So why would you move your data and server functionality to the cloud? I have asked myself this many times, and I have come up with the following answers.
First let me say, it might not make sense for all companies to do this. Companies that process massive quantities of data or companies that work with high-end video, it does not make sense. It would be a limit on capabilities, and with today’s bandwidth, it would hurt productivity greatly. Of the 5,000 customers I have worked with or prospects I have talked with over the last 15 years of consulting, I have found that about 5 to 10% of these companies would not be good prospects for cloud computing. For the rest of the businesses, cloud computing could make a lot of sense. So saying that, why would they want to do it.
Cloud computing could reduce their overall expenditure on IT. The software, hardware and labor costs will all go down in a cloud environment. Second, the business will gain greater reliability in the cloud by reducing the number of single points of failure. Our clients today experience a high percentage of uptime, but there are the occasional server outage, and weekly workstation issues. With a full cloud solution, meaning no servers onsite and all machines replaced with dumb terminals, I am confident this uptime will greatly increase. I would expect an uptime in the 98 or 99% range for all users. Third, productivity will increase with the ease of use of the computer system from anywhere there is a internet connection.
Given these three facts, I would highly recommend any company to look at cloud computing. You don’t have to move your technology from premise based to the cloud all at one time. It can be done gradually over many years if so desired.
I look forward to comments on this posting. The cloud is new, and I am sure there are many more reasons to go to the cloud.
Thanks.
Steve Combs
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