Preso: The importance of cloud computing and related market opportunity

Introduction

Last week I attended an internal workshop with Onyx Group, to help them discuss the next steps for their cloud offering.

My slot was wedged between a fascinating talk about online backup from Alexander and Saaher from Securstore, and Steve Caughey of Arjuna Technologies Ltd (fyi this useful video re Arjuna’s Agility product).

My job was to give the 30k foot view of the wider trends and business context which make cloud computing a computing trend to watch.

Gartner take

The following quote and hype cycle graphic are taken from Gartner’s press release

Cloud Computing. As enterprises seek to consume their IT services in the most cost-effective way, interest is growing in drawing a broad range of services (for example, computational power, storage and business applications) from the “cloud,” rather than from on-premises equipment. The levels of hype around cloud computing in the IT industry are deafening, with every vendor expounding its cloud strategy and variations, such as private cloud computing and hybrid approaches, compounding the hype.

I think the ‘overall’ Hype Cycle usually comes out in August, so it’ll be interesting to see this years… :-)

Slides

Having suggested I publish my slides online, one of the audience wondered whether they would be in the Cloud: good point (the slides on Slideshare)! We’re [well certainly I am] beginning to take being able to publish things online cost-effectively for granted…

My take

As you can see from my slides, I largely agree with Nick Carr in The Big Switch: Rewiring the World from Edison to Google that the Cloud is going to have, as yet unknown effects on the IT industry – mostly to the good. And now is a good time to be doing something about it!

Appendix: Hype Cycle re social software

Gartner Hype Cycle report also contains some interesting statements re software which services social media needs:

The following have tipped just past the Peak of Inflated Expectations:

Social Software Suites. Awareness of social technology is high because of the popularity of related consumer social software and Web 2.0 services. Within businesses, there is strong and rapidly growing evidence of experimentation and early production deployments. The movement from point tools to integrated suites has brought broader adoption but also high expectations. Disillusionment is beginning based on the realization that, even with a suite, much work must be done to build an effective social software deployment. [JGS emphasis]

Microblogging. Microblogging, in general, and Twitter, in particular, have exploded in popularity during 2009 to the extent that the inevitable disillusionment around “channel pollution” is beginning. As microblogging becomes a standard feature in enterprise social software platforms, it is earning its place alongside other channels (for example, e-mail, blogging and wikis), enabling new kinds of fast, witty, easy-to-assimilate exchanges.

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