Friday Cloud News Roundup
Opposition to Piracy Legislation Heats Up
As the time for voting on the upcoming anti-piracy legislation gets closer, more of the top rated companies in the cloud hosting business are coming out against SOPA. Many say that the legislative act would make the job of hosting a nightmare and lead to an erosion of free speech on the net. The bill has become a center of contention for many in the cloud hosting community with companies taking sides on both sides of the discussion. For more information on this important web legislation, and how it could affect the production of anyone doing business in the cloud, be sure to follow the link below.
The Battle of Technology over Service
There has been a lot of talk recently of Forrester’s End of Year forecast for technology, particularly cloud technology, to be the driving force for many businesses in 2012. Business to Community’s Tech & Gadgets writer Louis Columbus takes that vision to task, as he looks at two analytical articles that show how customer service remains the most important asset of any company. The articles are by two well respected writers:
- Software blogger Ray Wang on Mega Business Trends
- ZDNet’s Paul Greenberg on Customer Engagement
He takes the Forrester Report and combines it with the concepts presented by Ray Wang and Paul Greenberg to present some very insightful overviews of the development of cloud technology and how it is truly impacting ongoing business. The overview looks at several important issues including graphs that illustrate:
- Total US ICT Market of $962B and where that money was spent (primarily on software)
- How the software market is dominating and in what businesses
- Foresters definitions on where the growth will take place over the coming year
For a look at how these forecasts from Forester are redefined by the findings of Wang and Greenberg, as well as the links to the two essays, read more:
Open Source Technologies
With the trend towards open source gaining momentum, PC World takes a look at five open source companies that every business should be aware of. The shift towards more businesses considering open source for legitimate business as opposed to seeing it as a small-time alternative may be what is driving this move to a larger share of the market. Among the companies that IDG News writer Joab Jackson details for PC World’s report are:
- Red Hat – Slatted to be the first open source software company to generate over $1B/year in revenues.
- Nginx – This open source hosting software is used by such companies as Facebook, Hulu and WordPress.
- Stig- Due to be released in 2012, this is a nonrelational database designed specifically for social networks.
For a more detailed analysis of what the year may hold for these and two other companies, be sure to read more.
How the Cloud is Changing Job Roles
Cloud technology is not only changing how businesses work, it is changing the roles of many employees in businesses as well. Joe Kendrick, a long-time business and technology writer for Forbes Magazine looks at how the introduction of cloud technology is not only changing the IT Department, but also many executive level positions in business.
In this article one of the areas he sites is the role of cloud to move CIOs into “the corner office” as the ability to identify and leverage key cloud resources becomes an increasingly important part of their role in the company. He cites a survey of CIOs that shows:
- 54% believe cloud computing gave them more time for business strategy and innovation
- 71% who adapted cloud strategies saw this as part of their pathway to upper management
- 44% of non-adapting CIOs saw their position as a path to upper management
He also looks at the role of finding the right skill sets to develop business strategies and how these skills will be more important for CIOs in the coming years. For the complete discussion on future roles for CIOs in the coming cloud technology revolution, be sure to read more.
Data Sorting Splunk – Next Big Thing?
When the New York Times takes a look at a company and calls it the forerunner of the next big thing in an industry, any industry, you pay attention. That is exactly what New York Times technology writer Malia Whalan is saying about Splunk, a little start-up with a big vision. The company takes Big Data, the kind of data thrown off all around us as smartphones, automobile computers and more continue to churn out important data. It then makes that Big Data more useful by indexing the data into searchable links. A few examples are:
- Zynga the makers of FarmVille and other online games analyze where players get stuck to improve the games.
- Macy’s uses Splunk to observe web traffic to avoid down time during holiday shopping time
- Hundreds of government agencies use it to monitor websites for suspicious activity
For a look at not only other companies that use Splunk in innovative ways, but other innovative start-ups that are tackling the cloud with out of the box thinking, be sure to read more.
Budgeting in the Medical Industry for Cloud
If you have ever priced a new car you know that the cost of the car is just the start to your final costs. In the same way, pricing out new electronic medical records (EMR) systems can have a lot of hidden costs. Recently the American Medical Associations site amednews took a look at what kinds of costs need to be addressed, both hidden and on-going when pricing out new EMR systems.
Even with the cost savings from cloud-based EMR systems, there are some budgeting considerations that are part of the on-going costs and need to be included:
- Pre-implementation costs
- Connectivity
- Data security
- On-going maintenance and technical support
These are just a few of the areas that they look at with some detail in the report. They warn that productivity will take a hit for a short while as users get up to speed with the new technology. Also, be prepared for the price of upgrading hardware such as computer monitors, even if the cloud-based EMR system takes care of software upgrades. For more details on the budget planning and hidden costs for upgrading to cloud-based EMR systems, be sure to read more.
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