Highway To The Perfect Storm

On Wednesday night I attended the 'Finding Value amongst the Clouds' at Bird & Bird’s London offices.

During the past few years a quiet revolution has occurred. It is changing the way in which our increasingly connected world operates. A range of new services and products are being made available to business and consumer alike as computing becomes a utility service, allowing us to pay for what we use and when we use it.

This represents a huge opportunity for business, both in terms of using ICT to gain greater business advantage and also in being at the front of the wave, developing new services and products for a recovering global marketplace.

Proponents of cloud computing technology claim the virtualisation of IT and data offers businesses increased flexibility, reliability and savings. However, it's clear that its disruptive effects have shifted existent revenue streams, replacing those business and market structures already in place.

As the move continues from fixed to flexible computing services, vendors and end users alike must understand the impact of this converging phenomenon. Not only does cloud computing bring new and exciting opportunities, but difficult and testing questions too.

Approximately 25 people from all areas of business attend last nights meet up. From lawyers, analysts and consultants to visionaries, marketers and telecom specialists. None of us could come up with a coherent or sound definition of cloud computing. Not one.

Why? Because cloud is just a concept with no defined boundaries yet. Sure it’s the next step up from utility computing but the possibilities are limitless. It is a vision, a concept, an ideal.

One thing is for sure. We are building towards the perfect storm. All the infra structure is in place from web based application, network capability, broadband speed and robust infrastructure.

The question should be: What happens next? The pessimist could argue that cloud is a passing fad. Within a year, the prophetic excitement and buzz around cloud computing will have passed and we’ll be on to the next visionary concept.

But I am not a pessimist. Cloud is here to stay and it’s ready to explode. The problem herein lies with who will take the first leap? Nick Heyward, Research Manager Technology and Telecoms, Barclays Commercial Bank argues the big enterprise’s have robust IT infrastructure and system integration already in place. To change to a cloud based set up would require huge redevelopment and time to ensure that all existing applications are set up to run on a cloud based system. And there is still no proof that long term will see undeniable ROI? It’s a risk for any CTO and business especially in the current economic climate.

SME’s are a different story according to Kate Craig-Wood, CEO of Memset. The claim to be the leading developer & supplier of virtual dedicated server systems in the UK. Kate says her business is seeing 2% growth per month - a strong indication of small business desire to engulf the potential for cloud computing.

From a consumer point of view, the chances are you’re probably already using the cloud; whether it’s a web based email service like Gmail or an online back up solution like Carbonite.

Bob Rapp, Head of User Communities at Vodafone summed it up quite nicely. When you have a spare weekend, try setting up a business using what’s available on the Internet for under £100. The point being that everything from hosting to CRM, storage and back up can be outsourced to the cloud for next to nothing already.

As for our intended aim of last night’s convergence conversation – Finding Value amongst the Clouds – we never actually got round to answering it. Or perhaps I’ve just done that?