If you haven’t used the word ‘cloud’ in a conversation regarding IT and Telecoms technology in the past year then you are either a) seriously behind the times, or b) so far in front of the technology that the terminology has evolved and you are now calling it, or indeed its successor, by another name.
But using terminology and actually understanding what cloud technology is and how it can benefit your business continuity plans are two completely different things. So on my blog today I’m going to try and de-mystify the whole concept.
So how did the Cloud concept come about?
The cloud concept is just another step in the evolution of technology which is driven by, as I see it, 3 key business drivers:
Flexibility to change and improve processes
The end game for most businesses is to generate revenue and therefore profit. The amount of revenue generated has a strong correlation with the amount of market share a particular business has gained (think of the major supermarket chains as an example). To be the best in the market you need to adapt to customer demand quickly and effectively and in the business machine one of the key areas which slows this down is the speed with which new processes and systems can be introduced or modified (whether for production, customer service, finance or human resources etc.) Cloud technology speeds up the implementation of these changes as a single change can be made once, for all stakeholders, in comparison to an isolated system change which then needs to be replicated across multiple functional areas or on individual PCs. The downside however is that if something also wrong, it also goes wrong for everyone (think of when twitter or facebook is down).
Maximising cost efficiencies
Maximising cost efficiencies through technology is a bit of a minefield. There are cost efficiencies to be had from implementing cloud services however it is dependent on your company’s cash flow and technical expertise. What I mean is this, if your company has large amounts of capital and technical expertise to invest in your own infrastructure you are more likely to enjoy cost efficiencies in the long run.
However if you do not have the cash or expertise up front (think of SME’s) then it makes sense to invest in cloud technology (the downside being that once tied in you will inevitably be paying a service charge year in year out as a consequence). In this sense, cost efficiencies will be enjoyed in the short to medium term, which in fairness gives you the opportunity to build up your business faster, therefore you should have no need to worry about an annual service charge when the revenue rolls in. Allowing your business to focus on business instead of IT, with no need for 24 hour support, gives you the freedom to prioritise on revenue generation.
Maximising security and resilience of business critical systems
In a world reliant upon digital information, security and resilience are everything. Data back up is one thing, but having entire systems and processes backed up over a fully distributed network is by far the safest option. So what does that actually mean? Well basically it means that your information is replicated over a number of different data sites, so that if one goes down you can still retrieve your info from the others. In other words spreading your bets! For those people who feel the fear of losing control of security, you can be re-assured that the issue is so hot that actually you are probably in better hands than if you employed security measures yoursleves.
Two Warnings
As with everything there are always upsides and downsides, and unfortunatley at the present time there are two things I would urge you to consider:
The first thing you need to consider when implementing cloud technology is your data exit strategy. When you become reliant on entering your information into web based services such as salesforce.com for example, their aim is to keep you locked into their product as a customer. Therefore should you change your mind down the line and wish to switch systems you may find it extremely difficult to export all the information you placed on the original system. However some companies have addressed this issue. Google has invested a large amount of money in a venture called The Data Liberation Front, whereby you can export data from some of their services (just don’t tell their shareholders!).
Secondly as a customer you are at the mercy of policy changes. For example should a service provider change their policy on a particular product or service there is very little you can do. However this is more of a problem for low end services rather than business critical services or premium rate products.
So there you go, a whistlestop tour of cloud technology, the benefits and pitfalls. For those of you business continuity managers who are hesitant to embrace resilient cloud technology I refer you to that old adage:
“The only thing harder than planning for an emergency is explaining why you didn’t”
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