Archive for the 'Dispatches From The Trenches' category

Dispatches From the Trenches – 6 – Focus in a Confusing Cloud Market

Jul 01 2011 Published by under Dispatches From The Trenches

 

This week has definitely been an interesting and exciting one! With Gartner releasing new figures for the projected growth of the cloud services market as well as the release of Microsoft’s Office 365® cloud-based service, cloud services are starting to move to centre stage.

Having spent 2 of my 4 meetings in London yesterday talking with potential investors, there is an almost tangible sense that cloud is now being taken very seriously indeed by companies and individual investors who are keen to participate in the dramatic growth that beckons.

I also met with the CIO of a large Plc this week to discuss where the cloud fits with his organisation’s future strategy and what would be required of a cloud services provider to meet the needs of his organisation. Philosophically, he is committed to a strategy that embraces the cloud because he appreciates the substantial benefits that are on offer. However, he felt that, like most of his contemporaries, he is on a journey of discovery, understanding the possibilities as he learns more about what cloud providers can and, in his experience, all too often can’t offer his business. As a result, he felt that, for his business, moving to the cloud would be undertaken as a journey of several carefully considered steps as they learned more about the variety of offerings and service providers and not a single leap into the unknown. Interestingly, his perception was that very few companies that he’d spoken to, who purported to be cloud providers, were capable of explaining more than the (now widely understood) basic concepts of cloud-based IT and had little idea of what enterprise customers actually needed.

There’s a big opportunity here for those service providers that have moved beyond the ‘…what’s our cloud offering going to be?’ or the ‘…how do we make the technology work?’ stages. There are enterprise customers out there who are ready to embrace the cloud but they are not finding a wide range of providers who understand what they need and, equally importantly, have developed cloud services that will meet those needs.

We service providers are capable of meeting the needs of enterprises but only if we build cloud platforms and design service delivery processes that meet the needs of these prospective customers.

Don’t expect to succeed if you just build and develop a cloud offering because it’s easy to implement and then hope that some customers might want what you’re offering.

 

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Dispatches From the Trenches – 5 – Smaller but Perfectly Formed

Jun 24 2011 Published by under Dispatches From The Trenches

 

 

A question I’m often asked goes something like ‘…so what you provide is the same as Microsoft’s Office 365® is it?’  Generally, the inquirer is surprised when I say ‘No it’s not’ and I go on to tell them how what we do differs – quite deliberately – from what I understand Microsoft offers.

So it was really good to be able to chat to a Microsoft representative at the recent Cloud Computing World Forum at Olympia.  They had a pod on their stand which was showcasing and promoting Microsoft Office 365 and it was an excellent opportunity to get the ‘hard facts’ about the service that Microsoft will launch very soon, undoubtedly accompanied by much promotional fanfare.

It’s obvious that Office 365 is a step forward from BPOS, which didn’t seem to make much of a mark in the cloud services market.  Like BPOS, it offers the online version of the Microsoft Dyamics CRM product, some collaboration space with the online version of SharePoint and an Instant Messaging (but no VoIP) capability.  But with Office 365, Microsoft also provides a licence to install the latest version of Office Pro Plus® locally on your laptop.

The other thing that became obvious is that the business model underpinning Office 365 is ease of service provider deployment, minimal support (for an IT department), DIY data migration, zero integration with on-premise apps or data and financial viability of the service only achieved with a user base of millions.

The usefulness of the service to mid-market or enterprise customers is hard to see.  Which of these organisations wants to manage hundreds of local installations of Office, which will require a ‘standard’ corporate desktop build?  What happens when they find they can’t integrate their line of business applications with their email system?  How do they migrate their terabytes of information to the amorphous Microsoft cloud?  Whose legal jurisdiction will their data be held in?

What pleased me enormously about the conversation I had is that the considerable time and effort we have spent to identify our corporate strategy and service positioning in the market was time extremely well spent.  We have positioned ourselves to be able to meet all of those requirements that Office 365 won’t.  We provide all applications via the Internet – not just Microsoft Office® but any other applications from any other vendor that our customers want to use – to any device or OS.  We also enable on-site line of business systems to integrate with cloud-based functionality that we provide; we migrate data for our customers and our security-cleared staff look after it for them in UK-based Tier 3 data centres.  We also support individual users to sort any issues that may impede their productivity.

I am even more confident now that what we provide really isn’t the same as Microsoft offer with Office 365 – our cloud services are genuinely viable cloud services for mid market and enterprise customers which will deliver real operational benefits.

 

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Dispatches From the Trenches – 4 – Lack of Focus in Security Survey Clouds the Issue

Jun 17 2011 Published by under Dispatches From The Trenches

 

 

 

This week it has been revealed that a recent survey carried out by security research firm the Ponemon Institute (Security of Cloud Computing Providers Study) suggests that Cloud Service providers are not taking security of their platforms seriously enough. The study surveyed 103 cloud service providers in the US and 24 in six European countries – a total of 127 separate providers. At Extrinsica Global, the security of our customers’ data is our top priority, so we thought the survey’s findings would be worth a closer look…

 

The Findings:

The majority of cloud providers (79%) allocate just 10% or less of IT resources to security or control-related activities.

