To cloud or not to cloud

By Issam Alameh

These days, most businesses operate in that virtual space between the screens of powerful handheld devices and constantly connected boardrooms. However, although businesses have changed where they carry out their activities, the need for powerful applications to empower these enterprises still exists.

Bulky servers, expensive technical support and inaccessible information no longer have a place amid successful ventures that strive to compete with larger operations. In cloud computing, applications, information and resources are all stored on the internet. The idea behind this is that it alleviates businesses from the rigorous hassle of establishing expensive and tiresome infrastructures locally in which to deliver their services in an effective and sustainable manner. Instead, their entire operation can be safely stored, administered and customised to their needs remotely, and at a fraction of the cost. As such, more and more successful businesses are moving to the cloud to create additional space right here on the ground for them to succeed.

We are seeing a real shift in the way companies operate. Big businesses are cutting millions of dollars in IT budgets, while smaller businesses are gaining access to services, which were previously exclusive to larger operations. The cloud is a true encapsulation of the power of the internet to change the ways in which we conduct business. It gives big businesses the chance to grow at a faster rate, and the chance for smaller businesses to compete with the bigger ones. It is safer, more reliable and definitely more accessible. Businesses can focus on their core specialty, without having to allocate so much of their resources to building an effective IT infrastructure.

In the cloud, solutions are customisable to the greatest degree of detail, and they combine as many applications as you need on a seamless platform. Businesses no longer need to hire overqualified staff to run their networks. With cloud computing solutions, all the expertise is included. Staff members can maintain, customise and expand the cloud with minimal training. Once your business is in the cloud, the sky is the limit.

Although every company would be interested in what cloud computing can bring to their business, some are still reluctant to trust sensitive information off-site. However, a cloud computing concept can be adopted behind a company's firewall (or managed infrastructure). Companies with well-established IT infrastructures can take their infrastructure to a higher level by introducing private - or even hybrid - cloud solutions.

A private cloud would utilise virtualisation along with an added management layer. This would provide corporate network and data centre administrators with the ability to reallocate computing resources and make an infrastructure elastic and able to respond to peak periods easily.

Finding out how cloud computing can benefit your company requires some work, and it usually starts with training, which should be delivered to all decision-makers, executives and IT managers; the training then is followed by an assessment session with an experienced consultant.

Findings from such assessment should provide the needed information to select the services that can be moved to the cloud, and will enable the organisation to assess the ROI and performance gains from implementing private cloud. Needless to say, planning is the key to a successful cloud implementation.

Implementing a private cloud within your organisation would provide the ability to react quickly to major business changes, along with a smarter use of resources. If you think you are new to cloud computing, think again if any of these names ring a bell: Skype, Google voice, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Picassa, YouTube, Flickr, BitTorrent, Hotmail and Yahoo. The cloud is already here.

About

Issam Alameh is CEO of Alameh Networks, the c-Business Company. Issam is a self-confessed cloud computing evangelist who is working on changing the way people do business in the Gulf region, and is the founder of Qatar Business Community www.business.com.qa and can be contacted issam@alameh.com