1. Business and financial skills The intersection of business and technology is always an overarching concern, but it is especially so when it comes to cloud-based computing. 2. Technical skills With the cloud, organizations can streamline their IT resources, offloading much of day-to-day systems and application management. But that doesn’t mean IT abdicates all responsibility. There’s a need for language skills to build applications that can run quickly on the Internet. 3. Enterprise architecture and […]
IT
The “cloudification of services” means that IT has become the backbone for every other part of the enterprise, and the department needs to evolve in order to keep up with the pace of change. That’s what Frank Slootman, president and CEO of ServiceNow, told the audience during his keynote at the platform-as-as-service IT solution provider’s Knowledge 14 conference, taking place at the Moscone Centre in San Francisco. “We really think IT needs to start thinking […]
Cloud computing services are becoming the norm in business and the total size of the industry has more than tripled in the last five years. In 2008, it was estimated at a value of about $46 Billion, and by 2014 it is estimated to be worth more than $150 Billion. The following Cloud Computing Infographic illustrates the growth of cloud services:
In my last post, I talked about the IT side of the “shadow IT” problem that cloud computing has created for companies all over the world. Cloud computing has enabled end-users to remove IT departments from the decision process when hiring solutions, especially software solutions, and also to keep these same IT departments out of the loop by using cloud-based applications that can be accessed through the browser, without any kind of installation or IT […]
Virtualization has become the key technology underpinning ‘cloud-era’ IT infrastructure because the ability to deploy virtual instances of servers, desktop PCs, storage devices and network resources allows existing hardware to be utilised efficiently, and makes for much better manageability, flexibility and scalability. The graphs below highlight adoption trends across various implementations and applications:
The World Wide Web has come a long way since 400 Arpanet users received the first spam message in May 1978. Journey back to 1969, when the U.S. military-funded research network Arpanet connected four computers, to take a look at the Internet, then and now. Renamed “the Internet” in 1984, the service reached a milestone moment when it linked 1,000 hosts at university and corporate labs. Almost 15 years later, the Web began making commercial […]
Only 28 percent of small-business owners completely understand the concept of cloud computing, while 42 percent of respondents said they are not using cloud computing at all and 35 percent said they were using it only for data storage, according to the latest “Brother Small-Business Survey,” from Brother International, which examined the role of technology in small business. Small-business owners also noted using the cloud for document management (21 percent) as well as business applications […]
Cloud computing represents enormous opportunities for domestic transport and logistics businesses around the world, according to Ralf Moller, general manager marketing for CargoWise and WiseTech Global. While cloud technology sounds complex, it is easy to find analogies that make this evolving mainstream technology easy to understand and adopt. “Around the world there are tens of millions of trucks in circulation, and still more drivers who hit the roads to keep supermarkets, stores, factories, hospitals, schools […]
Cloud computing has nothing to do with the weather and the technology is creating IT jobs and millions of people are using the cloud. So says an infographic designed to clear up misconceptions around cloud computing. The infographic published by DeVry University begins with a brief definition of cloud computing and lays out what people believe when it comes to the cloud before separating fact from fiction. The infographic also illustrates how people are using […]
Google research says financial bosses will take more active role in buying IT services Cloud computing will give chief financial officers (CFOs) the chance to become more influential on the technology side of a business, according to a new study. According to the research by Vanson Bourne on behalf of Google, half of the senior financial decision makers quizzed believe that as the adoption of cloud computing within enterprise continues to grow, CFOs will become […]
Like many of us of a certain vintage, Warren Wander owned a Sinclair ZX81, the forerunner of the ZX Spectrum, the first commercially available home computer. It is a measure of how far ahead of the curve its progenitor Sir Clive Sinclair was that the device was little more than a basic games machine, and barely a home computer at all. In 1982, it was like putting a Lamborghini in the wild west. No roads, […]
CIOs are worried: cloud computing is being used as a way for businesses to dodge the IT department and get services delivered more quickly. But as well as giving the CIO sleepless nights, this attempt to side-step the IT department is causing additional cost and complexity along the way. I recently wrote about how cloud computing deployments are kicking off without the CIO’s knowledge, and only coming to light when sys admins put their expenses […]
CIOs have tied their future career prospects very much to the mast of cloud computing, with recent research revealing that they believe cloud computing is shifting the focus of their role away from primarily technology onto vital business services, and increasing their chances of promotion to CEO. In a global survey of 615 CEOs, including Australian CIOs, 57 percent of the Australian respondents said that’s what they believed about the affects of cloud computing on […]
Expertly meshed information technology and voice technology services are the perfect combination of near term problem solving and long term competitive opportunities for organizations today. Delivered across a redundant and highly performing mesh infrastructure, mesh services have proven to lower or completely eliminate technology ownership problems, while improving the customer experience and productivity gains. Industry leading technologies and technology talent are available in any fraction or combination to fit your exact operational and budgetary expectations. […]
