Backblog | | Cloud Computing

Having used Google Docs for years now, I succumbed to Google's promos urging me to switch to Google Drive. I've been using cloud storage long before the term was coined and it was Yahoo Briefcase pioneering the concept (Google hasn't always done everything first). Well, I took Google Drive for a test drive yesterday and it crashed! I'm trying to get it towed off my computer and even that's failing, so I may be stuck with the wreck. (No more vehicular puns, I promise - although it is tempting to say I sufferred a Google Drive-by shooting.)

Earlier this month, ISG joined the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) as a corporate member. Here’s a description of this organization:

Independent analysts and consultants are hard to come by here in Canada, but long-time colleague Henry Dortmans is one of the best. He's from the technology consulting world, and has a deep reach into both the end user/IT community as well as the consultants and vendors on the solutions side. Like me, he's got an endless curiousity about the bigger picture, and occasionally puts together a survey to take the temperature of the market on current trends. He just did one on the cloud, and I wanted to share the key takeaways with you here.

HP might be one of the farthest things from a start-up, but the company knows more than a few things about innovation. And those insights could be very useful to small businesses.

I recently posted about ShoreTel’s acquisition of M5 Networks (which is still getting tons of readership!), which may signal the strongest validation yet for cloud-based VoIP as an alternative to premises-based telephony systems. The deal is good news for both companies, and even better news for the broader cloud communications space.

Unfortunately, ERP implementations still aren’t any easier than they were 15 years ago when I started in the ERP world. Despite the enterprise software industry’s best intentions to mitigate risk with cloud ERP systems, implementation accelerators, and other tools, ERP failure rates are still high and most projects still take more time and money than expected. For example, our 2012 ERP Report, which will be released next week, shows that nearly half (44-percent) of all ERP implementations fail to deliver at least half of their expected business benefits.

Deloitte Canada has been running this event for 11 years, and yesterday's TMT Predictions 2012 in Toronto is the biggest one yet.

Discussions around cloud security tend to be framed in terms of lonely ships sailing into uncharted waters: “You don’t know what you’re getting into,” we’re routinely warned. Actually, we do.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology defines a hybrid cloud as a “composition of two or more clouds (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities but are bound together by standardized or proprietary technology that enables data and application portability.”

We’ve been discussing the impact of Cloud Computing on cutting carbon emissions since its inception – but now that cloud services are being fully embraced from individuals to business enterprise, we are really starting to see the overall financial and environmental benefits.

As my colleague Bobby Neil and I wrote earlier this year, if you’re looking to buy Software as a Service (SaaS), it takes diligence. It’s important to understand whether you’re buying a true SaaS solution or simply a repackaged, “on-demand” version of the software. The same can be said for Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). A true IaaS service can, at times, be difficult to discern from a more traditional managed service.

One of the key benefits cloud computing promises to deliver is that of flexible, usage-based pricing for IT resources: use more, pay more; use less, pay less.  This model gives businesses transparency into actual consumption and eliminates – at least in theory – the problem of managing insufficient or idle capacity.  The result is optimized efficiency and a more agile enterprise.

We are constantly looking ahead. That’s why we have eyes in the front of heads, giving us the ability to look forward, to see what is ahead of us. This is particularly useful in an environment that changes so quickly, and the line between present and future is often blurred. In business, it is part of the job to look ahead, forecast for the future and be prepared for a changing landscape. The people with the corner offices are paid the big bucks to make these predictions and lead their companies to success. What does the future of your business look like?

Cloud ERP is clearly the talk of the ERP software industry. The marketing engine supporting cloud options such as software as a service (SaaS) and hosted ERP systems is very strong, even reaching into the consumer-facing side of things with Microsoft’s push into the cloud with Windows-based products.

Much is made of the importance of Cloud Computing, the endless options for what can be sourced to the Cloud, and the vast dollars that can be saved by moving services to the Cloud. But very little is said about what consideration should be given to specific financial structures and terms of a Cloud-based services agreement.

We all recognize that customer service isn’t what it used to be. We don’t expect personal attention anymore, we expect to serve and ultimately fend for ourselves – like online banking, or bagging your own groceries!

Think of the WORST possible hazard to your business. Is it…

Microsoft recently released its Windows Azure Pricing Calculator, adding to the growing list of simple, web-based pricing calculators for cloud platforms. Amazon Web Services, a public cloud pioneer, has had a pricing calculator in place since 2009. Of course, in true cloud fashion, it’s still in beta.

It is definitely possible in this obsessively convenient world for you to literally never leave your house and still be completely social, stay current, be entertained, and even build a successful business. Pretty much anything you want to do, you can accomplish from a 10’ x10’ room.

This summer, many of our Atum Team members are ‘on the move’ – moving closer to the office, to a newer-flashier location or simply just for a change in scenery. In some cases the process can be exhausting and stressful, worthy of a half-hour special on HGTV. But many times, it is an absolute necessity based on your individual needs… so in the end, the destination should be worth the journey! Right?

Apple has once again captured the attention of the Internet world with the unveiling of the iCloud, an online backup system that will allow users to instantly store their content on Apple computer servers so that they can be accessed anywhere from any device.