Educating you on the benefits and "how to" of integrating cloud computing with your business network.

Five years ago, “the Cloud” was a, well, cloudy concept for most businesses. Today, businesses are embracing cloud infrastructures at an accelerating pace. And for businesses that are yet to fully embrace the Cloud, many use cloud infrastructure to extend and enhance their computing resources available for everything from corporate infrastructure to sales cycle and CRM. Businesses can do a lot in the cloud – and cheaply. But some modicum of care is advisable.

Cloud computing offers significant benefits and causes new concerns. Balancing the benefits and the concerns is something each business owner, C-level exec and IT professional needs to do.

The Cloud makes available a vast amount of resources at bargain-basement prices. It’s an easy fix when the answer hardware replacement costs pennies an hour instead of hundreds or thousands of dollars in Cap Ex. But before pulling the rip cord and finding no parachute, businesses need to take stock of their ability to manage these new resources. Do you have adequate staff to utilize all this new computer horsepower? Do you have IT support up to the requisite re-design of the way they will be needed to support your firm in the Cloud? While cloud computing offers many benefits, it cannot hire you new staff or train your existing staff to fit.

Another thing to consider is that using cloud computing changes the cost of doing business. Instead of the sunk cost of physical hardware in your data center, the cost is measured very clearly by the amount of time you use hardware (a sort of real or virtual “pay by the drink”), the hardware and software you need, and the amount of data that flows through the system. Using cloud resources in a cost-effective manner means using only the hardware you need, only for as long as you need it and only passing data around if you really need to.

When using cloud computing environments, the costs are switched from Cap Ex (one big upfront cost in an asset that depreciates over time, and minimal cost per use) to Op Ex (little or no upfront cost, no depreciation, but pay per use). This means utilization can and should be optimized, requiring better tracking on number of active users, etc. Better communication about resource needs between management/users and IT can save – or cost – your firm significant sums.

Know what your dollar is buying you. Cloud providers offer different types of services, from backups to load balancing across time zones to uptime guarantees. Pay for what you need, and don’t pay for it if you don’t.

Cloud computing offers infrastructures that are more scalable and adaptable than ever before. Yet, that scalability and adaptability needs to be effectively managed if business is to optimize the benefits of the Cloud. Businesses shifting to the cloud may also need to re-train and re-tool staff and methodologies. It isn’t enough to embrace the Cloud, you need to “work it” too.

Cloud computing, in its typical form, offers valuable business advantages, but it also poses some significant limitations and unexpected costs that should be thoughtfully considered before “taking the plunge” to move toward Cloud services. Among the most prominent considerations in this regard is the increased fragmentation of IT services as well as the inherent bandwidth and reliability limitations of your Internet connection.

Limitation #1: Fragmentation of Services – the dilemma of Internet-delivered cloud computing

The productivity and cost benefits offered by cloud computing are counter-balanced by the added complexity it brings to managing your network. Now, instead of one vendor, your company has multiple vendors to deal with.

In the Cloud, your network becomes de-centralized and more difficult to manage. The current model for cloud computing is comprised of multiple Internet-based application providers hosting specific programs and data for your company on their servers. Your company accesses applications over an Internet connection, along with all the data created using their applications, not yours. You have turned over specific apps into the hands of outside providers. But you still have the responsibility to manage your own network components such as your router and firewall, Internet circuit, PCs and laptops, any servers still at your location, networked printers, copiers, fax machines, wireless access points, iPhones, iPads, BlackBerry devices, SmartPhones, and PDAs.

These Cloud applications providers host specific programs for you and can’t help your company with all of the other components and devices that are part of your network. They can only help you with the specific programs they’re hosting. So, by outsourcing certain software and functionality to Cloud application providers in an effort to reduce the complexity of your IT systems, you’ve actually increased that complexity. By transferring only specific services and functionality to hosted service providers, your company becomes mired down in finger pointing and uncertainty, especially when it comes to getting important technical problems and issues resolved. This will ultimately will increase the costs of managing your IT systems.

Your business needs only “one throat to choke,” not several, when your network isn’t working properly and your employees are losing productive hours while waiting for the technical problems to be resolved.

Simpler is better. The greatest efficiencies come with increased centralization of IT systems and management processes, not with more decentralization.

Limitation #2: Internet Bandwidth

With applications delivered by cloud computing, your network will perform only as fast as your Internet connection will allow.

But your Internet connection is far slower than the existing connection between internal servers and workstations in your office.

If you have a T1 for Internet access, your Local Area Network, that connects everything together at your office campus, is 650 times faster than your Internet connection!  There’s simply no way to make programs and data access perform as quickly over a slow connection.