The majority of cloud computing providers surveyed do not believe their organization views the security of their cloud services as a competitive advantage. Further, they do not consider cloud computing security as one of their most important responsibilities and do not believe their products or services substantially protect and secure the confidential or sensitive information of their customers.

The majority of cloud providers believe it is their customer’s responsibility to secure the cloud and not their responsibility. They also say their systems and applications are not always evaluated for security threats prior to deployment to customers.

The majority of cloud providers in our study admit they do not have dedicated security personnel to oversee the security of cloud applications, infrastructure or platforms.

“While security as a “true” service from the cloud is rarely offered to customers today, about one-third of the cloud providers in our study are considering such solutions as a new source of revenue

 

Our Conclusions

What first struck us is that the service providers who participated in this review are definitely not operating with the same approach to security as us and a number of other reputable cloud service providers we know! Many cloud service providers take data security very seriously and we believe it really is a competitive differentiator.

The second thing we suspect is that, like many surveys, it has lumped many different cloud services (with markedly different approaches to data security) into a single ‘cloud’ survey. So, it’s likely that companies of the type that provide information out of the cloud on restaurant availability aimed mainly at lifestyle use have been included whereas dedicated business IT cloud providers offering services to organisations operating in the legal or accounting markets have not. It’s unlikely that the former type of company will take the same approach to security or quality of service as the latter. We suspect they have been highly selective in terms of participant selection to yield the sort of results that they wanted.

That leads us to our third conclusions: most of the surveys are conducted and published to push an agenda. For example, the survey was conducted by the Ponemon Institute who characterise themselves on their web site thus…

“We offer independent assurance and strategic advisory services to help companies enhance the effectiveness of their privacy and data protection programs and meet compliance and regulatory requirements in the United States and abroad”.

…and the survey was sponsored by CA technologies which makes security products that…

‘…enable you to securely access your cloud services and make it an integrated part of your business.’

So it’s no real surprise that the survey results suggest (without critical informed analysis) that cloud security as a whole is highly dubious and that prospective customers contemplating using the cloud should get some ‘strategic advisory services’ and CA security products before even thinking about embarking on a journey to the cloud. A perfectly reasonable approach to marketing you may say.

However, what concerns us is that it creates a false impression in minds of people contemplating cloud services for their business and hides the fact that it is entirely possible to find reputable, skilled and experienced cloud service providers that can more than meet a company’s data security needs with an appropriate enterprise-class cloud service.

Don’t follow the agenda!

 

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Dispatches From The Trenches – 3 – 03.06.11

Jun 03 2011 Published by under Dispatches From The Trenches

 

The Most Challenging Requirements We’ve Met with Cloud Services.


One of the recurring questions we get asked by prospective customers and partners is just how flexible cloud services can be? ‘Surely…’ they say ‘… cloud-based applications need a large capacity landline-based Internet connection to be usable; ‘surely…’ they say ‘…there’s no way cloud-based applications can be used by people in scenarios other than that.

We thought it would be useful to share with our readers some the more unusual locations and user scenarios to which we have delivered cloud-based applications to illustrate just how flexible cloud services can be for even large organisations in real world situations.

Because of the nature of some of our clients’ businesses, their staff are required to operate around the globe, often in extremely remote and sometimes ‘hostile’ locations.   Here are a few examples of the more interesting locations and user scenarios we’ve delivered cloud-based applications into:

 

An oil rig in the Niger Delta

One client needed to provide one of their consultants with the ability to use cloud-based applications, including email, from an oil rig in the Niger Delta using  a locked-down corporate laptop issued to him by the oil company for which they were working, which was connected to the Internet via satellite communications.  This is arguably the most challenging scenario we have faced so far because, for the user to be able to access our cloud platform securely, it was necessary to run some ‘client’ software on the laptop.  Our technical team achieved this by virtualising the client software required and deploying it in a way where it could be used from the locked-down laptop.

The individual was able to access and use his cloud-based applications and files from the corporate laptop he’d been allocated, making the information he created and changed instantly available to his company’s operations team back at HQ in the UK.

 

A ship in the Indian Ocean

This was a similar scenario to the oil rig – the individual needed the ability to access their cloud based applications, email and his company’s data store from on board a cargo ship that was transiting the Indian Ocean.  Like the oil rig, the ship had a connection to the Internet via an encrypted satellite communications link.  The user was provisioned on our cloud platform in a matter of minutes and following a short telephone conversation to talk through initial access, the user was able to gain access to critical files, applications and email to send out critical information to the HQ operations team back in London.

 

Egypt during the recent uprising

During the recent unrest in Egypt, a number of situations arose where British nationals found themselves trapped in the country as the situation got increasingly volatile.  Another one of our customers that use the Extrinsica Office Anywhere service was required to deploy 2 key staff to Egypt at very short notice.   Having been Office Anywhere users for some time, the client knew that they could take their IT with them wherever they were in the world including Egypt. This was fine until the Egyptian Government turned off all internet access across the country.

