Cloud computing infrastructure for small business

For decades businesses have struggled to take control of their IT. As much as today's applications, hardware and communications equipment are fantastic business enablers, they can also be confusing, costly and the cause of great inefficiency. How can you be sure that the enterprise resource planning application you've just selected really will benefit your business?

It's not just a question of functionality either. Creating and maintaining an IT capability requires specialist knowledge and planning, especially in an era of vendor consolidation. You may think you've identified the right software to match your processes, but will the developer still be around in one, two or three years' time? What would be the impact on your business if the software is no longer being developed or supported, and you have to start over again? What about your hardware or networking suppliers? And where are you going to find staff with the skills to manage the system day in, day out?

Many of these concerns can be managed and their effects minimised in the larger enterprise but they are far less forgiving in the leaner environment of a small-to-medium enterprise (SME). Is it any wonder some business owners and CEOs find it easier to ignore the whole problem for as long as possible, choosing instead to stick with an outdated, slow and cumbersome infrastructure?

Different models, different times

The problem of developing an efficient IT capability for the SME is not new. In the 1980s, when hardware costs were prohibitive for all but the largest of businesses, the IT industry responded by packaging a less costly combination of data processing services and hardware time sharing.

In the 90s, outsourcing came to the fore. By the turn of the century, the more sophisticated model of hosted services emerged. Under this approach companies paid third parties to provide and maintain a fixed server or portion of a server. Effectively a hardware and services rental agreement, such services were often used by SMEs to develop off-site email or internet capabilities.

Technically, hosted services worked. They helped to lower IT costs, removed the need to employ specialist skills and took the pressure off in-house system maintenance. The downside was that they were limited and inflexible. They were solutions based on hardware capacity rather than business need. If the economy slowed, the company was still liable for the same server capacity and same server costs. If business boomed, there was no fast or easy way to deliver additional computing capacity. Nor could hosted services remove the problems associated with selecting and deploying other aspects of an IT infrastructure, such as the platform, applications or communications equipment.

A cloud on the horizon

The most recent attempt to help organisations develop an efficient IT infrastructure comes in the form of cloud computing and cloud services. Similar to hosted services, cloud computing uses the internet to deliver on-demand IT services to the business. However, this time, the services encompass the spectrum of IT infrastructure rather than just the hardware.

Entire platforms and business-quality software suites may be 'rented' and delivered via the internet. Companies can upgrade to the latest software version or dip their toes in the water, conducting limited trials of applications to ascertain fit with the business without having to commit to costly enterprise software licences. With cloud computing, companies have a way of obtaining confidence in a solution before committing the company to a new application.

Cloud services have also introduced flexible computing capacity. Disk space, CPU and memory can increase or decrease in line with business demand. Importantly, you only get charged for what you use. Responsibility for delivering applications, ensuring system security, troubleshooting, help desk services and system maintenance can all be assigned to the cloud services provider.

Cost - traditionally the biggest inhibitor when it comes to SMEs and IT - has also reduced under the cloud model. Cloud computing does away with big up-front expenses. It's all about 'renting' the capacity and functionality that your business needs. And because this capacity is rented as needed, not purchased upfront, the expenses become far more predictable, so they are easier to budget for.

Cloud computing has taken the lessons learned from time sharing, outsourcing and hosted solutions, and combined them with the power of the internet to deliver on-demand, cost-effective computing. The result? The business efficiencies offered by enterprise solutions are no longer purely the realm of big business. Cloud computing puts minimal risk, fast-to-deliver, easy-to-set-up IT services within the reach of every SME.