Cloud Computing for Enterprises –What is The Truth?

Cloud computing is the buzz word. It has created a fuss and upheaval for the benefits it brings to the table. Most cloud computing service providers are reaching out enterprises those have their own software. However, there are too many companies that define cloud computing differently. Yes, cloud computing isn’t the same for every enterprise.

No doubt, the benefits of cloud computing can radically change the IT landscape. However, there are many shades of cloud computing those are difficult to determine by any person or group adopting cloud computing. The adoption of cloud computing isn’t the only path for discovering channels of business success. We, as the users of this innovative technology need carefully analysis and evaluation of ways in which we generalize the value of cloud computing in businesses.

During the Insight Integrated Systems Real Cloud Summit held in Long Beach Calif, global experts of cloud computing participated. Most of the participants and business representatives were from the medium size businesses.

One of the experts during the summit asked the question that how many companies see custom software development as a part of their successful IT strategy. The response was an eye opener. Only 1% of the audience responded positively to this question. Thus, it was concluded that IaaS (Infrastructure as a service) and PaaS (Platform as a service) was not meant for these enterprises.

The misconception about cloud computing for enterprises

Companies like Dell, Pivotal and AWS, are primarily targeting the enterprises those are developing software services. Software services are mainly designed to be able to access over the network. It is built for a dynamic set of customers. If you have developed software for a particular person or for use in a particular department, then cloud is the right alternative. However, that is not the major market opportunity.

As a vendor, if you are selling cloud platform, services or infrastructure, you may not be investing efforts on the medium size businesses, which do not develop software. The opportunity lies with the mid-sized businesses that do not invest on developing software instead they access software services based on cloud.

Managing the shift is a complex scenario for most mid-sized businesses

When the companies look to make a move from infrastructure-centric model to a software centric approach, the thing that frightens the shift in technology is the ill staff that fails to manage the change. Conventionally, most of the IT departments rely on software those run on computers to accomplish their daily task. So, handling this shift would be a demanding.

As the companies continue to adopt an application centric approach, IT departments require a thorough understanding about the different operations of cloud computing. These operations are filer configuration, data center, router operations, data center cooling, NIC and BIOS configuration, etc to develop an understanding about the way application architecture leverage services offered by cloud providers and cloud platforms to bring together, data, consumers, computation and connectivity.

As most of the organizations lack these skills, the shift from infrastructure centric approach to application centric approach would take time. This would also delay the realization of the value that cloud computing brings for the operation teams.

In addition, if the companies continuously make a shift to the application centric approach, then it is likely to take away infrastructure jobs. However, it will also create application-administration jobs.

Why not custom apps?

Going back to the Insight Integrated Systems Real Cloud Summit where only 1% audience supported custom software development. The reason for this weak response would be the continuous evolution of technology that is disrupting every industry.

The technology interventions might have left many mid-sized enterprises in the conundrum of which technology to bank upon. Heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar is providing an online analytics and data collection service to maintain a record of the equipment condition. Moreover, even the political campaigns have started utilizing the custom software. Custom mobile apps are the need of the hour. But, to reap the benefits of custom software development, the use should be strategic.

Having discussed all the above consideration, a question arises -do enterprises really understand different cloud computing services? Do they understand the difference between selling infrastructure and platform services to enterprises and software services to mid-size enterprises? Should companies go for custom software development to support their business? These are some questions those are yet to be answered and thus, it is important to understand that cloud computing is different for different businesses.