For those of you that stopped by our booth at WPPI, you were able to get a first look at the new StudioPlus Stratus™, which is a cloud-based version of StudioPlus Spectra, our flagship studio management and digital workflow software.  I thought that I’d take this opportunity to share with you our strategy for implementing cloud-based services into your business.

First of all, what’s the “cloud”?  The cloud is the delivery of services over the Internet, allowing users access to data and applications real-time from any device with an Internet connection.  There are many advantages of cloud-based applications.  One is that the user does not have to worry about building and maintaining a proper IT infrastructure.  All the hardware and software updates are taken care of by the providers.

So how can the cloud benefit you?  Think about how digital imaging and the Internet have changed your life and your business.  In several years, I bet that you’ll look back and say the same thing for the cloud.  It will radically change the way that you run your business and live your life.  Imagine the day when not a single software app will be loaded on your computer.  Imagine not having a single image on your computer.  Imagine having a camera that immediately uploads images to the cloud as fast as you can click, having those images edited and retouched within minutes, and being immediately available for viewing anywhere in the world.  As broadband Internet connections become more robust, faster, and increasingly more reliable, and as cloud-based services become more robust and cheaper, these technologies will change your life.

How can StudioPlus help you reach the full potential of the cloud?  For those of you getting started in professional photography or running a home-based photography business, you’ll be able to jump into the cloud very quickly.  For those of you running full-service brick-and-mortar studios, the fact is that you cannot run your business totally based on cloud technologies.  You still need to have local image storage and local apps like Photoshop and StudioPlus Spectra™. However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t take advantage of the cloud.  There’s no reason why you can’t have the best of both worlds.

StudioPlus Stratus is cloud-based studio management software, based solely on HTML.  As a non-Flash application, it’s ensured to work in all current browsers and tablet devices (including the iPad)!  The Express edition will be the first edition of the software to be released and have a similar feature set to Spectra Express.  Future editions of Stratus will include Stratus Standard, Professional, and Enterprise – each similar to its Spectra counterpart.  For those that don’t need the power of a local desktop app like Spectra, you’ll be able to use StudioPlus Stratus as your single solution to manage the operations side of your business, like client tracking, scheduling, invoicing, and marketing.  For those using StudioPlus Spectra, you’ll be able to use Stratus as a cloud-based add-on to Spectra, giving you the best of both worlds.  This hybrid solution gives you the power of a desktop app along with the accessibility of a cloud-based app.  It’s truly a no-compromise solution.

In addition, the StudioPlus StratusDrive™ is a cloud-based image storage service that you can use along with Spectra or Stratus.  Some of you may choose to use the StratusDrive to just store low-res copies of your images for online viewing.  Others may choose to use it for their primary image storage location of all their hi-res images, completely removing the hassle of worrying about local image storage and backups.  And others may choose to use StratusDrive as an offsite backup option for all their local images.  How robust is StratusDrive you may ask?  Every image that you upload will stored at an industry leading, secure data warehouse.  Each image will be replicated to three separate storage devices for triple redundancy.  And finally, each image will be geo-replicated to a separate data warehouse to safeguard against natural disasters.

Finally, all products, including StudioPlus Spectra, Stratus, and StratusDrive are seamlessly integrated with InSpiredByYou.com, your customer-facing extension of your studio for online viewing, e-commerce, contract signing, album proofing, and video viewing.  Combining all products together gives you a no-compromise solution that allows you to migrate your business to the cloud at the pace you choose.

Cloud-based applications are not perfect and do have some disadvantages.  In future blog entries, I’ll address these concerns and discuss how StudioPlus is addressing them.

As a leading software company within the photography industry the past 15 years, we’re excited to leverage our knowledge with the latest technologies in providing the best desktop, cloud-based, and hybrid solutions to help you build more successful and profitable businesses.  If you haven’t already, please subscribe to our blogs for future announcements about these exciting products!