The CIO as we understand the role is under threat from Cloud Computing and ICT professionals need to start getting smart about their function. That was the stark warning from Oracle, a company whose conversion to the Cloud has taken time to go public. While once dismissed by CEO Larry Ellison as “just water vapour”, Cloud is now firmly on the Oracle road map as a top priority. Hence the appearance of John Abel, chief […]
Having attained some basic oversight and policy control over personal devices in the enterprise, corporate IT administrators in 2012 face the appification of enterprise services. Opening up platforms such as iOS and Android to outside developers brings an increased risk of malware. Mobile virtualization enables one physical device to run two parallel virtual phones, supporting enterprise and personal use without compromising enterprise security or personal privacy. These next-generation mobile devices will have quad-core Cortex-A15 processors […]
Virtualization and the server consolidation that it delivers will be the top priority for chief information officers in 2012, according to a survey by the research firm IDC. Savings from server consolidation will be invested in new IT initiatives such as cloud computing, mobility, data analytics, and use of social media for business purposes. When CIOs were asked by IDC to name their top three IT priorities for this year, nearly 40 percent of them […]
CIOs will have the opportunity to move away from the traditional scenario of spending 80% of their budget on maintenance and 20% on innovation if they harness cloud computing technologies. This in turn will raise the expectations put on CIOs from the boardroom, who will expect IT to drive business innovations. Cloud computing is shaking-up competitive landscapes as companies of all sizes can access the same resources and reach similar markets as a result. But […]
If you came here for the article with the title, “How Cloud Computing Will Change IT”, unfortunately, it has been removed at the request of the publisher of the website from which it was obtained. Asking me to remove it was within their rights, but I believe it was a shortsighted decision based on old media ideas about the copyright “protection” of assets and the imagined potential loss of ad revenue. I am not competing […]
A quarter of enterprise are using or planning to use tablet computers, according to a report from Forrester which surveyed over 2,000 executives across Canada, France, Germany, the UK and the US. However, devices brought into the enterprise by staff are unlikely to be well catered for, as Forrester found that just two per cent support random or rogue devices, while 17 per cent are already trialling their own choice of model. This is likely […]
Whoever said there’s not much new on the Web should have been around last week for the much-ballyhooed launch of Color – celebrated as one of the most exciting Web concepts to appear this year. If it lives up to its initial promise, Color represents a fundamentally new type of mobile social network that, in many ways, is almost the polar opposite of Facebook. So what’s so radical about Color? For one, Color has done […]
Cloud computing in Dallas ranked high in a recent survey of over than 2,000 SMB and enterprise IT decision-makers. Microsoft named some of the country’s top “cloud-friendly” U.S. cities as a result of the survey. In the findings, IT decision makers nationwide discussed how they are adopting and using cloud computing. Dallas ranked third among the most cloud-ready cities for large companies. Of IT decision makers, 46 percent believe the cloud is an engine of […]
CFOs have high hopes for cloud computing, even though they don’t appear to know much about it. Such are the findings from two recent surveys conducted by CFO. Asked about their current use of cloud-computing services, a majority of senior finance executives either have no plans to pursue it in the short term, or are doing so very tentatively. Nearly a third admit that they aren’t even sure what “cloud computing” really means. Yet, when […]
Just five years since mobile VoIP services were first introduced, it is on the cusp of moving beyond an inexpensive alternative for making international calls to becoming an integrated component of unified social networking services, says research house In-Stat. The coming years are expected to be transformational as mobile operators and associated players work out how to respond to a forecast of nearly 139 million mobile VoIP users by 2014, say analysts. “Mobile VoIP is […]
Cloud Computing creates great opportunities for Europe but various “legal, technical and commercial issues” need to resolved before it can be widely practiced, the EU Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes said at Davos 2011. Normally I prefer clearly defined concepts. But when it comes to cloud computing I have understood that we cannot wait for a universally agreed definition. We have to act. That is why I am really grateful for the opportunity to discuss […]
So much digital ink, on InfoWorld and elsewhere, has been spilled analyzing cloud computing — what it is, whether it’s anything new, whether it will change IT as we know it. But a recent conversation has me thinking that cloud computing’s greatest contribution may be in the way it applies the principles of mass production to IT. Last week I spoke with Siki Giunta, vice president of cloud computing and software services at global IT […]
Cisco is the latest company to release customer research into cloud computing trends, and only an average of 18 percent of respondents worldwide said they are using the cloud in any capacity. However, the outlook is better, as 88 percent said they planned to take up the cloud in some capacity within three years. The world is full of good intentions, of course, and surveys tend to be optimistic. That’s why companies pay to have […]
The research includes predictions for six technologies IT departments should consider in the coming year, including adoption of social media strategies, cloud computing and virtualization, as well as mobile applications and analytics tools. According to a study by IT analytics firm Info-Tech Research Group, 2011 will be the year of mass adoption for technologies the company said businesses have been slow to adopt. The research includes predictions for six technologies IT departments should consider in […]
Even a business operating in the clouds needs someone on the ground. In Alaska, Nate Gates is aiming to be what he called that “local throat to choke.” Gates founded Cloud 49 in July after four years as chief information officer for Chenga Corp., an Alaska Native village corporation, and his preliminary expectations have been exceeded as state companies explore and embrace cloud computing technology. “We thought it would be a slow road the first […]