5 Questions for Local Business: Futurity Cloud Services

is Director of Business Development for , an IT service meant to help businesses integrate Google Apps into their work flow. The business of the .

Santee Patch asked Goforth five questions about his work, technology and the Santee business community.

Are you from Santee? What do you like about this business community here?

A:  Not originally.  However, I grew up in and around the greater San Diego area and have been living in the Palm Springs region for 15 years until this past summer.   I am so glad to be back in the region, I have missed it.  The business community in the Santee area is amazing.  In the short time since re-locating and starting up this latest venture, I have been blessed to have met many of the area's business owners and found them to be a lot like me- personally excited about what they offer and truly enjoy sharing their passion. 

How did you find yourself in this field? 

A:  My father was a software developer so I grew up geek.   I was writing software when I was 13, joined the Air Force and became a computer crimes investigator and through the course of time after serving found myself in mostly executive IT levels.  As a global director of technology for an international wireless spectrum company, I was tasked to find smart ways to save money while increasing productivity in our technology services.  The whole company was only 14 people, so that was going to be a challenge.  That's when I first discovered Google Apps for Business.  

I was so impressed by what Google was offering, and for such little money that I became a fanatic, so when I looked to re-locate and start my own company, I figured it was the best way to stay involved and share my excitement. Google will even provide their service for free to educational entities and that is generous.  I became a big fan.  Nobody else is doing that. 

What type of business would best benefit from Futurity Cloud services?

A: I know this is going to sound cliche, but every business can.  I can't think of a single exception.  If a business uses Email, then they can benefit on the first day just by having 10 times the industry average of mail storage space.  For many, that's enough space to hold on to every email that they may write for an entire career.  What's exciting is how businesses that engage Google find that they can now do so much more than they have in the past while simultaneously cutting costs.  From small offices that just need to watch every budget dollar, to enterprises that want to give their employees the ability to be more productive while mobile.   Google Apps Business edition is deployed in company's from 1 employee to over 120,000 from every industry in every country. 

If a business is already using Google's free products, what else can you help with?

A: We are approached a lot by people that are using the Google Apps Standard edition actually, and we enjoy working with them just as much.   Although the free services work well for many organizations, they are limited and do not permit many of the functions that the paid service offers.  Groups or Google Video and even full interoperability with Outlook and most importantly, support. Support just isn't offered with the free service.  However, these limitation are ok with some organizations but Futurity is still committed to serving them.  We offer add-on support, training and education services for everyone, even those that aren't using Google Apps Business edition.

How does this fit in with the larger trend toward using the Internet for business?

A:  Interestingly, the use of cloud based services, whether Google Apps for Business or others, has created new trends entirely.  Real-time document collaboration, or peer and group video meetings for example has increased so much and has become such an overwhelming success that it has created an entirely new way to work with your peers, customers and other companies, without increasing costs.  

Because it is all web based, companies are finding that they can decrease the need to purchase software, or even the hardware needed to operate legacy systems.  As with all new technology leaps, it becomes less expensive and more powerful all at the benefit of the businesses bottom line.  Even views on security have changed.  Like putting your money in the bank instead of under your mattress, organizations have found that trusting their data to remain safe in secure data centers makes more sense than a backup hard drive on their desk or a power hungry server in the back room. 

Do you have a question for Futurity Cloud Services? Leave it as a comment!

If you know of a business that you'd like to know more about or own a business and would like to answer a quick five questions, send an email to steven.bartholow@patch.com.