Top trends in cloud computing for SMEs
Ian
Moyse, Workbooks Sales Director, Eurocloud UK Board Member& Cloud Industry
Forum Governance Board Member
Following Gartner’s recent report on
what it sees as the 5 key trends that will shape cloud computing strategies
between now and 2015, provides his perspective on the impact cloud
computing will have on an SME audience.
Gartner’s trends tend to focus on the
larger organisations, typically 5000 seats and above, yet in the UK, 99% of
businesses are sub 250 employees and will have different requirements, benefits
and considerations when looking to utilise a cloud platform. Many
customers are still confused about what the ‘cloud’ is and what all the hype
and terminology means to them in real terms. Having spent a great deal of time
in discussions with such customers at events and meetings, I continue to find a
lack of understanding and clarity past the surface level of the cloud being
internet based. Most cannot explain SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, Private and public clouds,
yet alone know where they might be utilised to benefit their business and its
success. For the average smaller business the expectations and advice
needed around cloud are very different to those of the enterprise customer.
The top 5 cloud developments for these
companies will be;
§ Simplification of cloud services in terms of package and pricing to the
mass market customer.
§ Standards and bodies will continue to grow in importance, providing
customers a reference point to assist in their understanding and safe adoption
of cloud platforms.
§ Increase in Cloud Aggregation Resellers, cloud specialists who will
assist the smaller business with advice, support and even run their cloud IT
for them.
§ More education – both in terms of certification and training available –
to fulfil a growing requirement for cloud education and information.
§ New Cloud applications will appear without the brand name that smaller
companies will find more affordable and palatable to adopt, having no corporate
standards to overcome and less re-training costs or risks of an enterprise
customer making the same change.
Cloud brings great benefit to the
average size business, allowing the smaller business owner more choice and the
ability to afford solutions that previously were only within the budgets of
larger enterprise clients. Cloud platforms and services will also afford many
smaller companies to compete more effectively with larger competitors and to
enjoy growth against larger legacy competitors who are not nimble enough to
change systems and approaches to benefit from today’s more effective and
flexible cloud platforms.
To get the most out of the cloud,
companies must perform diligence as they would when buying any other solution,
asking the right questions and understanding and interpreting the answers to
make an informed decision.
10 key questions to ask before
signing up with a cloud service provider:
§ What are the terms and conditions in the service
level agreement (SLA)?
§ Are there penalties if a supplier fails to deliver
and what are they?
§ Where is your data in the system stored? Is it
in the UK, Europe, or the US?
§ Where is my failover data stored, if a primary
system in my locale fails is my data stored in any other jurisdiction?
§ Who has access to my data?
§ What has the provider’s success rate been in the
past?
§ Can they provide customer testimonials of similar
size and scenario to yourself? Can you speak to these customers directly?
§ Who is going to support the services? Will it be
their own staff or a third party?
§ Do they provide out of hours support? If so, what
kind of support do you get?
§ How easily can I extract my data if I want to leave
the service and in what format?
