Archive for Cloud Computing
by Joe McKendrick
November 25, 2009 at 1:12 pm · Filed under
Cloud Computing, Enterprise 2.0, Enterprise Software, SOA, Web 2.0
I recently was talking with David Linthicum, author of a recently published work entitled Cloud Computing and SOA Convergence in Your Enterprise: A Step-by-Step Guide, which discusses the business case for considering cloud. In talking about cloud computing, our chat moved to Web 2.0, to which Dave made the observation that many in Web 2.0 circles do not see cloud computing as part of that paradigm. Why not? Dave says to some degree there are political/turf reasons, as some Web 2.0 proponents see cloud as a threat to their established order.
Add to that the fact that cloud and Enterprise2.0/Web 2.0 (I’ll address them as one in the same for this post) address problems at different levels. Namely, cloud addresses access to IT-centric services, such as storage capacity on demand, processing capacity on demand, and infrastructure on demand. For example, one of the key business values seen with cloud is the ability to scale up applications by adding off-site processors. The “private clouds” that are now being discussed arise out of virtualization solutions deployed on top of IT systems.
In the Enterprise/Web 2.0 view of the world, this is all behind-the-scenes stuff that the IT guys worry about. Enterprise/Web 2.0 proponents talk about building communities, collaboration, and moving information more openly and efficiently across networks.
What is happening, unfortunately, is that Enterprise/Web 2.0 and cloud are becoming two separate initiatives within enterprises, when they should be very closely linked. Because the essential value that Enterprise/Web 2.0 is bringing into organizations is the ability to conduct business, connect all essential parties in transactions, and open up formerly clogged information channels is through technology services that may be once, twice, or three times removed. In other words, delivered from the cloud. Facebook and Twitter are clouds, clear and simple.
As companies move to increase social networking and collaboration across their enterprises with internal and external tools and applications, the success of Enterprise 2.0 rests on their simplicity, accessibility and usability. In other words, complexity and technology issues are abstracted away from end-users. This is also the goal of cloud computing. Perhaps, on some level, cloud computing is actually “Enterprise 2.0″ for IT managers?
by Joe McKendrick
February 1, 2009 at 12:32 pm · Filed under
2.0 Design Thinking, Cloud Computing, Enterprise 2.0
Over the past year, I’ve been exploring the potential for Enterprise 2.0 and Web 2.0-oriented services to not only pull both enterprises and individuals through the rough-and-tumble economy, but also to change the way we approach work and business.
Dion Hinchcliffe has just published an overview of some compelling options Enterprise and Web 2.0 approaches offer organizations in the current economic climate and upcoming recovery; far smarter than the rip-and-replace approach to workforce and knowledge management we’ve known in the past.
Move to lower-cost online/SaaS versions of enterprise applications; move IT infrastructure to the cloud. Dion cites statistics that show moving to SaaS versions of applications can save organizations up to 40% in their IT budgets. “Recent reports say that moving to a SaaS version of your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system will save the average firm 25% to 40%, a number that likely translates well to other types of business applications given the core nature of CRM to most enterprises.” Dion cautions, however, that a move to SaaS for strategic applications is not a trivial undertaking, and it’s best to start with more peripheral applications. However, cloud computing provides much greater agility as business shifts — reducing underused capacity and investments in one part of the business, and straining resources in another part.
Use Enterprise 2.0 to capture the knowledge and know-how of employees. A couple of months back, Harvard’s Andrew McAfee speculated that the auto industry could benefit immensely by tapping into the collective knowledge of its workforce.
Dion is of the same mind, warning that companies that engage in layoffs risk losing “tens of thousands of years of built up expertise and capability, largely untapped; the knowledge residing in inaccessible places such as e-mail accounts, file servers, meeting notes, and most devastating of all, in the minds of the departing workers.” He urges organizations to take a different tact, developing networks that can learn and accumulate knowledge. “Enabling open, persistent, freeform collaboration amongst far-flung workers allows vast amounts of institutional knowledge to pour out into visible places on the network where that information can then be studied, reused, and learned by others including (perhaps especially) new workers down the road…. Making your intranet a vibrant, ever growing, worker-powered, two-way social media landscape is one of the surest investments you can make in your organization.”
Embrace new low-cost models for production — such as crowdsourcing. “Crowdsourcing — in which organizations tap into the knowdledge, innovation, and vitality of social networks — represents and new frontier for management. The advantages, Dion points out, include “using the vast audience of people on the network as a primary source of innovation, research, and product development as well as customer support, sales, and marketing.” However, he cautions that crowdsourcing requires a certain set of skills “that is very different from traditional corporate hierarchical command-and-control.” Managers need to understand how to leverage social networks.
Lower customer service costs by pro-active use of online customer communities. Related to crowdsourcing, greater efficiencies and knowledge can be gained from creating or tapping into the collective wisdom of online customer communities. However, Dion points out, few companies have mastered this capability yet. There’s an urgent need for this kind of resource: “With the rank and file of the customer service and account representative ranks of organizations shrinking rapidly in many cases, now is time to provide your customers an entirely new and largely superior channel for communication, collaboration, and working together and amongst themselves.”
