 million voters will use cloud-based networks and smartphone apps to access information critical to their voting decision, a 200% increase over 2008's election.

How the Cloud Is Vital to a Progressive SMB
The biggest takeaway from recent Cisco research is that if small and midsize businesses are to become more progressive, they will need to move to the cloud.

Other checkpoints for progressive SMBs, according to an article on CloudComputingNews.net, are utilizing the mobile workforce, collaborating in person and embracing social media.

Cloud computing, however, is increasingly seen as a viable option for small and medium enterprises, even if they don't realize it.

A recent survey from cloud software provider MYOB revealed that nearly four in five companies surveyed (79%) didn't use the cloud for business, despite evidence that it would be good for their business - 44% of SMEs surveyed in the cloud expected their revenue to rise in the next 12 months, as opposed to 22% of those not in the cloud.

Future Clouds Will Be Safe, Says Symantec
Symantec announced several enhanced offerings for both cloud consumers and cloud service providers, including the Symantec Endpoint Protection Small Business Edition 2013 and Symantec Protection Engine for Cloud Services, aimed at creating a more secure cloud experience, according to WindowsITPro.com.

These new services go along with existing offerings such as Symantec O3, which is the company's cloud access platform that helps IT organizations control the flow of information in and out of the business.

Symantec has bundled a program with this overall cloud strategy. A new three-day training program, called Symantec Cloud Security Essentials, is an instructor-led course developed in cooperation with the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA). It focuses on cloud computing industry trends and best practices as well as preparing attendees for Symantec certifications.

"Training equals confidence," said Symantec global cloud strategist Dave Elliott. "Knowing how to implement a safe, secure cloud infrastructure will give you the confidence to deploy it for your users."