The Cloud: Buzzword to Business Enabler

You know when you're in the middle of a hype cycle: when every product arrives against a backdrop of blue sky and fluffy clouds, you have to seriously question whether this is really contributing to our understanding of the subject.

However, let's not allow all this buzz to "cloud" our vision - there is clearly a solid basis for this unprecedented enthusiasm and companies are increasingly and successfully turning to cloud services to meet their infrastructure and application demands. Indeed, a recent Gartner report predicts that as businesses become increasingly digitised they are more likely to turn to newer cloud-based services rather than traditional outsourcing models.

Of course, making the immediate wholesale switch to a cloud delivery model would not work for many businesses, as less abstracted combinations of physical and virtualised systems continue to successfully support short-term and medium-term objectives. The evolution of an organisation's IT estate is dependent on many factors, be they commercial, functional or technological and the pace and priority of change will naturally vary between individual services and infrastructure components.

Either way, there's no doubt that the adoption of cloud computing will continue, with media and analysts alike predicting sustained and significant growth. But why does such optimism exist for the cloud and is now the time to start adding some substance to the hype?

Enthusiasm

The benefits of outsourcing and cloud computing are well-documented. The cloud model enables businesses to achieve far greater flexibility with their IT, simply provisioning and decommissioning technology and applications as and when required. This also makes a company far more agile - easily able to meet peaks in demand, satisfy rapid growth and accommodate change. Significant energy and cost savings can be made too - efficiencies in power and cooling are a core benefit of the cloud proposition, pooling and sharing resources over multiple customer environments.

And these are not just theoretical benefits. Companies worldwide are taking advantage of cloud computing right now and many businesses have already experienced tangible ROI.

However, in terms of widespread enterprise adoption, it is also important to recognise that the model is still maturing, with many organisations yet to consider cloud at all - so there is a great deal yet to learn for all involved.

Confusion

With most businesses yet to acquire the relevant knowledge and experience of cloud computing, there inevitably exists a lack of understanding around the topic and some level of confusion - it's probably fair to say that many enterprises are still not really sure what 'the cloud' actually is.

But it's easy to see why, as currently even individual components in a data centre are being marketed as cloud (or cloud-ready) solutions. While it's true that the 'cloud' is made up of infrastructure and services, its commercial foundation is a payment model and delivery structure that supports efficiency and flexibility. In other words, the cloud isn't just about a stack of technology, but redefining the way the organisations buy and manage their IT.

In addition to apparent confusion around its definition, businesses considering the move to the cloud have to become rapidly accustomed to new technologies, new terminology and new risks - security naturally becomes of paramount importance. This is often far from simple and takes time, education and experience. IT decision-makers have to be fully aware and comprehensive in their understanding of their IT infrastructure and the options available if they are to choose the right solutions for their enterprise - be they cloud or otherwise.

These days, IT underpins the operations of entire organisations -expensive, underperforming systems can affect every part of the business and can ultimately be very damaging in terms of cost, productivity and customer/ staff satisfaction.

New purchasing models - from CapEx to OpEx

As discussed, the cloud model also describes the way in which businesses go about purchasing IT. Previously, when procuring significant components or entire parts of IT infrastructure - particularly data centres - businesses would have to invest significant sums of money in technology that could very quickly become outdated. This model of initial major capital expenditure is difficult for many companies for a number of reasons, including retaining enough budget to purchase adequate equipment, the hiring of new expertise and purchasing in line with projected growth (rather than being able to match spend with actual growth).

The services model entails a very welcome shift from capital expenditure to operational expenditure. By purchasing IT in this way, enterprises no longer have to outlay the initial investment in the technology itself, instead simply paying a service provider for the use of the technology and services that they need at that time.

This pay-as-you-grow (or indeed shrink!) model is particularly attractive as it ensures far more efficient use of the already overstretched and limited IT budget, delivering the required services and performance as and when they are needed. The almost instant provisioning of data centre space or additional services ensures that a business can be far more flexible as it looks to expand and approach new markets.

There is really only one kind of company that can ensure the optimisation of this model and deliver the best value and flexibility to businesses: the vendor-neutral provider.

Bespoke solutions

By nature, a vendor-neutral services provider forms a network of strong relationships with a broad range of data centre operators and technology providers. This gives the customer the dual benefit of choice and impartial advice on the most appropriate best-of-breed solutions, which can be tailored specifically to their needs.

Greater choice delivers increased flexibility. For example, a company looking to purchase data centre space, servers and networking can do so via a single, integrated service provider that requires only one negotiation, one support number and a dedicated point of contact throughout.

With the right vendor relationships in place, this model can ensure the highest level of service for businesses at a significantly reduced cost. Delivering the right technologies at the right prices, with real flexibility and choice, continues to make the vendor-neutral service provider an increasingly popular option among enterprises.

Looking ahead

As cloud computing continues on its sharp upward curve, the confusion that surrounds the subject will begin to clear. Industries will become more accustomed to the new terminology, threats and architectures in place - resulting in greater clarity and understanding of the cloud, its potential and its limits.

For now, as the economy recovers and enterprises struggle to get the most out of already limited IT budgets, the cloud will appear to be a very attractive option. As mentioned above, not only does the move from capital expenditure to operational expenditure make more sense, but also the overall efficiency and flexibility savings also help ease the strain on those holding the purse strings.

Taking this a step further, in order to make the most of cloud computing, more and more companies will turn to the vendor-neutral provider. With their unique ability to deliver bespoke, varied and flexible solutions to customers, such providers look set to dominate the delivery of cloud services.