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Take Your Funeral Personalization To The Cloud

March 6th, 2014

By Juliana Schnack

The other night, our customer success manager got a phone call from a funeral home at 3:30am.

Their cry for help sounded something like this:

Hey there, sorry to bother you, but we just had a power outage at my funeral home while I was in the middle of creating a tribute video! I wasn’t able to save it, so when I restarted my computer, all my work was gone. Help?

Unfortunately, the unexpected can occur at any time. And when these types of situations happen, there isn’t much to do about it except for start all over again, wasting tons of time (and money).

Thankfully, there’s a new technology in funeral personalization called cloud storage, and it was created to eliminate these types of frustrations. In order to understand the cloud’s benefits, let’s dive into what I like to call “Cloud 101”.

What Exactly is the Cloud?

Before you say anything, the “cloud” is not one of those white, fluffy things in the sky. In fact, it’s not a really a physical ‘“thing” at all. The cloud is simply a way to store files without using a physical hard drive. From a technical standpoint, the cloud is a network of web-based servers located in an off-site storage system, usually maintained by a third party.

So in “normal person language,” when you save a file to the cloud, it saves to a safe, secure web-based server, so there is no need to save it to your hard drive or a USB. For example, usually when you take a picture on your phone, it’s just stored on your phone. But what happens if you lose your phone or you run out of memory?

If you use a service such as Apple’s iCloud (which is on most iPhones), your photos will be safe and sound on a secure, web-based server, or “cloud”. That means no matter what happens to your phone, you can always access your photos online, thanks to the cloud.

Still with me? Ok, now let’s talk about why you, a funeral professional, should even care about the cloud in the first place…

5 Benefits of Using Cloud Storage At Your Funeral Home

For the first time ever, the cloud storage is starting to make its way into funeral service.

Life Tributes Personalization Software now offers f1Cloud Storage. This gives funeral professionals a way to safely save the projects they create on the cloud (rather than storing them on their computer).

Let’s look at some reasons why storing your personalization projects in the cloud is a smart choice for your business:

1. It’s safe and secure

In this business, the last thing you want to do is make a mistake. When you create something for a family, you need that peace-of-mind that it won’t get lost or disappear forever. That’s where the cloud comes in. If you’re creating a personalization project, the cloud automatically saves all of your work, and stores it on a safe, secure network. And even if your computer ever gives up on you, your projects stored on the cloud never will.

The other day I read a stat that said almost 1 million computers get lost or stolen in airports alone. And let’s not forget about how often the typical computer crashes. Needless to say, it’s nice to know that with the f1Cloud, no matter what happens to your computer, your Life Tributes projects will always be safe and secure.

2. Collaborate & work from anywhere

What if you could start creating a tribute video for a family on your computer, and have a co-worker finish it on their computer…without having to deal with the hassle of saving, sending and downloading? Thanks to the f1Cloud, now you can work on your projects from any computer with Life Tributes installed. That means you can easily start a project at work, then finish it at home. Or heck, you could even send it to a colleague to finish at home. What isn’t great about that?

3. Keep all your projects in one place

With the f1Cloud, you never have to worry about tracking down your personalization projects or any of their associated files. The cloud keeps all of your personalization software’s project files in one safe, secure place. So you’ll never have to worry about anyone asking, “Hey do you know where Mr. Smith’s tribute video is from last month?” again.

4. Save storage space on your computer

Don’t you just hate when your computer is running low on hard drive space? Many funeral directors I talk with tell me that they have to use external hard drives or even save their personalization projects and their associated files to discs to keep their computer from exploding. The great thing about the f1Cloud is that instead of keeping all of your personalization projects on your computer, you can simply save them to the web-based f1Cloud. Plus, you’ll have peace of mind knowing that your projects are safe and secure. That means no more external hard drives, computer crashes, and most of all… no more headaches!

5. It’s effortless and automatic

Have you ever started writing something on Microsoft Word, walked away, then came back to find out your computer mysteriously shut off and now you’ve lost all your work? Thankfully, the f1Cloud automatically saves every single change you make on your Life Tributes projects. That means you can just create and save a Life Tributes project the same way you normally would, and it will automatically save to the f1Cloud. Sounds pretty easy, huh?

Speaking of easy… while the f1Cloud may sound like some high tech, complicated service only the “big guys” use, its actually one of the easiest technologies I’ve ever come in touch with. The great thing about the cloud is that if you choose the right company for your cloud solution, they’ll do all the heavy lifting for you. That’s one less thing you have to worry about in your already incredibly busy day.

How Can You Get the f1Cloud?

If you’re already using Life Tributes Personalization Software, you automatically received a 30-day free trial of f1Cloud Storage with the Life Tributes 2014 Release. When your free trial has ended, you will be prompted to select a package. You also have the opportunity to subscribe to f1Cloud Storage in the “My Account” section in the software.