How do I Explain Cloud Software?

This is how I explain Cloud CMS:

A young man is walking home from school and sees a fruit stand in the distance.  He finds that he's hungry and decides to buy an apple.  As he's eating his apple, he passes another man who says to him, "Son, you need to stop buying apples, and plant this little tree, and it will give you food for years to come."  So the young man purchases the seedling apple tree and continues on his way. He walks past an orchard, and the sight of so many apples is dazzling to his eyes.  The proprietor of the orchard sees the young man holding the seedling and says to him, "Do you know how to raise an apple tree, young man?"  The young man replies back that he doesn't want to grow trees, he just wants to eat apples.  So the proprietor, a wise man, says to the boy, "Son, if you come here everyday to pick apples, not only will I make sure you have enough to eat, I will teach you how to spot the absolute best tasting varieties."  The young man showed up the next day and the day after that, and eventually went on to become an expert at all things involving apples, and lived a long and prosperous life.

What does this story have to do with Cloud Software?

It follows the same rough timeline as web technology.  First, we decide we need a website, so we get someone else to do it for us.  Someone builds us a website, but we can't change it.  We're stuck with this one thing that never changes; we get an apple, and it doesn't last very long once you've taken the first bite. Then we decide we want to be able to do more, to create our own content, we want control.  But then, we decide we want a CMS, and we buy a server and put it in a rack somewhere.  Now we're in a different business; we're planting apple trees when all we want to do is eat apples. 

This is where the Cloud comes in.  With a Cloud solution, not only does someone look after all the technology, they guarantee that we won't ever have to worry about it, ever.  It just works, and as it grows and evolves, we get to grow and evolve with it.  We just show up at the orchard, and decide what apple we want to eat.

That’s a good story, but what about the part where the boy grows up to become an expert at all things apple?  How does that happen?  This is the real secret to the Cloud, and it's a game changer.  When we aren’t distracted by how things are working, when our expectation of technology is that it will get out of our way, we start to really grow and accelerate. Our idea for a website is like our hunger for that first apple.  As it grows from an initial hunger into a passion, it can becomes a driving force for how we operate.  Only then are we really getting somewhere. 

Don't be fooled by someone who wants to sell you a tree. Walk a little further down the road and learn from the wise orchard-master, who in turn will pass on their knowledge.

Agility Is a True Cloud CMS 

Agility's software platform is based on the concept of True Cloud, which brings together Cloud software, Software as a Service (SaaS), and Multi-tenancy.  We think it's a great approach, and it's helped us make our platform the best there is out there. 

We'll help you learn more about our approach in future posts.