The power of the cloud is clearly apparent when you look at the (growing) list of organizations which are using the technology.  For instance, NASA’s use of cloud computing in the Mars “Curiosity” mission is pretty much legendary at this point.  Well, in the same way that cloud technologies can deliver amazing power and control on a purely infrastructure-related front, they can also add capabilities in other areas.  Cloud testing is an excellent example of how cloud computing can be applied in a highly useful and somewhat “creative” fashion.  In the past, performing extensive software tests was a laborious process that was at once time-consuming as well as very expensive; thanks to cloud testing however, we can now complete our procedures much faster and even cover more “territory”, so to speak.

Right now, IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS platforms are being used to deploy various types of cloud testing services.   This basically allows all of your various testing procedures to become more automated and cost-effective.  How, you ask?  Think of it this way; since a great number of businesses already have some type of cloud service platform running (either as a major pillar of their IT infrastructure or something peripheral) it only makes sense for them to add or explore things like cloud testing.  Also, because IaaS, PaaS and SaaS could be called more affordable alternatives to traditional IT (or aspects its’ various aspects), we’re talking about adding to what are already very economical approaches (to IT).  In this way, adopting cloud testing isn’t really that much of a stretch for most companies, since they’re probably already dabbling in the cloud anyway; nevertheless, cloud testing is very powerful and shouldn’t be underestimated.

For those businesses which haven’t begun to explore what cloud computing has to offer, there’s no need to worry.  In fact, a stand-alone cloud testing service could function as a great introduction to the world of cloud computing for companies that are a bit anxious when it comes to adopting new technologies.  Moreover, this brings up a very interesting point / side issue, which is training and certification for IT professionals in cloud testing.  The average IT worker can afford a basic (yet complete) certification course like the one that’s being offered here, and because we’re talking about an online program, they can finish it at their own pace. Furthermore, it’s likely that we’ll see a lot of demand for cloud testing specialists in the coming months and years, especially considering the constant and incredible demand for software as well as analytical tools for things like Big Data.

Click here to get certified in Cloud Testing and add another notch to your career belt…

So, how does cloud testing help businesses to avert risks?  Even the most basic IT infrastructure setup is composed of a number of critical pieces of software, right?  Also, the basic success of certain types of businesses is entirely dependent on the quality of the software / apps they are producing, correct?  Well, doesn’t it make sense that through faster, more accurate and powerful testing – a business might be able to virtually eliminate problems associated with their software before these issues are allowed to rear their ugly heads?   Similarly, because cloud testing is so highly automated, it can be deployed via scheduling and in a more frequent manner; this essentially means that businesses could catch a higher volume of minor issues in shorter turn-around periods (which means that they are also significantly diverting long-term risks).

Likewise, if an organization develops software, having a powerful “assistant” like cloud testing is a great way of keeping testing costs low while also helping to deliver products of a consistently higher quality.  You don’t have to be a business-minded person to realize that any company that routinely delivers a product or service on a consistently higher level is poised for success.  In other words, cloud testing will allow software developers to eliminate issues within the products they are creating which in turn means that they are also averting profit-loss risks and improving the overall reputation of their business as well.

By the same token, no one is currently trying to say that cloud testing is perfect at this particular stage in its development; but it is improving every single day.  One challenge in particular – testing between layers (software application, database, performance, etc…), is being tackled right now.  Connection dependency is also a slight problem; as, due to the fact that we’re not dealing with locally installed testing software, even slight connection disturbances can wreak havoc on testing procedures.  All in all however, cloud testing is on track to become one of the most vital and important tools which businesses can use to avert all kinds of risks associated with software.

Click here to get certified in Cloud Testing and add another notch to your career belt…

Most people who specialize in business or IT are should already be familiar with the concept (and benefits) of knowledge management.  For those of you who are just discovering it (knowledge management), KM can be defined as sort of comprehensive approach to gathering, using and distributing information, experiences and practices within an organization.  In other words, KM is chiefly concerned with making sure that all insights and beneficial practices get adopted and that the mechanism by which information (knowledge) is gathered becomes self-sufficient.