Knowing that the Team were deploying, we asked them if they would be prepared to undertake an operational trial of a new service we had developed called Extrinsica Secure Edge™.  Secure Edge provides a very secure offline working capability, and the team were able to make great use of it until they were able to organise a satellite link.   Having established a satellite communications internet connection, all the data they produced when they were offline was automatically synchronised back to our cloud platform, which simultaneously secured and aggregated the files they had created offline.

 

South Africa during the FIFA World Cup

The company that were appointed by FIFA to manage the security at the FIFA World Cup competition in South Africa asked us to provide the IT facilities for them.  The team were all provided with applications and email functionality from the Extrinsica Global cloud platform and these were available to them the moment they stepped of the aircraft and connected to the Internet.  The Team used cloud-based software applications from every venue in South Africa during the tournament.

This approach enabled them and the operations management team back in the UK to access the same files regardless of their location.  It was also very cost effective for the company with user accounts enabled a week or so before deployment and then suspended when the team had returned to the UK.

These are extremely challenging scenarios, but it shows that if cloud services can work effectively in these difficult situations, they can probably meet most companies’ every day needs.

 

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Dispatches From The Trenches – 2 – Is the Dust Cloud Finally Settling?

May 27 2011 Published by under Dispatches From The Trenches

Is the Dust Cloud Finally Settling?


This week has been an interesting one for us. We have been inundated with requests for titbits and insights into how a cloud service provider finds things in this exciting, emerging market. It is a far cry from the attitudes we faced from media organisations when we started delivering cloud services in 2006…

Since creating the Extrinsica Office Anywhere cloud service back in 2005 we have been asserting that the cloud approach is going to transform the way business consumes IT functionality and the way people are able to operate. Some people thought we were mad, others thought we were misguided but a few companies put their faith in our unshakeable belief and our experience and capability by signing up to the service. Those customers have reaped the benefits of the cloud approach just as we at Extrinsica Global have by using our own service. But are other companies now starting to move in the same direction? The answer is an unequivocal yes!

It is certainly evident that companies are at this early stage more inclined to at least dip their toe in the water, and starting to look at the cloud as a potentially viable option for their business. For some, larger companies this may be in the form of private clouds. But there are now many companies that see the provision of all their business productivity requirements supplied as a service by a trusted, competent service provider to be an entirely viable way ahead.

However, with the emergence of a plethora of media outlets that aim to offer readers advice on this emerging technology we are informed every day either by microbloggers, websites or email newsletters that various ‘think tanks’ and research groups believe 2011 to be the year of cloud computing. Does this mean that the dust clouds are finally starting to settle – is the cloud picture becoming clearer for business users – or is the swamp of subject matter contributing to clouding people’s judgement?

Because it is an emerging market, there is always going to be an element of confusion and trepidation about the cloud. Therefore, one of our principal jobs as service providers and experts in the field needs to be one of education. Educating potential customers on which cloud services are right for which businesses and creating an intuitive lexicon that can be understood by business owners and managers. These are the people who have to work out what is best for their business and who is best placed to provide the services they require. Until this happens, the cloud will not sky rocket but merely glide along, as decision-makers are confused by the mine field of different technologies and ‘buzz words’. We’ve tried to contribute to the education process by putting a white paper together that puts ‘the cloud’ into an understandable perspective to enable business people to get a clearer understanding of what the cloud could mean for their business.

Look out for our new White Paper – Making Sense of the ‘Cloud’ – Coming soon.

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Dispatches From The Trenches – 1 – 20.05.11

May 20 2011 Published by under Dispatches From The Trenches

The whole ‘Cloud’ technology space is moving at a remarkable pace!

After a hectic day of meeting prospective clients and partners yesterday, two things struck me: first, is that clients expect specialist service providers to be able to ‘do’ the technology very competently – that’s a given in their minds – but that, in and of itself, is not enough; clients need a service provider that they can have a trusted relationship with, not a transactional supplier/customer engagement. Service providers need to remember we are to our clients’ data what their banks are to their money – see things from the client’s perspective.

The second thing that became blindingly apparent yesterday is that when the most innovative cloud service providers and technology companies collaborate, on both development and sales, the results can be amazing for all involved. Business owners and leaders are now becoming aware of the compelling advantages of moving at least some of their IT requirement into the cloud but they want cloud services that will genuinely meet their real world needs; not something that is just technically cool or is vanilla ‘out-of-the-box’ software but delivered via the Internet.

Most recently, we have been talking to a range of companies with a view to partnering in one way or another to create some really innovative services that will address real world problems delivered from the cloud. We and our potential partners recognise that we can’t all be outstanding in every discipline but, together, we can be a genuinely excellent multi-disciplinary team that can create outstanding cloud-based solutions for our clients. What an exciting prospect!

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