David vs Goliath in the Cloud

David vs Goliath in the Cloud

The idea that a small company has to spend time and resources running their IT infrastructure, rather than getting on and running their business, has long been a problem for most SME company directors.

The recent trend to virtualisation of IT hardware and infrastructure into the “Cloud” has been heralded as the long awaited solution to this problem.

Over recent months the “Cloud” has become the almost ubiquitous phrase used to promote the services offered to separate a company’s business processes from the underlying IT hardware and infrastructure, giving SME’s the IT free office they desire.

"… as both server and PC virtualisation become more pervasive, traditional IT infrastructure orthodoxy is being challenged and is changing the way business works with IT." - Philip Dawson, vice president at Gartner.

In the world of “Cloud computing” there are some big players throwing a lot of weight around, including Google, Amazon, and now IBM.

However, there is a fundamental problem with the “Cloud” as supplied by these massive corporations, while they could provide an effective “Cloud” infrastructure they can’t provide the IT services that an SME needs.

Their “Cloud” infrastructure does not come with any service level agreements (SLAs), no guarantees, no failure redemption policies or service availability promises. In essence if your system is down, or your data lost, then it is still the SME’s problem.

This is where David wins over Goliath in “Cloud” provision. The more personal attitude of smaller “Cloud” providers over big providers is a huge advantage to small companies trying to out-source their IT.

Smaller “Cloud” providers can innovate and provide agility for their customers along with recognising the value of the SME’s data and provide the SLAs and systems support they need.

·       Providing the management of the systems and data which is so valuable for any SME company.

·       Reacting to changing requirements, management and monitoring of the systems the business processes relies on, backup and safe storage of the businesses valuable information.

David also competes with Goliath on price, thanks to the standardisation and commoditisation of the “Cloud”, generated by the interoperability offered between these heavy weight providers. This interoperability has greatly simplified and eased the provision of “Cloud” based services by smaller companies. The economies of scale that once could affect the cost of services provided no longer have the same impact.

It is the hybrid model of “Cloud” provision with support services that will really leverage the advantages of virtualisation for SMEs.

Tight integration to a business allows a “Cloud” provider to become a service orientated solution. It is only when the “Cloud” provider knows their customer they are able to add service and support.

This tight integration allows for the “Cloud” provider to react to problems in the customer’s best interest and even advise on IT for the business policy decisions, completing the separation of the business processes from their underlying IT processes and creation of the IT free office.

A “Cloud” provider which is also capable of providing the necessary support for SMEs is the solution to separating a company’s business processes from the underlying IT hardware and infrastructure, giving SME’s the IT free office they desire

To move your SME to the cloud safely, with support, contact SIRE Technology Ltd. on 01344758700.

Last Updated: 07 September 2010