In the same way that knowledge management can beef up the way an organization or business functions, social knowledge management can bring new insights by way of social media.  So, what is social knowledge management, specifically?  Simply put, SKM is a way of using social media to discover, share, store, distribute, utilize, cultivate or assess old or new forms of information / knowledge.

For example, recently collected data could easily be shared across a network of employees or customers through social media. Likewise, this setup can be used to extract additional insights about the collected info as well; perhaps via opinion polls or your standard comment boards.  Additionally, when you place something into a position where it will be evaluated and scrutinized by a network of people there is also the possibility that they will inadvertently help you improve upon it.  It’s a pretty simple and straightforward notion, actually; clearly there’s power in social media, why not tap into it to improve your approach to knowledge management?

How can social knowledge management benefit your organization?  When you think about social media, concepts like “crowdsourcing” immediately spring to mind.  In essence, methods like crowdsourcing (which is simply relying on a large group or collective to provide funds, products or services) allow businesses to plug into the combined brain power, labor and resources of many individuals.  Moreover, most people contribute to crowdsourcing projects freely.  In other words, this could be seen as a highly valuable asset for use in improving one’s approach to knowledge management as well as the collected knowledge itself. Another way of looking at it is – many people working together in concert will often be able to solve problems faster and with better results than smaller groups (even those which contain experts / specialists).

Similarly (and depending on what area(s) of interest you’re dealing in), social media can also be used to actually generate usable knowledge.  Arguably, this is the absolute best specific example of SKM in use as it allows a company to extract real value from their social media endeavors.  In some cases, the insights gained through a social knowledge management program will allow businesses to build extremely effective marketing plans which will ultimately lead to increased profits.  In other cases, SKM might give an organization the ability to actually make direct improvements on their products and/or services (by analyzing the concerns and qualms of its customers / users).

Here are a few more examples of how social knowledge management can be applied in the real world.  SKM can be used to:

• Bolster the abilities of any department operating within an organization – regardless of whether you’re employed in production, manufacturing, human resources, IT or even customer support, there are social knowledge management tools and methods which you can use to improve the way work is done.

• Build better searchable databases which offer browsers more relevant results.

• Create systems for collecting ratings and reviews – which is certainly valuable when it comes to trying to improve the quality of one’s operation(s).

• Build a new type of business infrastructure that incorporates both IT as well as social media tools to constantly analyze data and extract value from it while at the same time feeding business management new ideas.

• Build incentive systems like a gamification platform – in general, social media is great for deploying gamification apps and infrastructure; likewise, it can also be used to share knowledge and distribute results about ongoing activities.

Quite simply, social knowledge management is a useful “expansion” of knowledge management.  Social media is directly influencing our lives in ways we haven’t yet been able to fully comprehend – its effect on KM is also fairly substantial.  The question is – given that social media is so powerful, why shouldn’t we use it to improve specific areas of business like KM?  Clearly, knowledge management itself has made a major impact in the business world, particularly among corporations which have reported successes on numerous fronts with their individual programs and approaches to using it.  Extending knowledge management operations out to include information and data emanating from social media is arguably the next logical step (when it comes to knowledge management).

What’s your “next logical step” with regards to knowledge management and SKM?   If you’re an IT pro, you should get certified in KM.  It’s affordable, convenient and pretty easy; start your online course today!  Click here!   

Right after the emergence of cloud computing, the idea of using the technology to perform various types of automated tested also surfaced.  The most basic example of this is using cloud environments to test software; creating simulated web traffic, for example. However, there are many other specific types of tests which can also be carried out, all of which are pretty much brilliant to say the least.

