Each week, I engage in discussions around cloud computing. Often I am faced with business owners (many of whom are very successful and experts in their respective fields) who are cloud-averse, meaning they prefer their IT systems to be on premise, living on servers and equipment that they own, rather than “out there” in the cloud. However, once they give me a chance to explain what the cloud is and how it works, they often have a change of heart.

In his 2002 song “Darkness,” Peter Gabriel states “I have my fears / But they do not have me.” Email is the best and worst thing to happen to business in the last 25 years. Best because it’s simple, fast, free, and accessible instantly from just about anywhere on the planet. Alternatively, because it is so simple, fast, and free, it’s also become so overly abused, which is why it’s also the worst (let’s all remember that for hundreds of years before 1996, businesses ran just fine without email).

For too long, email controlled my life – with dozens of folders overflowing with messages, dings and buzzes interrupting just about everything I did, and lengthy threads involving too many recipients and replies. While Outlook was not my employer (as far as I knew, I had never received a paycheck from Microsoft), it was the focus of most of my days in the office, and when I was out of the office, whichever PDA/smartphone I was carrying that year would fill in until the next morning.

My email had me, I did not have email.

Our team will be in Chicago next week, March 15 - 18, to participate in the ABA TECHSHOW Conference & Expo, hosted by the American Bar Association Law Practice Division. I had the opportunity to attend the show last year, and was very impressed. This year, I'm looking forward to us being one of the exhibitors! You'll find us at BOOTH #806.

Even though I’m the founder of a successful IT and cloud computing company, to my family and friends I’m still just “a computer guy,” who they call on for help with everything from iPhones to printers to DVR’s. Sometimes I feel like a seasoned brain surgeon who still gets calls from people asking him whether they should take Tylenol or Advil for a headache! Alas, I’m still fascinated by technology and love what I do, and thus enjoy answering these questions and being the resident tech geek for my friends and family.

One of the most common questions I get is “I’m buying a new tablet – should I get an iPad, iPad Pro, or a Surface?”

These days, I’m not just the founder and president of Tabush Group, but I’m also the co-founder and a board member of Bill4Time, a volunteer for several non-profit organizations, CTO for all the electronics in my household, and tech support for my immediate and extended families.

Most of my work is done on Boxtop, our all-in-one cloud IT solution (yes, we’re our own customer), which I can access from any internet-connected device. When on the go, I very much rely on my iPhone and iPad.

In addition to being able to access everything work-related securely via Boxtop, there are also a few apps that I consider to be lifesavers when it comes to productivity, so I thought I’d share my current favorites. (FYI: these work across all platforms, with the exception of Scanbot).

M’ten has always been interested in technology. “When I was a kid, I liked to break things down and figure out why they happened the way that they did. And, I was always a computer user, even when people didn’t really use them.”

After building his first website at just 13 years old, M’ten joined a band, toyed with science kits, and taught himself how to build computer systems from scratch – this is where his journey within the information technology industry began.

It’s hard to imagine that just ten years ago, in 2006, the term “cloud computing” hadn’t been invented yet. By definition, cloud means an IT system or application that lives in a remote datacenter and is managed by a third party provider, as opposed to residing on a server in the customer’s location. Companies large and small had all of their IT systems running on servers and software that lived within the company’s walls.

Fast forward just ten years to 2016, and it’s hard to find a business that does not use the cloud for some part of their IT. While it used to be that decision makers had to be convinced why they should trust the cloud for a certain service, today it’s hard to make an argument why certain things should not live in the cloud. Why the complete shift?

We're proud of all that our team accomplished in 2016, and put together this infographic with some highlights:

I feel like I say this every year, but I can’t believe it's January and 2016 is already behind us. Last month, at our annual company holiday party, I once again had the privilege of delivering the ‘State of the Company’ speech to our team. In 2015, I focused on the amazing journey of building, learning, and growing the company. While that journey continues on, the theme of 2016’s address was a reflection on some amazing things we accomplished and an expression of gratitude for every single person on our team who helped us reach our goals.