Friday, May 31, 2013

Cloud Workers: How Cloud Computing Affects Business Stake Holders

In recent years cloud computing has received a lot of hype.  Large established companies such as Microsoft are going “all in” with the cloud.  New cloud companies such as Salesforce are seeing tremendous growth.  Cloud listing websites such as cloudbook.net have a continuous increase in new providers.
Cloud providers list the many benefits of cloud services.  Cloud services can reduce the operational expenses by providing a pay as you go model that reduces the need for capital expenses such as servers and data centers.  Cloud computing is elastic, it can scale with demand.  Companies with variable demand do not have to purchase extra servers that go unused.

While the cloud provides some great advantages for many organizations it also has its pitfalls such as availability, latency, and rigid components.  This article talk about the pros and cons of cloud computing from different people within the organization.

Stake Holder

Wikimedia Foundation Marlita Kahn
By Lane Hartwell, via Wikimedia Commons
Business people looks to cloud computing to have systems that are lower cost, faster to produce. But they can also be limiting for an organization. The question business people need to ask is "is my company cloud ready".

Pros

Cloud computing give business people quick access to software. Many cloud software offerings can be tried before they are bought. Reducing the need for a selection process. Cloud computing relies on a subscription modle or pay-as-you-go model. Traditional software requires purchases of hardware and software before the project is started. These capital expenses can be quite large for the business. Cloud computing uses operational expence. Using opperational cost allows companies to start new projects without having to allocate large amounts of capital. This can help companies make

Cons

The fundamental difference for business people is that cloud computing software is often rigid. Custom built software is extremely flexable. The software build in house can be changed to meet changing buisness needs or changes in stragegy. Software bugs can be eaily fixed and issues addressed. Cloud computing companies can handle thousand of clients. They are often not responsive to the needs of indivdiual subscribers.

Finding the Ballence

Cloud computing can allow business to business to have more IT assets to help grow their company faster. It can also limit the growth of the company by locking it into a rigid system that does not meet its needs. When deciding if the cloud is right for the business one must first decide if the business can live with set IT assets or it needs custom software to grow. Some businesses follow a typical strategic rout. For them the cloud offers tools that are able to meet their needs. Other companies have a strategy that is not typical. For the company that has an out of the box strategy they may not be suitable to in an in the box software solution such as cloud computing.

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