Cloud computing is not a relatively new piece of IT, and most people are familiar with this technology via such simple tech as “sending an email using a third-party Web-based email service provider, such as Google mail” (Price). Business and corporations, however, are having difficulty figuring out where cloud computing fits in the workplace. Cloud computing evolves the corporation by doing away with company kept software by “enabling IT products to be consumed as services” (Price). It is like taking scattered and dissembled information and putting it in one centralized hub for everyone to use. According to Simon Wardley, a researcher at CSC’s Leading Edge Forum, “’with cloud computing we’re seeing a shift from an IT product-led world into an IT service or utility world’” (Price).
So how exactly does the technology of cloud computing fit in the business world? The true answer is no one knows exactly where “The Cloud” will fit in, but it will definitely change the face of business with the sky being the limit (no pun intended). An article by Rajukmar Buyya, an associate professor of computer science and software engineering at the University of Melbourne, along with his colleagues suggest that there is a “perceived vision that computing will one day be the 5th utility (after water, electricity, gas, and telephone).” (Buyya) This would suggest that like the other utilities, computing would be a public service that can be paid for on an individual user basis as stated before.
Skeptics believe that along with its inherent benefits cloud computing also poses. “Notably, these include security of enterprise data that stored in the cloud, risk of lock-in to cloud platform vendors, loss of control over cloud resources run and managed by someone else, and reliability” (Hinchcliffe). These are valid concerns pertaining to cloud computing especially in regards to security and reliability. There will always be a question of security when information is held in one central location with most of the content available to the public. In regards to reliability, Hinchcliffe comments, “for large organizations a risk-managed wait-and-see attitude tends to prevail” (Hinchcliffe). So basically, a new technology is suspect to most corporations until it “proves” its worth in business.
The excitement around cloud computing, however, far outweighs the skepticism, and companies are exhibiting varying results with this IT. A major reason computing is generating so much excitement is because it “ [allows] companies to mobilize IT resources quickly, cloud computing also improves business agility” (Price). Business agility is greatly shaping the world today and cloud computing is helping. It allows for companies to access information from anywhere around the world greatly facilitating the business process. For instance, a guy in India can negotiate with a guy in the U.S. via a Web 2.0 technology such as Second Life (Thomas). This is cloud computing. This is the future of business. So while we still might not know the full capabilities of cloud computing as a piece of IT in business, it already has created a buzz in the world and will continue to.
Works Cited
Buyya , Rajkumar, Chee Shin Yeo, Srikumar Venugopal, James Broberg, and Ivona Brandic. "Cloud computing and emerging IT platforms: Vision, hype, and reality for delivering computing as the 5th utility." SciVerse:Science Direct 25.6 (2009): 599-616. Web. 21 Feb 2011.
Hinchcliffe, Dion. "Eight ways that cloud computing will change business." Enterprise 2.0. Zdnet, 05-06- 2009. Web. 21 Feb 2011.
Price, Michelle. "Pinning Down the Cloud." Wall Street Journal: Tech (2011): n. pag. Web. 21 Feb 2011. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870473950 4576067461795827534.html? mod=WSJ_Tech_Above_Video
Thomas, Dave. "Enabling Application Agility - Software as a Service, Cloud Computing and Dynamic Languages." JOT: Journal of Object Technology 7.4 (2008): 29-32. Web. 21 Feb 2011. http://www.jot.fm/issues/issue_2008_05/column3/index.html.
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