Cloud Computing Myths? Oh Please! Part Deux
Nothing grinds my gears more than business users who judge a new technology based on their preconceived notions. Living in the Internet age, where information is basically at the tip of your fingers, it's hard to believe that one can't find answers to what they're looking for by simply Googling for it. Alas, I guess that's why some users have created certain cloud computing myths.
If you've read my previous blog post, you'd already know about the report from Frost and Sullivan entitled "Cloud Computing - A Reality Check. Dispelling the Myths of Cloud Computing". I've covered the first two myths and debunked them (sort of) so it's only natural that we proceed to the two remaining ones. Read more for Part Deux!
Cloud Computing is Not Suitable for Mission Critical Activities
Every business organization would have its own set of mission critical activities, and those involved seem to think that their services are not suitable for delivery through a public cloud because of latency issues. This faction believes that cloud services will not be able to support their workload, and thus cause delays of operations that are mission critical, which will ultimately result in a decline for their profits. My response? These people need to 'top-up' their knowledge with some recent developments in the business world.
Frost & Sullivan acknowledges a few key trends regarding this issue that will put an end to this myth. Firstly, top-tier cloud service providers do have the required technology, security and infrastructure to support giant workloads. Secondly, they also reported that in Asia Pacific, an increasing number of mission critical applications (such as ERP, CRM and HRM) are moving into the cloud with greater business agility compared to a traditional delivery model. Also, the increased usage of smart phones and tablets (and their limited data capacities & processing powers) among senior execs has led to its inclusion into the workplace because these devices are more suited to accessing data located remotely in the cloud as opposed to processing it themselves. There is a significantly growing number of large businesses with mission critical activities that run their business entirely in the cloud, such as Netflix, Jetstar and Groupon, and if these MNCs can run on cloud without affecting their mission critical activities, so can your business.
Private Clouds Offer The Benefits of Cloud Computing Without The Drawbacks
In a nutshell, cloud computing can be deployed via two main models - public clouds and private clouds. Recently, the prevailing belief among business users has been that by opting for a private cloud environment (where a cloud system is specifically maintained for a single tenant), businesses can achieve all the benefits of a public cloud (such as TimeTec Cloud) without any major drawbacks. My answer to this? Pffft. You guys can't be any further from the truth.
Our friends at Frost & Sullivan has given a few reasons why this myth is not true:
- Scalability: The scalability of a private cloud is ultimately limited to the amount of built-in capacity of the datacentra, whereas public clouds (such as Google's cloud services) are operated in significantly greater environments and thus gives you future up/downscaling flexibility.
- Economies of Scale: As public clouds are run out of larger datacentres, higher EOS can be achieved and this savings in cost of production will be passed on to clients. This is highly unlikely with private clouds, which can be rather costly (in general).
- Support Services: To deploy, monitor and manage a private cloud environment, an organization needs access to new skills and talent, as well as support services. Public clouds, on the other hand, are run by specialized service providers which will likely provide those skills and support services to you.
Conclusion
I understand that cloud computing is a fairly new concept for most business users outside of the IT industry, and this is why there are still minor misconceptions about the technology. This is made worse as cloud-based services are offered in various forms, in different pricing model, and with different marketing messages by the service providers. Hence, it's important for us (and our organizations) to dig deeper and understand the offered services before identifying which solution best suits our business requirements. Before I sign off, remember that despite all these myths, there is a cloud service for every organization, and it's just a matter of us finding out which one fits the bill.
By Ms. Nattalina Zainal, TimeTec Cloud Marketing Manager, FingerTec HQ
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