Arguably, the single greatest benefit (in most cases) of cloud testing is its affordability.  In other words, a business can test something like “their new site or app” without having to risk much in the way of principal costs and/or labor.  Furthermore, because we’re talking about services that only dictate that you pay for what you use, there’s no need for expensive up-front purchases (or tedious IT integration of these costly elements).  This is often referred to as “testing on demand”, and it undoubtedly gives certain businesses a distinct advantage when it comes to carrying out either targeted testing or even “bulk” varieties.

Whenever you set up a new capability in your IT department it’s generally understood that what you’re doing is integrating it into your basic infrastructure.  One of the coolest things about cloud testing is that it allows an organization to simply use the provider’s infrastructure instead of having to reconfigure their own.  Moreover, because your average cloud provider is going to have much more powerful resources at their disposal, you can get your test results back much quicker.  In situations where you’re either rushing to meet a deadline or are perhaps dealing with a really large volume of items to test, this extra power is going to be a true blessing.

Aside from your standard testing costs, cloud testing also eliminates “tool license” expenditures.  Yes, some testing tools can be quite pricey; in fact, sometimes the testing budget will get “hammered” by the cost of this alone.  The great thing about some of these “on demand” cloud testing services is that the price and use of the various tools are usually included.  Basically, you can count on having several key items at your disposal which would otherwise eat up the “lion’s share” of your allotted funds for testing.

Right behind this, trailing very closely, there’s the notion that you don’t have to bring any “tool experts” on board (although that’s always nice, when possible).  Simply put, these specialists, while quite useful, can really cause a testing budge to become quickly inflated to a dangerous point.  Since most cloud vendors who are offering testing services tend to take care of these things beforehand, the savings are passed directly on to the buyer; i.e. – your company.

There’s also something to be said about the time that businesses might be devoting toward setting up their own private testing solution vs. simply going with that which is offered by a cloud vendor.  Needless to say, you could end up spending a very large amount of time just setting up a complete testing suite.  Then of course afterwards, there’s no guarantee that it would actually function in the exact manner as intended.  /Because cloud computing is so scalable (and stable) there’s nothing to worry about when it comes to setting up a testing environment – you just basically sign up, pay, then plug-and-play (or, “plug-and-work”).

Flexibility is also a great feature of most cloud testing services.  In other words, you have a great deal of both individual choices you can make, as well as the ability to eliminate those packaged components which you feel aren’t really needed.   By the same token, you can usually build a customized cloud testing package based on the resources which you really need (or might require) and that’s very handy, to say the least.

As apps continue to increase in their complexity, so do the tests required to make sure they’re fully functional.  The main problems seem to be that these apps are becoming both distributed as well as very dynamic in nature.  In turn, this creates a very unusual set of circumstances where there might be no conventional way to actually test such an app, outside of relying on cloud testing that is.

Also, cloud testing affords the possibility of carrying out real-time tests on certain things, which is extremely useful.  By using such a feature it is possible to identify future problems / risks which might crop up due to “bottlenecking”; in essence, this can not only save a business lots of money, it can also help them to build a more solid long-term reputation as a provider of quality software.

It has also been said that one of the biggest problems with software testing is the actual quality of the tests themselves.  While this might seem like a no-brainer, the truth is that a significant number of instances have been reported (between 30%-35%) which seem to indicate that inaccurate configurations are responsible for testing failures.  Once again, because cloud testing vendors tend to spend a lot of time making absolutely sure that their environments are both properly configured as well as stable, you’re much more likely to get an accurate response (than if you tried to pull it off yourself, in-house).

As you can clearly see, the benefits of cloud testing are numerous and every business really owes it to themselves to check out what it has to offer.  Not only are we talking about a highly affordable service here, but we’re also dealing with a very powerful one. Furthermore, if you’re an IT professional you should strongly consider taking the time to get certified in some branch of cloud testing if at all possible.  Why, you ask?  Well, because cloud testing is clearly a very useful service that’s both in high-demand and is also growing in terms of its popularity.

