Transforming the Way We Get Work Done

Cloud computing is shaping up to be the biggest transformational event in information technology and management since the personal computer was introduced to corporate businesses in the 1980s. This is because like the personal computer revolution, cloud computing has everything to do with how businesses will utilize these new capabilities, not how IT will.


Cloud computing has been loosely defined as the aspirin that will cure whatever ails you as it has come to mean just about anything related to the Internet. While we all can't entirely agree on what the cloud is or isn't, one thing is clear: At it's essence the cloud deliberately intends to complete the abstraction of technology infrastructures in the modern business setting.


Companies don't care about CPUs, storage, bandwidth or the facilities and resources required to house those things. They also don't care about software maintenance, patching and upgrades or database management and tuning. The truth is they never really did; it was a prerequisite to reaching their business automation objectives and nothing more.


Cloud computing ushers in a new generation of information management solutions, packaged as all encompassing, pay-as-you-go subscription offerings that are scalable for businesses of all sizes. All are delivered via the Internet. Businesses won't be required to understand the nuances of these services any more than they concern themselves with how phone calls are completed through the infrastructure of one or more carrier providers today. You dial the number, it rings on the far end and someone answers. It's a complete abstraction as far as the user of the service is concerned.


Once upon a time in the not so distant past, businesses employed telecom experts on their staff to ensure that those services were provisioned affordably and reliably. Except for a very small number of companies today, this is no longer the case. In particular, decision-makers for small and midsize businesses have improved information system alternatives to slect from that didn't exist as recently as five years ago because of the advent of the cloud.


The last great single tenant, client server business application of the 1990s has already been delivered to the marketplace. With very few exceptions, every substantial, sustainable, commercially viable iece of business software constructed in the days and years ahead will be engineered to leverage the attributes of the cloud.


It's the owner-operators and the decision-makers for the small and midsize companies who either have already redeployed their information technology systems into the cloud or are presently planning to do so shortly, who will be the winners and the champions of cloud computing.



Dave Rice CEO, TrueCloud www.truecloud.com