Small changes are sometimes the hardest to make. But when pushed to investigate a recurring low priority problem, we often uncover the cause of a much larger situation. Late fees, the extra spoonful of sugar in your coffee, the occasional missed expense report — these are the small missteps or inactions that build up to become bigger, more painful problems. And for a large organization the results can be staggering, until the problem has snowballed out of control.
The Remedy for Big Problems
The prescription for tackling big problems, whether personal or professional, is often building good habits to replace the bad ones. Building good routines is challenging, but what helps is integration in the cloud – once you put it in motion.
The automated logic of “if this, then that” (IFTTT) embraces this thought with its service of linking applications together through “if-then” statements. It’s a simple but profound way of putting change into action with one statement, or, as they call it, a recipe. If you want to automate the sharing of pictures online with a family member who isn’t on a social network, for example, you could automate all photographs to upload to a shared Dropbox folder to be easily viewed and shared. The idea is simple and easy to tailor for each user, whether it’s tracking down concert tickets or streamlining your inbox.
Compound Interest
Like everything, of course, it takes some refinement. But IFTTT helps you get into the mindset of looking for ways to take advantage of the compound interest of sorts enjoyed by connecting thoughtfully with the cloud.
This approach of connecting one app to another is blissfully simple with big impact. It’s kind of like integration haiku: If this, then what? So for anyone who feels integration can be overwhelming, an “if-then” statement is a great place to start. It could add up to something huge in the cloud.
For more on how to integrate in the cloud, read about our new service, Cloud Bus.
