Moneybusiness: Beane, Business, and Cloud

Like several million people this weekend, I went to see the movie Moneyball.  The movie is based on the book of the same name written by Michael Lewis.  It’s a baseball movie that isn’t about baseball  -- well, not much anyway.

In 2001, Oakland A’s General Manager Billy Beane saw his team lose in the playoffs to the New York Yankees.  The Yankees had a payroll of $125 million compared with the Oakland’s $41 million.  Beane knew the economics were not going to change – Oakland was a small market team that would have small market salary limitations.  

Rather than settle for mediocrity, Beane decides to adopt an unused and unproven strategy based on statistical analysis as a primary means of selecting players rather than traditional scouting techniques.

The statistical analysis methods, called sabermetrics, and developed by Bill James, allows Beane to find undervalued players with winning skills and potential – it allows Beane to field a playoff caliber team within Oakland’s budget.

Beneath the baseball overtones, the movie is about the struggle and drive to create fundamental change.  The traditional method of using a stable of paid team scouts to select players did not like the change.  The scouts dismissed Beane’s approach flatly.

When confronting the scouts about why he was essentially ignoring their recommendations for players selected using traditional scouting methods, and exasperated Beane concludes, “adapt or die.”

The sabermetrics model proved to be a better model. Every major league baseball team now uses the methods described in Moneyball.  Beane, James, and a handful of others fundamentally changed baseball.

A similar transition is happening today in cloud computing.  The cloud is simply a better way for most businesses to operate.  The old methods require discrete purchases of software, hardware, and system integration to provide basic business IT function.  They require on-site or hosted server rooms, and the expense and headaches that come along.

The new way collapses the hardware, software, integration, and hosting into a single capability provided by a single vendor.  It lowers cost, reduces complexity, and provides unprecedented scalability and flexibility.

The message for business owners is as clear as Beane’s message to the scouts – adapt or die.

Getting Out of the Way

“Gamers solve decades-old scientific problem” was the headline.  It turns out this internet thing might be more than a global delivery system for bad jokes and pornography, was our jaded yet optimistic response.

It so happened that researchers and programmers at the University of Washington recently created an online game called Foldit (http://fold.it).  Gamers are posed spatial puzzles and the solutions to the puzzles address protein design and protein structure prediction.

Through their solutions, the gamers “provided the crucial insights to solve the structure of a protein-sniping enzyme critical for reproduction of the AIDS virus. With help from game-players' strategies, researchers revealed the enzymes' structure within three weeks and identified targets for drugs to neutralize it” (source: Fast Company).

The researchers have been publishing the results, most recently in the September 18^th journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.

It is a profound example of computer technology becoming mature enough to get out of the way.

For most of our lives computer technology has been entirely too present.  Users were forced to understand hard drives, processors, servers, disks, modems and the associated bits that made everything happen.  We never really cared about these things of course; we just wanted the result – the abstraction.

It is true in business as well.  Owners and leaders do not want server rooms, servers, upgrades, hardware, and the like.  They also do not want hosting, which moves those headaches and expenses to a remote location.  Owners want the complexity and expense to get out of the way – they want cloud-based, integrated, software.

Facebook gets out of the way, just ask your parents and grandparents who are using it to share photos and keep in touch. 

Foldit gets out of the way, decades old scientific problems solved in 3 weeks.

NetSuite gets out of the way for business, integrating all the necessary functions for business owners, showing real-time integrated data from across the business, and keeping the focus on the business rather than the technology.

XChange: Charting The Channel's Path To The Cloud By Rob Wright, CRN

From our friends at CRN.com

XChange: Charting The Channel's Path To The Cloud
By Rob Wright, CRN
August 11, 2011 2:44 PM ET
Ten years ago at XChange Americas, all of the discussions were around channel conflict and VARs' concerns over their vendor partners selling direct.

"Those days are over," said Everything Channel CEO Robert Faletra during his general session address at XChange Americas 2011.

Instead of channel conflict, solution providers are talking about cloud computing and trying to figure out how to transform their business models and adapt to new technologies like virtualization. And these discussions are taking place during a time of extreme tumult in the channel; Faletra presented data from Everything Channel's research that showed the number of North American solution providers has fallen from 250,000 to approximately 189,000 this year.

But Faletra said he expects that number to climb back up over 200,000 soon as more channel startups are launched around cloud. "Solution providers, we believe, at least in the near future will be focused on building private clouds," he said. "We see a new ecosystem forming."

The weakened economic recovery has led to businesses and government agencies to leverage cloud computing to reduce costs, while the transition from capital expenditure spending to operational expenditures has enabled companies to invest more in cloud solutions and other business transformation services.

Faletra also said another trend is shaking up the industry: the massive proliferation of mobile devices, both at the consumer and commercial levels. "Mobility is just taking over," he said. "It's a huge opportunity for everyone in this room."

But cloud is the key force that's causing VARs to rethink their entire business models. Faletra explained that Everything Channel, based on extensive research, has grouped solution providers into three groups: vintage, which consists of traditional resellers that take title of vendor products and sell them on-premise to clients; progressive, which includes solution providers that focus more on selling services, with some on-premise services and some off-premise cloud and hosting services; and transformative, which consists of newer companies that focus virtually all of their business on off-premise services like cloud.