There are plenty of reasons why a company or organization should employ some form of knowledge management.  Aside from the high number of success stories attributed to businesses that added KM programs, there are the positive factors which it brings to the forefront.  The fact of the matter is that there are literally hundreds of examples from around the world that perfectly demonstrate the effectiveness of KM, and this isn’t limited to any specific field like technology or IT.  Businesses of all shapes and sizes have benefited from increased centralization of knowledge, be it in the retail industry or even the energy market.

At this point you’re probably wondering what knowledge management actually does for institutions, right?  To get a clear idea about how truly beneficial KM can actually be, it might make more sense for someone to imagine what things would be like without it.  For example, KM helps businesses to:

• Make much better, more informed decisions (across the board)

• Get the correct information / knowledge to the right people at the right time

• Build a more efficient enterprise

• Capitalize on shared knowledge

• Create “hotbeds” for innovation

• Promote examination and recycling of their available knowledge base

• Virtually eliminate repetitive or disorganized behaviors

• Avoid previously encountered mistakes

Once you’ve considered the aforementioned (let’s call them) “conveniences” or perks, the idea of trying to conduct operations without them seems somewhat outdated.  Figuratively speaking, there are a ton of examples of how knowledge management has transformed certain businesses into efficient, profitable powerhouses.

First off, there are a number of oil companies which have fully embraced KM in recent years; among them are BP and Saudi Aramco.  This is very telling because (in case you weren’t aware) the oil industry is the most profitable area of the most gainful sector in the world – the energy market.  In this industry, the person who has the latest intelligence and information at their disposal stands to make significant gains in a relatively short period of time.  The fact that more oil businesses are turning to KM is a clear signal that there is distinct value in it.

Similarly, the field of healthcare has also been quick to embrace knowledge management and is clearly benefiting from this move.  2 great examples of KM in healthcare are NSW health and HealthCanada; this also demonstrates the global spread of KM (from Australia to Canada).  Knowledge management is particularly useful in the domain of healthcare and aside from being able to greatly improve administrative abilities it has significantly contributed in other ways which has either improved the lives of patients or saved them.  In short, KM in healthcare is extremely powerful and should be considered a default addition these days.

Transportation is yet another area where KM is helping to improve operations and technological production.  3 great examples of this are the Israel Aircraft Industry, the Federal Transit Authority (US), and British Airways.  Whether we’re talking about developments for civilian or military projects the results are basically the same, KM helps these transportation specialists (particularly aircraft manufacturers) build better, safer machines.  Moreover, knowledge management can also facilitate other types of operations like transportation security by making pertinent knowledge available to everyone who has access to that particular network.   Likewise, as these institutions are building knowledge bases they’re constantly improving and/or refining their entire approach, which means more people can come to depend on their services (even in emergency situations).

There are plenty of unexpected examples of organizations using KM as well; for instance, many law offices and firms are on board. In fact, one might argue that it is law firms which are among the best examples of knowledge management in practice.  Aside from the ongoing complexity of trying to run a myriad of cases simultaneously, it’s fairly obvious that a great number of cases are very similar (or even identical) in nature.  Rather than having to build every single similar case from scratch, law firms employ a system of KM that’s not unlike the vast examples of case law which courts might use as precedent material in certain rulings.  The bottom line is that KM helps law firms operate more efficiently, in exactly the same manner as other businesses.

What does this mean to you, the IT professional?

If you’re still scratching your head wondering how this applies to you and your career, take a step back and look at everything objectively.   The point is, all types of businesses from nearly every industry you can imagine are deeply interested in knowledge management.  Wherever you turn there are plenty of examples of successes with KM too, which means that most employers are on the lookout for individuals who know how to implement it.  Simply put, if you have the certification and relevant experience, you could easily find a great deal of work in knowledge management.  In other words, seek out KM certification programs and prepare for a future career that’s poised for growth.

Click here for one of the industry’s best online certification courses in Knowledge Management!

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