Overview of the potential implications of Cloud and Mobile computing for small businesses

1. Richard Masters Cloud & Mobile Computing

2. Cloud Computing What it is and why should I care?

3. What is Cloud Computing? Shared resources include: Computer Hardware Application Software Information Devices “ Internet based computing where resources are shared.” Wikipedia

4. Overall User Architecture

5. Brief History Long history in networking/telecoms Things like M’soft Hotmail etc came along Came to prominence in 2006 when Amazon Launched :- Amazon Web Services. Driver= 10% Utilisation 2007 Google launched “Google Apps” 2008 Gartner stated “It was the technology of the future of computing” 2008 all major players pitched in: IBM, Dell, Fujitsu, M’soft, Red hat and new vendors: VM Ware, Net Apps etc. Huge investments in this area!

6. What Applications? All applications! Personal productivity applications (eg Microsoft office) Enterprise applications (ERP,SCM,CRM) Social Applications (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn)

7. Some Examples of Cloud Applications

8. Benefits of cloud computing

9. Financial Benefits Pay on a usage or utility basis. Pay based on consumption No CAPEX ( therefore no start-up costs) so all costs moves to OPEX OPEX is less because less maintenance and management costs OPEX is also less because cloud suppliers can achieve economies of scale Less in house floor space required Limited risk therefore RoI guaranteed Operating System and Browser independent

10. Other Business Benefits Affordable Access to much higher levels of application functionality. Therefore more competitive. Higher levels of reliability and security More secure because no local data to be lost or stolen Locality independent. Distributed or mobile/home based workforce. Potentially limitless capacity. Therefore supports: Mega applications and Viral growth. Revenue growth opportunity Basis for the facilitation of global entrepreneurship Smaller carbon footprint

11. Quotes from commentators “Cloud Computing is more than just a vaporware and is gaining traction amongst business owners.” ”Cloud Computing Is An Idea Whose Time Has Come” FROST & SULLIVAN ” I think you see many businesses today who leverage Google for example [and] I think for many of those companies the cloud is the only way in the medium term to get access to effectively enterprise class... robustness and resilience in a service for non-enterprise class investment with a limited up-front investment. For many small to medium sized businesses I think that will be a huge factor

12. “the tenth person they hired had to be for IT support. However, most firms didn't want to have to dedicate so much of their budget for this purpose”. Gregor Petri, cloud computing advisor at CA Technologies, claimed the case with most small businesses was After years of paying huge upfront fees to install and maintain applications on individual computers in their offices, more companies are embracing the idea of subscribing to software that can be accessed from any machine with an Internet connection. The trend is becoming so popular that it has been tagged with the catchphrase "cloud computing" to replace its more geeky shorthand of "SaaS, an abbreviation of "software as a service."

13. The federal government has been one of the most vocal entities about the power of cloud computing, and now the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said that UK government “ looking into the security implications of Cloud Applications” “it will require a "cloud-first" approach to IT as part of the 2012 budget process”

14. But............... However, moving IT services to the cloud is more than just a technical upgrade. "Moving to the cloud is a cultural shift as well as a technology shift,“ “The cloud is a tool, it's an enabler, but you have to think about the outcome: what is it that you are trying to do?"

15. Further Reading

16. Mobile Computing Just a yuppie accessory?

17. Why is this so important This is the very heart and soul of the future of digital technology Massive consolidation of media downstream. Any thing anywhere access All about who controls. Some very big and nasty animals roaming this jungle Massive battles taking place

18. Overall Information Architecture

19. Mobile Operating Systems iOS (Apple) Windows 7 Mobile (M’soft) Symbian (Nokia) Android (Google) Linux (Opensource)

20. Consumerisation of IT Consumerisation of IT is another driver. Mr Saunders calls it the "IT civil war" whereby every January "employees get a gadget for Christmas and then take it to work and don't understand why they can't use it". The move towards mobile computing, he says, is also driving the move towards cloud computing, which in turn is giving companies a competitive edge.

21. The Future? Search Engines Social Applications Cloud Computing Mobile computing “ Ultimately these four items are inextricably linked and are components in the biggest commercial power play on the planet”