Open your supply chain to partners on the Web. This could be one of the biggest growth areas over the coming year, Dion says. “If you want double-digit growth during the downturn in whatever otherwise staid industry you are in, there are few more powerful 2.0 techniques for doing it than turning your business into a strategic open platform on the network.”
by Joe McKendrick
September 29, 2008 at 10:56 am · Filed under
Cloud Computing
Analyst firm Gartner just issued a statement that it believes there is “confusion” in the market over the definition of “cloud computing,” and wants to set the record straight.
Gartner defines cloud computing as “a style of computing in which massively scalable IT-related capabilities are provided ‘as a service’ using Internet technologies to multiple external customers.”
However, the consultancy’s analysts say, there have been different perceptions of what is included in cloud computing. ”The term cloud computing has come to mean two very different things: a broader use that focuses on ‘cloud,’ and a more-focused use on system infrastructure and virtualization,” said David Mitchell Smith, vice president and Gartner Fellow. “Mixing the discussion of ‘cloud-enabling technologies’ with ‘cloud computing services’ creates confusion.”
Gartner says some commentators and vendors have applied the “cloud” label to internal initiatives, such as virtualization and automation. However, in the broader context, cloud computing applies to “the perspective of the Internet/Web/software as a service (SaaS). The focus is more on cloud than computing with the emphasis placed on access to services from elsewhere (that is, from the cloud).”
Gartner says the internal aspects and the external Web-based aspects are related, but that the internal definition is more of a “subset” of the larger phenonemon.
Is Gartner getting too picky on this? By employing the same standards and principles, organizations will be supporting their own, secure internal “clouds” as well as relying on the global cloud. In many cases, the overlap will not even be apparent to end users.
by Joe McKendrick
September 11, 2008 at 10:09 pm · Filed under
Cloud Computing, Enterprise 2.0, SaaS
Web services guru David Chappell has published a think piece on “cloud platforms,” which he defines as platforms that “let developers write applications that run in the cloud, or use services provided from the cloud, or both.” Cloud platforms are also referred to as on-demand platforms and platform as a service (PaaS).
David says there are two forms of cloud platforms: cloud infrastructure services and cloud applications services. Cloud infrastructure services include on-demand storage, integration, and identity. Cloud application services include Software as a Service, search, mapping, and other application services.
David notes that we’re only in the early stages of this evolution, and “cloud platforms aren’t yet at the center of most people’s attention.” However, he continues, “the odds are good, though, that this won’t be true five years from now. The attractions of cloud-based computing, including scalability and lower costs, are very real. If you work in application development, whether for a software vendor or an end user, expect the cloud to play an increasing role in your future. The next generation of application platforms is here.”
by Joe McKendrick
August 22, 2008 at 11:48 am · Filed under
Cloud Computing, Enterprise 2.0
Will integration issues dampen the enthusiasm around cloud computing? What are the role of data environments in these new scenarios?
The folks that manage data integration have some interesting observations to make on this topic. I recently had the opportunity to speak with Chris Boorman, chief marketing officer with Informatica, and Ron Papas, senior vice president and general manager for Informatica On Demand, about the enterprise data management implications of this growing trend. (The interviews are posted here and here in this two-part series.)
As cloud computing engagements increase in sophistication and edge ever closer to the mission-critical core of the enterprise, recognition is growing that there are enterprise data management issues that still need to be worked out. “Our belief is that cloud computing or on-demand computing is simply a way of further fragmenting data, because customers are absolving themselves from responsibility for the management, storage, security, and backup and recovery of the availability of that data,” Chris pointed out. However, he emphasized, “you must never, ever, absolve responsibility for the quality and the ownership of the data, and having such quality and ownership as part of your core business processes. And that requires integration.”
Cloud computing hands off many of the aches and pains associated with systems and application development and management to someone else. But this does not relieve enterprises of the requirements and responsibilities around effectively managing enterprise data. Many observers, in fact, are concerned about the implications of cloud computing on enterprise data management and integration, since much of the processing and storage of information shifts to outside providers.
As Informatica’s Ron Papas put it, technically, there isn’t a lot of difference between on-site systems and data stores and cloud-managed systems and data stores. However, there’s a big difference in the ownership of these applications:
“What’s that’s doing is it’s bypassing the traditional process of having IT design the whole integration processes into the solution. So, before you know it, you could be up and running with Salesforce.com without having put much thought into integration, because it’s really being led by the line of business side. You could have someone in the sales and marketing unit that somehow bypassed IT and went up and implemented Salesforce. All of a sudden, they realize they need access to that data. they need it synchronized.”
More companies are emphasizing their ability to compete on analytics, and the ability to integrate and leverage enterprise data is key. Whether on-site or in the cloud, effective data integration is a must.
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