Does the 'Cloud' Really Have a Silver Lining?

I’ve been really surprised in my recent 'nibbling' at various IT issues by the polarity of views about the Cloud.

It made me think of the quote ‘More sinned against than sinning’. I thought it was from Macbeth but it’s actually from King Lear - no wonder I failed English Literature!

The Cloud Debate

Getting back to polarity, however, here’s a snapshot of a recent debate in one of the LinkedIn Groups I follow. I've attempted to summarise this - with apologies to the contributors if I've mis-represented them!

It's appropriate to recognise that, as a recent IOD report identified (Big Picture: Connecting to growth: a business view of broadband), unimpeded and consistently good quality access to the Internet is not a given and  this inevitably colours views and perceptions of the value of the Cloud.

The Views For

The Views Against

Undoubtedly the Cloud is the future of IT provision. No upfront investment costs- pay as you need. IT needs outsourced Small businesses that make effective use of the "cloud" can benefit from enterprise grade systems and economies of scale while driving efficiency within their own business. Almost all consumer-based services are moving to the cloud, we all use cloud based services every day. Many SME's don't have the budget for internal main-frames any more (nor can afford the resource to manage them) so Cloud based service are the perfect answer - scalable and affordable. About the only enterprise that might not consider Cloud would be a bank or very large enterprise The Cloud,” with its ability to deliver digital power at low cost and in small increments, is not only changing the profile of corporate IT departments but also helping to spawn a range of new business models by shifting the economics of “rent versus buy” trade-offs for companies and consumers.

No internet connection - nothing. The vast majority of (SME's) don't have a server and are never likely to need one. All they want to do is write letters, send emails and, in a small number of cases, run an accounts package to meet government requirements. The Cloud' is the latest in a long series of sales opportunities that arise particularly when business is a little slow. The main danger is that businesses will be sold something not suitable by an over enthusiastic sales person. It is not t a universal panacea  but that is what it is being heavily sold as. Compare it to car repair centres or any other industry where you're relying on another human beings skill and experience. Where there is opportunity to bamboozle, confuse and take advantage - unscrupulous people will take advantage. Backup! That's usually with the same company so also off-air. Simply stated if you are running major business software off the net and you will not get reliable guaranteed service 9:00 to 17:00++ then the advice must be Don't Use The Cloud. One of the major difficulties is International Law. You and your data may be British but if your cloud segment is on an American Server or under American control you probably come under US Law.

What is the Cloud?

Just think of it as a foreign language and accept it for what it is -  one word for hombre, monsieur, человек.

Very simply put, it means that all your computer stuff is in a remote place - not in the pc you're probably sat at now - but  a server 'farm' in somewhere like the Arizona desert - google it and see what you get! So, the software becomes like a utility, like electricity, gas, or your telephone. Do you really need to know how it actually works?

So What do Users Say?

Source:   UK Study of SMEs by comScore  http://bit.ly/14COaN8

• More than 94 per cent of cloud users experienced security benefits.

• Most cloud users said the biggest benefits were that fewer internal IT resources were needed and  noted the time saved in managing IT.

• More than 68 per cent of cloud users said their levels of privacy protection increased by moving to the cloud and 45 per cent said they felt "very comfortable" with their cloud provider's ability to manage data privacy.

• More than half non-Cloud users expressed concerns about reliability, and 82 per  cent of cloud users said they experienced improved service availability since moving to the Cloud.

• Most Cloud users said they were confident their provider could restore services during an outage quickly and efficiently.

So, What's Needed?

In promoting the Cloud, and in my experience this applies to many IT issues, the best technical people tend not to be the best communicators. So, as a contributor to the debate asks:

 'Who do you put in front of a customer? The slick sales guy who's been hand fed "key selling points", buzz words and partner sales materials which he can't translate into a real customers requirements. So he sells what he's told to hit target and leaves the poor IT guys behind the scenes to deliver a square peg into a round hole'.

So,  for this issue as for many others, your challenge is to find a 'trusted advisor' who will work with you to find the best solution for your particular business needs.