Outsourcing Technology – The Key Benefits of the Cloud

Every single year since I can remember there is very stiff competition for the most over used word or phrase within the outsourcing technology industry. The word cloud when applied like a magic bullet to every area of technology has to be the most over used word in our current lexicon.

The Simplest and Easiest definition

Since the days of mainframe computing through to server based technologies and on to today’s cloud your data has been remote and on a system accessed by many users. There was a brief hiatus when the desktop PC was born but that genie was firmly put back in it’s bottle for reasons of security, control and cost effectiveness. So for over four decades your data hasn’t sat on your desktop, it has been in your basement, in another office or in a suppliers office. The cloud is at it’s most simplest is your data, protected and accessible in a central location.

The one application that should already be based on cloud technologies

The drums roll and the winner is – Backup. If ever there was a prime time candidate for cloud technologies it is for the provision of backup services. The perfect candidate because of the following:

• Infrequently accessed so does not place load on your network
• Small Number of users relatively
• 100% uptime important but not critical
• Fulfills basic business continuity needs because it is offsite

Scaleable, safe and well proven, it seems there is no good reason not to use an online backup service service provider. Business connectivity

The Applications and systems that we would think carefully about

Pure cloud providers would have you believe that every single bit and byte of your systems would sit happily within a cloud environment. Well the news is they won’t and you probably knew that. Here are some that we would think carefully about.

• Older Legacy systems, that require complex interfaces
• Interestingly – high volume line of business applications. The sheer cost of procuring these remotely will often make it far more economic to build an environment within your business.
• Bandwidth intensive applications such as design

Ideal Candidates for considering the use of cloud services

Good candidates for cloud computing include “single business processes or small numbers of business processes with consistent requirements that can be considered as a single set.” In other words, it’s easier to move a focused set of requirements from a single business unit, such as human resources or marketing tasks, to cloud applications.

In summary the adoption of cloud services is another point along the the journey to outsourcing technology. It has many benefits but it pays to understand which of your applications are more suited to the service. To find out more download the Twin Business IT guide