Is cloud computing the death knell for the way content is currently created, a welcome new convenience or a flash in the pan? ReelPost member Dave Dimeola from Brigade.tv is trying to create a world where virtual teams of creatives dominate the landscape and go toe to toe with the ad agencies.

Cloud computing. Ever heard of it?

Generally speaking, cloud computing is Internet-based computing, where shared
resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other
devices on-demand, similar to how the electricity grid provides electricity. In todayʼs
market, people are struggling to define what cloud computing means and how it could
change our lives.

Cloud computing presents new opportunities for working remotely. In the near future,
cloud computing may make it possible for a work station to only include an interface,
leaving the CPU and storage drives to be delivered via the cloud. Freelancers will be
directly impacted by this new remote work model, and should be prepared to take
advantage of these opportunities.

Companies that rely on freelancers have the ability to rapidly scale their workforce from
small to large, as the situation demands, and as needed. Currently, freelance work
predominately occurs in major cities, where freelancers can commute to client sites and
sit at a workstation on location, often keeping to a traditional “nine to five” client
workday. This current freelancer-client interaction has limitations. The client is
constrained by the amount of on-site physical space in which it can realistically house
freelancers. By having to work on-site, freelancers are limited in how many clients they
can work for on a given day, especially given the valuable time that is lost commuting to
and from a client site. In addition, the nine to five workday that most clients keep may
not dovetail with peak performance times for freelancers, some of whom would prefer to
work later in the evening, or early in the morning. These limitations disappear with cloud
computing. If freelancers work remotely via the cloud, physical space constraints that
clientsʼ face disappear, traditional work hours become irrelevant, and freelancers now
have the ability to provide services to multiple clients at any given time.

Cloud computing will help us evolve past traditional workforce arrangements that
developed with the industrial revolution, and adopt those that befit the technological
revolution. In addition to the business opportunities that cloud computing remote work
offers, when freelancers can control our own schedules and have a significant role in
choosing our work environment, we will feel more invested in the process and final
product.

Cloud computing has the potential to provide a new remote work model for freelancers
that will maximize our efficiency and efficacy, all from the comfort of our preferred
physical location. The cloud will provide us with software, hardware, and faster internet
speeds, allowing freelancers to provide highly specialized products to clients in a rapid
response time-frame. The cloud will also enable freelancers to increase our profit
margins by allowing for larger client portfolios. The cloud will allow clients to virtually
diversify and expand their employee base, and their products will only be limited by their
imagination, not their desk space.

Written by David Dimeola

Mr. Dimeola is Operating Manager for The Brigade, a creative studio building special
teams to deliver animation for the film and advertising industry.

http://www.brigade.tv/