The path that leads traditional VARs to the cloud, Faletra explained, starts with on-premise product reselling, which then moves to on-premise services, and later some off-premise services like hosting and managed services, and then finally to off-premise cloud services and cloud building.

Faletra invited two solution providers with cloud experience on stage to share their stories. Dave Rice, CEO of TrueCloud, a former Fortune 500 CIO, started his company three years with the goal of creating a cloud-focused IT services firm. Rice said he got the idea after playing the popular PC game World of WarCraft with his son and realized that if a complex game can be delivered to millions of people over the Internet, then the same could be done with enterprise applications.

Meanwhile, Paul Hilbert, partner at Network Doctor said his company was started as a managed service provider nine years ago. But when he heard about cloud computing at a session during XChange Americas 2009, he began looking at transforming his business. Soon, Network Doctor was building private clouds for clients, which led to double the revenue the solution provider earned through traditional managed services.

Despite achieving success with new cloud models, both Rice and Hilbert gave XChange attendees words of cautioun. Hilbert said building private clouds independently with no third party support was extremely difficult in terms of the costs and training involved. Meanwhile, Rice warned of "cloud washing" – companies falsely claiming they offer cloud solutions. "I think it's a confusing time right now in terms of choosing vendors," Rice said. "Basically anything moved off-premise is being called cloud, which can make things confusing."

What’s in a Title?

In 1921, Milkman would have been a viable career choice -- by 1985, not so much.  There was a time with travel agent jobs were posted in newspapers, when video store clerk was a job aspiration for a high school graduate. 

I suppose it has always been the case that some jobs and careers have gone away while others sprung into existence.  It is notable that as technological advancement accelerates, so do new career opportunities.

A few actual jobs that did not exist broadly in 2000 include:

• Social Media Coordinator
• Energy Auditor
• Game Level Designer
• Search Engine Optimization Specialist
• Drone Pilot
• Mobile Phone Application Developer
• Undersea Robot Operator
• Cloud Computing Implementer

The last job on the list has special meaning because we have a few people with that job title at TrueCloud.  Real jobs reflecting a changing, more technologically advanced age.

Cloud computing careers are growing as more and more businesses transition to the cloud.  The transition is picking up speed according to Gartner, IDC and other industry analysts.  Businesses are realizing the benefits of the cloud – lower costs of ownership, increased security, increased systems viability, ease of use to name a few.

If job titles are a leading indicator, it is time to consider how cloud computing can help your business. 

TrueCloud wins Prestigious Next-Gen 250 Award from CRN

TrueCloud Named to CRN’s Inaugural Next-Gen 250 List
Ranking Highlights the Up and Coming VARS in North America

Tempe, Arizona, August 31, 2011 – TrueCloud, www.TrueCloud.com, today announced Everything Channel has named the company to the first ever 2011 CRN Next-Gen 250 list. The CRN Next-Gen 250 is an annual listing of innovative and nimble business and technology integrators, solution providers, and resellers in North America offering solutions and services in cloud computing, mobility, unified communications, virtualization and other emerging technologies.

The CRN Next-Generation 250 list is comprised of the most exciting new solution provider organizations (founded 2000-2011) bringing new and emerging implementation ideas and business models to the market. TrueCloud was selected for its performance with taking small to medium businesses to “The Cloud” and saving them 30% or more while adding robust performance features.

“This award from CRN Next-Generation is especially exciting for TrueCloud since it recognizes not only the consistent performers, but those companies on the cutting edge of the computer industry.”, said Dave Rice, CEO, TrueCloud

“In today’s competitive environment solution providers have to do more than just talk about innovation. The ability to quickly implement new processes, models and technologies is what drives margins and the bottom line,” said Kelley Damore, VP, Editorial Director, Everything Channel. “The CRN Next-gen 250 highlights the most interesting new solution providers who are demonstrating such innovation and uncovers the new techniques and technologies that are driving their success.”

TrueCloud
www.TrueCloud.com

TrueCloud was founded in 2008 by David Rice and Mark Wenig, two former Fortune 500 executives. In their search for a better method of IT delivery, David and Mark found their solution “in the cloud.” Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, TrueCloud aims to be the leading provider of cloud computing solutions for emerging and mid-sized business.


Everything Channel
Everything Channel is the premier provider of IT channel-focused events, media, research, consulting, and sales and marketing services. With over 30 years of experience and engagement, Everything Channel has the unmatched channel expertise to execute integrated solutions for technology executives managing partner recruitment, enablement and go-to-market strategy in order to accelerate technology sales. Everything Channel is a UBM company. To learn more about Everything Channel, visit us at http://www.everythingchannel.com. Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/everythingchnl.

UBM plc (www.ubm.com)
UBM plc is a leading global business media company. We inform markets and bring the world's buyers and sellers together at events, online, in print and provide them with the information they need to do business successfully. We focus on serving professional commercial communities, from doctors to game developers, from journalists to jewelry traders, from farmers to pharmacists around the world. Our 6,000 staff in more than 30 countries are organized into specialist teams that serve these communities, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently.

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