Getting cloud computing right

In the May issue of Voice+Data magazine, Joe Sweeney, analyst at IBRS, opined that cloud computing is widely misunderstood, and as a result many organisations fail when they attempt to tap into the potential of the cloud.

Sweeney isn’t saying cloud computing is useless - far from it. He believes that so long as you understand and approach it correctly, the concept of cloud computing has great potential. In this follow-up piece, Sweeney clears up three major misconceptions surrounding cloud computing that often lead organisations to grief.

His position on what cloud computing comprises is simple:

“The thing that we call cloud computing - which we might call something else in two years’ time - is actually a set of really, really simple IT principles.

“Cloud computing, when done right, is in fact a mixture of a lot of things. And if a vendor comes along to you, and says ‘here’s my definition, and this is it,’ then you automatically know that that’s not the truth,” he says.

So let’s take a look at Sweeney’s cloud corrections.

1. Cloud computing is not about technology

“When you’re looking at your cloud computing strategy, do not look at it as a set of technical specifications or a set of technical issues. Cloud computing is not about technology or a specific set of technologies. That’s probably the biggest mistake organisations make,” Sweeney says.

“Cloud computing is actually about a set of business assumptions - a set of things that you want to achieve in your overall IT infrastructure.”

These include:

• cost transparency - making IT costs visible to the business

• commodity-based pricing - an OPEX model of pricing with economies of scale, as opposed to the CAPEX model of buying infrastructure outright

• on-demand services - the ability for business units to require computing services when they need them, and to roll them back when they don’t

• mobility - allowing employees to access data and services from a multitude of locations, via various devices

“Those are business issues that IT needs to address. That’s what we then should be addressing with cloud computing,” he says.

“Unfortunately, IT managers all too often look at cloud computing as a particular service offering - and it’s not, it’s just a set of many, many different technologies, not necessarily all from the one supplier, that will help the business.

“That’s the first mistake that organisations make - they put the technology first and the business drivers/business aspirations second. It’s got to be the other way around.

“We’ve been talking about that for 20 years - but it still doesn’t get done. Particularly around cloud, because you’ve got so many vendors now saying ‘we’re cloud’.”

2. It’s not illegal to host your data offshore

“There’s a misperception around security. The idea is that somehow you can’t move to the public cloud - particularly software as a service - because all your data might not be in Australia, and that’s illegal,” Sweeney says.

“Now that’s absolute and total bollocks - I’ve yet to find any law in Australia that says you cannot have your data hosted wherever you want.

“The question is one of policy, not legality. And when you talk to various organisations about their policies and how they were formed, the policies about not putting data offshore were set in many cases over two decades ago, and they were set because of overseas hosting. Not cloud, but overseas hosting.

“And these were really protectionist measures that were put in place. And quite frankly, that is not the reason why you want to be not moving into the cloud. It’s a policy that is not in line with what’s actually happening today.

“Your mistake is to just assume that the policies of old necessarily should be applied to cloud computing. I think a lot of organisations need to rethink that.”

3. Cloud computing won’t necessarily save you any money

“The larger your organisation, the less benefit there is, cost-wise, for moving to a public cloud. There’s certainly a lot of benefit moving to an internal cloud, but that’s quite a different issue,” Sweeney says.

With the public cloud, he says, you might get “a more flexible, more appropriate IT infrastructure, for around the same price, maybe slightly less, maybe slightly more”.

As such, “Cost shouldn’t be the primary determining factor. Because quite frankly, the bigger your organisation is, the less likely the cloud is going to save you loads of money.

“Definitely do the numbers. Do your total cost of ownership. But bear in mind that there are plenty of reasons why it might be better to keep your IT internal, through what we call a hybrid or a private cloud.”

Find more independent analysis from IBRS at www.ibrs.com.au.