As the “End-User Computing Revolution” enters its 25th year of empowering users, the next phase will be dominated by Cloud Computing (http://www.newsweek.com/id/166738/page/1) together with the “always available” clients such as the Netbook (http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2008/09/netbooks-evolvi/ ) and SmartPhones (http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206800816) that are providing a world in which the end-user has complete control over their client-server, web based, and computing solutions - allowing them to choose what they use, where they use it, and where they get solutions from. Each phase of the end-user revolution has created terrific efficiency gains and cost reductions for businesses in rapid fashion, moving from the mainframe to the PC, from the PC to Client/Server, to the Web and now to the Cloud. With this phase we are seeing the many year battle between the end-user and IT nearing an end and IT will either evolve by becoming a strategic partner with its customers or be relegated to the occasional helpdesk call. As a professional life long IT peson this is a good wake up call for me.
The power and business benefits of Cloud Computing are very clear to me after observing the early days of the PC revolution during my stint at Microsoft® and running a business focused on operational simplification since then. The Cloud is the next natural step for the industry because it enables the end user to simplifiy the typically complex nature of working with IT. The ability of the Cloud to solve the challenge of allowing end users to fully leverage the benefits of technology while lowering costs to the business is a game changer and one that all of IT needs to be aware of in order to not only prosper but to survive.
A Break From Dependence On IT To Solve a Business Problem
The biggest change the Cloud provides is that the end-user or the consumer can now simply select the type of IT service they want much in the same way you might purchase a book from Amazon.com. Whether it is a wiki, e-mail, or custom program, the end-user does not have to worry about involving IT to scope the hardware and maintenance needs allowing for focus on the business problem being solved.
The innovation of the Cloud opens a market where neither the end-user nor the business needs to be dependent on a specialized and trained IT department or a specific vendor. Cloud services are easily outsourced to a Cloud provider reducing the business costs associated with maintenance, data centers, servers, compliance, backup and recovery, security, patching, virus protection, configuration management, bandwidth, and onsite support. Now instead of a business locally hosting servers in a controlled server room where their capacity is often not fully used, the Cloud provider can reduce the total server count, end users are always running the latest configuration and if something does break or the business wants to roll out a new version, the Cloud provider updates a desktop image for the end-users who need it.
By choosing a Cloud provider, the end-user no longer has to worry about lining up IT to scope the hardware needs, buy servers, set up a web server and database, and provide the on-going maintenance including patching, security, backup and recovery, and product upgrades. In minutes the business can have their software running on all devices at the company without the need for a large capital expense. The business takes on a services contract but no longer has to worry about keeping IT staff expertise current or keeping multiple IT expertise in house for different systems, less is needed for budgeting for energy and hardware costs, and productivity is shorten when months are no longer needed spent scoping, purchasing and setting up equipment.
The Cloud can simplify legacy client server systems in stable production by consolidating the use of servers not operating to full capacity. It can help internal departments, like Human Resources (HR); roll out software tools such as employee review software, without the need for internal IT involvement and allows an HR team to own the entire process. The only consideration for the business is to assure that the selected vendor has valid security processes and to keep an on-going watch to assure that the security is managed.
See Christina Torode’s latest article on this topic, Latest cloud computing trend: End users buying IT as a Service, at
"...a world in which the end-user has complete control over their client-server, web based, and computing solutions..."
The statement above is true in terms of choice of service providers. However, when it comes to security infrastructure, I would suggest that control will be the opposite: the Cloud service provider should have the control of the end-user client machine in order to secure the service and the data (especially when we are talking about enterprise cloud enablement solutions).
Posted by: Eugen Cozonac | Monday, August 17, 2009 at 09:32 AM