Limitation #3: Internet Circuit Reliability (or lack thereof)

Depending entirely on your Internet connection to access certain business-critical programs and data is risky, especially when your Internet connection goes down.  When the connection to the Internet is lost, so does productivity. Your staff cannot access important programs and data.

There are complex and costly ways to address this potential crisis in advance – like installing and paying monthly fees for a second high-speed Internet connection, plus a second router and firewall, plus a system to provide automatic failover if your primary circuit goes dark. This is another example of increasing complexity and extra costs to your network in one area to decrease complexity, headaches and expenses in other areas.

The Answer: Local Cloud Computing

The current version of cloud computing presents too many limitations and added complications. A better solution will provide the benefits of Cloud-hosted hardware and software by addressing the problems resulting from a) lost Internet connectivity and b) fragmentation of services.

Local Cloud Computing addresses these two key areas of improvement. First, it provides an on-site device that prevents interruptions to productivity when the Internet connection is disrupted. And secondly, it provides a  local trusted advisor – a “boots on the ground” local IT provider – as a dedicated part of your business’s IT support team. This trusted local advisor is an essential element to helping your business navigate current technologies and leverage them to your company’s greatest advantage.

A CDW-sponsored study of 1200 IT professionals shows that, while many organizations (84%) utilize at least one cloud-based computer application, only roughly one in four (28%) have a specific, methodological plan for adopting cloud computing.

Respondents indicated a slower-than-thought transition to the cloud.  Roughly half of those surveyed (42%) said that current computer applications in use could potentially be run “in the cloud,” yet only 1/3 anticipated cloud computing being a major expenditure for their organization by 2016.

Survey respondents continued to voice the same concerns over cloud computing (of note: security concerns and “transition pain” – what legacy applications can or cannot easily move to the cloud).  Of those actively considering implementing the cloud, the largest number favored a private cloud, where security concerns are minimized.  However, private cloud structures make the most sense for only very large organizations, due to cost and other constraints.  Very few respondents (7%) expressed plans to move to the public cloud.  While a hybrid cloud solution (“privatizing” the cloud in varying ways) would also allay many security concerns and other shortcomings of the public cloud, only about one in five (19%) indicated plans to move in this direction.

For now, it seems pragmatism is winning out over a more aggressive approach: many organizations are embracing the cloud albeit more slowly than anticipated by some, selecting cloud solutions that make the most sense (and require the least interruption) for their organizations.

Unless you’ve recently crawled out from under a rock or awaken from a Rumpelstiltskin-like sleep, the term “cloud computing” is not new to you.  “It’s become the phrase du jour,” says senior analyst Ben Pring of technology researcher Gartner Group.

The problem is: everyone seems to have their own definition of the Cloud and cloud computing.  These definitions range from narrow (virtual servers available over the Net) to very broad (any computing resource you consume outside your firewall).  And cloud computing is still in its early stages – perhaps beyond infancy and (gasp!) approaching the “terrible 2’s” – with a diverse group of providers (diverse both in size and in quality of services and reliability) for the unsuspecting cloud services consumer to navigate.

In a recent InfoWorld article, we read: “Cloud computing comes into focus only when you think about  what IT always needs: a way to increase capacity or add capabilities on the fly without investing in new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software. Cloud computing encompasses any subscription-based or pay-per-use service that, in real time over the Internet, extends IT’s existing capabilities.”  The InfoWorld article goes on to provide a rough breakdown of the forms and functions of cloud computing.  Read more.

Hmmm…  Services are confusing and diverse.  Service providers are a mixed bag of reliability and not.  Even definitions are still – sorry, here it comes – cloudy.  What’s the SMB business owner – or even IT professional – to do?

A few basic guidelines will perhaps serve you well.

1. The Cloud and cloud computing are here to stay.  This is The Next Trend in business (and, for that matter, personal) computing.   Get with it or get left behind.

2. The Cloud and cloud computing are more than just a fad or marketing mistake – this isn’t Vista or the Pet Rock.  There’s plenty more than sizzle to this steak: at its best and brightest, cloud computing offers cost-savings, streamlined operations, power/capacity (what Mazda calls “zoom-zoom”)  previously beyond affordability for most SMBs, plus flexibility and scalability.

3. Take your time – just not too much!  Cloud computing is still shaking out and defining itself – and there’s still occasional “snake charmers” out there – so prudence and due diligence are the order of the day.  But there’s a lot right about cloud computing that you can use.  And keep in mind many competitors are moving in that direction and may soon gain a competitive edge on you if you wait too long.

4. As part of your cloud due diligence, look for service providers who are knowledgeable and practical in their approach, have a proven technology record with their clients, and offer a breadth of cloud services so you have fewer providers (the dewer the better!) to rely on and to hold accountable.  “Too many cooks spoil the broth” applies to technology as well as cooking.

Happy hunting!