It seems there are two steps when it comes to any technology trend. First, people criticise and ridicule. Then, companies start to adopt it, with the erstwhile critics conveniently forgetting all the concerns they might have previously had. The same can be applied to cloud computing.
Initially, experts felt the cloud could not offer the same degree of security and convenient access to information that on-site solutions provided. These sentiments started to change as broadband access improved, the cost benefits to using cloud services started making sense, and security and uptime reached a level that satisfied risk management policies.
Additionally, this thing called consumerisation of technology has been happening for the past few years. In this instance, it meant consumers started to increasingly use online services ranging from e-mail, storage, music streaming, and the like. This changed people's expectations from the companies they worked for, to the extent that they wanted their employers to embrace cloud computing based on all the convenience it offered.
The past two years have seen many extol the benefits of using the cloud, providing counter-arguments to any of the many potential disadvantages this approach involves. Things like saving costs on IT support and physical hardware infrastructure, for instance. But, just as with any technology, businesses need to carefully consider the extent to which they embrace the cloud for their organisational requirements.
The cloud is not going to go away. In fact, many consider this to be the next big shift in the ICT landscape. And while the cloud is a good thing, decision-makers need to closely investigate what approach is best for them.
Questions and answers
On a systemic level, a company should ask how open is the cloud environment for the requirements of the business? In practice, very few providers can give companies the flexibility they require to suit their specific business needs. What many people forget is that many cloud solutions are simply off-the-shelf solutions. Certainly, the shelves are more digitally enhanced than those in a typical retail store, but they are boxed offerings nonetheless.
A truly effective cloud approach entails one that is built on open standards. Just as with the operating system a company standardises on, or any piece of mission-critical software, there needs to be a standards-based approach that sees an organisation customise and refine it for its specific requirements. This will see the industry becoming better at regulating itself by developing cloud services that are based on these open standards.
Another factor to consider is how easy it will be to migrate to another environment, and will the company be able to scrub all of its information from the databases of the vendor? For those with Facebook profiles and Flickr accounts, think of how much personal information is invested in those platforms. Now imagine having to remove all that information and going to another platform. Just the pain of moving photographs on their own would put most people off. The same holds true for company data, where it often becomes easier to accept the challenges, risks or costs of a service provider to avoid the unnecessary time and expenses of migrating to another one.
By using cloud platforms that comply with open standards, this risk of being locked out of the company's corporate data is mitigated. These standards allow companies to easily migrate between providers as technology evolves or as needs change with the growth of the organisation.
There is no stopping the momentum of cloud computing across corporate and consumer landscapes. What needs to happen, though, is to ensure this growth has open standards as a foundation to guarantee there are no limitations or restrictions that are enforced when a company can least afford it.
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