Your head's in the clouds...

May 28, 2010

Should your data follow?

Cloud computing may well be the ICT equivalent of a closet organizer: a place for everything and everything in its place - take it out when you need it, put it away when you don't. No muss, no fuss.

Sounds good, but might there be a downside to external hosting or service acquisition? That's one of many questions posed by Mark Driver, Gartner Vice-President, Research, when he spoke to ICTAM members on April 7th.

Driver leads the investigative charge at US- based Gartner on the cloud computing front, wrestling with the evolution, expectations and implications of this rapidly emerging technology. He's a fan, but also quick to offer cautionary notes that he feels anyone considering 'the cloud' ought to be aware of.

"The cloud is an industry-changing concept," he says. "The potential is enormous, but we're learning as we go. Anyone considering cloud platforms, applications or software services must first and foremost be aware of what it is they want to accomplish. There's a lot to think about."

Driver says his company defines cloud computing as 'a style of computing where scalable and elastic IT-related capabilities are provided as a service to external customers using internet technologies.' He says the best-case scenario is one where consumers have ready, secure access to data, the ability to customize their access to resources depending on their needs, and a business model that enables a 'pay for use' approach.

"The cloud should provide services that respond to the demand of the consumer. You can remove or add resources as needed. And because services share a pool of resources, consumers receive the benefit of economies of scale. And, you pay for what you use and only what you use. All this contributes to the cloud's value, as opposed to its cost."

Still, there is some resistance to working in the ether, and Driver is the first to acknowledge it. He maintains, however, that many of the things keeping CIOs up at night are realities they're already facing with internal systems.

"People worry about loss of control: what happens if my provider crashes, or worse, goes out of business? What happens to my data? What if I become dissatisfied with the level of service with one provider - how hard is it to migrate my data? How do I know my provider isn't selling my data? All this is very real, and any consumer would be foolish not to have these concerns in the back of their mind. The reality, though, is that many of these things are a risk for you now, with or without the cloud."

Determining where the cloud might be of benefit to your organization lies in careful planning and personal research. Gartner maintains that the cloud's service delivery and consumption model is a sensible business decision that can be successfully leveraged if entered into with clear expectations. So how might you harness the power of the cloud for your organization?

First, compare your cost of capital expenses to those of cloud providers. What are you spending that you wouldn't have to using an external provider? Then, identify workloads with which you can experiment - email, for example. Then, wrap existing applications to migrate to the cloud. Finally, download a free cloud platform to try internally. "You'll get immediate impact and feedback," says Driver. "It's a myth-busting approach because you're actually working in the environment, personally gauging its effectiveness and value without feeling you've compromised the stability of your business or the security of your data. Once you've tested it, it's easier to make an informed decision about how to use the technology."

As names like IBM, Intel and UPS enter the arena as cloud providers, the jitters experienced by even some tech savvy early-adopters should diminish, says Driver. "Part of the problem has been a lack of trust. As respected names backed by reputations for both innovation and diligence become players, the comfort zone will expand."