Cloud Basics For Business Leaders
On our website (www.korolit.com) we talk about the high level of jargon it IT. No-one is going to try to stand their ground and argue that were great at explaining IT in simple terms to people who just want to use it to do a job better, faster and to get competitive benefits.
We’re particularly good at overcomplicating stuff and creating a never ending stream of new buzz words. Currently, and alongside Virtualization, Cloud and BYOD you will probably be seeing, and perhaps having, many conversations around at least one of these topics:
- Crowdfund/Crowdsource
- Synergize
- Freemium
- Osmosis marketing
- Digital nomads
- Big data
- Social looping
- Gamification
- Retail curation
- Network virtualization
- Consumerization
Don’t be surprised then when your in-house IT team or technology partner invites you to a number of vendor conferences and executive briefings and the latter almost inevitably includes an underlying agenda to sell something!
It takes a very brave soul and technically well briefed person to stand up and question the direction the herd is heading and Larry Ellison, the Chief Exec of Oracle who is certainly a well briefed and brave soul had a major outburst in 2009 stating in an interview that “It’s not water vapor! All it is, is a computer attached to a network.” Ellison blamed the IT industry for hype and abuse of cloud terminology. “You just change a term, and think you’ve invented technology.” Take a look at the YouTube video, it makes a great watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FacYAI6DY0.
Larry is a fantastic self promoter and was probably doing what he does best in disrupting a bandwagon to better position Oracle in the market but his interview certainly resonated with around 150,000 YouTube views and a 90% agreement level. More recently he has moderated a tad and this is probably in response to a market that is still not quite yet ready to put Cloud computing into the context of more established managed services. Better to run the same direction than get trampled underfoot!
Our take on Cloud computing is more aligned to Larry as he told it in 2009, it is currently too complicated and will over time start to simplify as the various approaches start to consolidate. Broadly speaking Cloud can currently be broken into four categories:
- Public Cloud – You register, pay for and use the service and share with all other users
- Community Cloud – You share services with other similar organizations
- Hybrid Cloud – Mix and match of the other Cloud options
- Private Cloud – Dedicated platforms and applications in your own Data Centre
Existing managed service providers then need to get their head around all the above and somehow integrate or demonstrate that they are in transition from their more traditional managed services and break-fix support services. The inherent risk here is in stalling the sales engine for a while everyone gets up to speed with a whole new set of terms, battle-cards and pricing models.
We believe that a more effective approach is to assimilate Cloud into existing service portfolios and provide clear guidance and choice to clients by simplifying and de-mystifying the terminologies used. The benefits to providers are in extending their existing portfolios without losing sales momentum. Clients benefit from more choice with clear guidance on what best fits their needs at the time and in the future rather than just on what is currently being marketed.
We believe that the following is a much simpler and accurate way of defining the ways you can consume your operational service:
- In-House – You look after the platforms and applications in your own Data Centre
- Managed – The platforms and applications remain on your premises but are supported under contract by a service company
- Hosted Managed – The platforms and applications are physically moved to your service partners premises and they provide the service back to you under a contract
- Subscription – You buy a generic service when you need it and on a subscription basis (e.g. Google mail)
In many cases you will probably need to use a combination of the above. Over time the mix may vary as you move specific services around based on costs, efficiencies and personal preference. In these cases you simply use whichever of above terms best describe the individual services rather than trying to create a new term. It would certainly make the choice a bit easier to understand for both clients and sales teams!
Cloud is a complicated service model that over time will mature and simplify. The current choice of services and providers is broad and any organisations looking to move to a Cloud solution should seek seek expert and independent advice before making any commitment.
anthonykking
We’re an independent and experienced consulting, programme management and executive resourcing business. We're focused on the needs of both public and private sector clients. We work with all sizes of organisations from local start-ups through to global concerns. Without the cost overheads associated with a much larger consultancy business we have the flexibility to take on small targeted assignments, or much larger work programmes. Every client relationship is valued greatly and treated with dignity and respect. Each engagement benefits from the breadth and depth of our expertise.
