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Cloud Computing for SMB’s: A Marketer’s Perspective

A fresh point of view on cloud computing for small businesses written by a marketing consultant for a web hosting company was delivered by Small Biz Bee.

The description of development started in a Forrester research in 2010 showing that 84% of companies admit that technology is critical to their operations. However, small businesses do not have the budget to acquire sufficient IT resources. This was until they discovered the cloud.

This article showed a very basic explanation of how the cloud works and how much a company can save on costs. In the article were also the top reasons why businesses should switch to the cloud:

• Cloud is all about simplicity
• Cloud is accessible
• Cloud lets you save big without sacrificing quality
• Cloud guarantees privacy and security

Read more on this article about “Cloud for Dummies”, visit Small Biz Bee now.

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Friday Cloud News Roundup

Cloud Computing’s Maximum Capabilities

A survey recently conducted by the Economist magazine entitled The Power of the Cloud: Driving Business Model Innovation, was the subject of an article in Information Week and how it is observed that cloud computing is not being used to its full potential.

The IBM-sponsored survey was conducted during the last quarter of 2011 to 572 business and IT managers. Results showed that only 13% have substantially implemented cloud computing in their whole organization but this figure is projected to increase to 44% in three years time.

According to Saul Berman, global strategy consulting leader for IBM’s global technology services, too many companies are experimenting lightly with cloud computing. Instead of using the technology to discover how it can reinvent the fundamental way to sell their goods and services. They are only using it to tweak existing operations.

Business strategists at IBM said that the cloud provides a broader opportunity for business model innovation and that it needs to be a top management priority.

Read the whole article to find out more results from the survey, visit Information Week now.

Another Cloud Adoption in the Transport Industry

The transportation industry continues its cloud technology adoption as another North American railway company moved its SAP landscape to the cloud.

This initiative was done for:

• Easy provisioning
• Reduction of development costs by 20-25%
• Liberation from commitment to specific hardware requirements

All in all the migration is expected to reduce hardware costs and increase flexibility of the company’s operations.

Visit Timesunion to read the full article.

Popular Cloud Acquisitions

With the rise and popularity of cloud technology come the acquisitions. Mid-size cloud companies are attracting prominent players in the IT industry.

Last January, Cloudtweaks released an article about cloud acquisitions late last year, particularly citing SAP’s acquisition of California-based web services company, Success Factors and IBM’s acquisition of analytics company, DemandTec.

Recently, the site released another set of acquisitions. This include:

• IBM’s acquisition of cloud management company, Platform Computing
• Symantec’s acquisition of cloud-based archiving company, Live Office

Big firms believe that these smaller companies will aid their grow in various aspects of cloud computing.

Find out more cloud-related acquisitions, visit CloudTweaks.

Rapid Migration to the Cloud

Undeniably, there is a growing cloud interest and adoption by small to medium, to large enterprises, but the market is still confused about what cloud/SaaS and Business Intelligence analytics are and what they can deliver.

This observation was made after a report from Gartner was released. Three trends that are beyond the rapid move of business intelligence to the cloud were also identified:

• Time to value
• Cost concerns
• Lack of available expertise

In deploying business intelligence to the cloud, companies need to assess the risk and ensure the skills of their chosen cloud provider.

Read the full article at Formtek and see the full explanation to these trends.

Department of Defense Cloud Computing Market

A release in Marketwatch announced the launch of a study indicating which aspects of cloud computing products and services spending in the Department of Defense is emphasizing. This was done mainly so firms will find out growth areas and see where they can invest in.

The market research report entitled, Analysis of the US Department of Defense Cloud Computing Market contains:

• Outline of the research
• Development, testing and evaluation
• Procurement, operations and maintenance

Visit Marketwatch to get a copy of the full market report.

RSA Conference 2012

The almost-concluded RSA Conference this year focused greatly on three areas:

• Big data
• Cloud security
• Mobile security

Most of the forums in the conference pertained to big data and how it can help firms to be smarter about how they can defend and identify malicious activity.

Mobile security was also given much attention as it is seen as a big problem for management and scalability issued.

Visit the official site of the RSA Conference and find out the advantages and challenges of the inevitable shift in IT security.

You may also visit the security section of Techtarget to read some articles about the cloud computing trend and how to address its going and anticipated security issues.

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Newspapers Go Digital With the Cloud

A recent release in SFGate announced that the McClatchy Company – the third largest newspaper publisher in the country – will be implementing the circulation of its thirty newspapers via DTI Cloud.

This approach is believed to help unify workflows and enhance corporate-wide cost performance – eventually contributing to the company’s emerging growth strategies. The traditional media industry is now taking the initiative in coping with the technological changes in society, which lead to the preference change of majority of its audience.

Though they are the largest so far, McClatchy is not the first publication firm that has started adopting the cloud. Some publishers include:

• St. Petersburg Times
• The Oregonian
• The Daily Sentinel

Explore further this transformation to a print and digital media firm by reading the full article in SFGate and find out how this allows for operational efficiencies and expanded expertise.

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Approaches on Effective Data Management

Companies moving their business processes to the cloud are now seeking ways on how to properly manage and integrate data.

Nowadays, the term “big data” is very popular, and organizations want to be able to cope with the growing volume, variation and complexity of information. Bottomline ins, they want to have a more agile and cost-effective response to business needs.

An article in eWeek discusses the 10 trends to watch in data management. With the help of Mr. Robert Fox, director for B2B/EAI software development for Liaison Technologies. Here are some of approaches to data that were explained:

• Data as a service in the cloud
• Integration platform as a service
• Master data management in the cloud
• Data security in the cloud

To read the rest of the trends and to have an idea on the in-depth analysis on these approaches, visit eWeek.

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CFO’s Perspective: In Choosing the Right Cloud

How can organizations make wise cloud deployment decisions? An article in Computerworld suggests how CFO’s can take the opportunity to model new impacts on revenue, profits, margins and risks while migrating their organizations to the cloud.

In order to come up with the best results, senior executives need to work with their IT team. With development comes challenges, and the article cites 5 guide questions that can be raised with CIO’s:

• How do organizations’ cloud computing strategies reduce costs while helping drive new opportunities?
• What is the cost comparison of the existing IT and the public cloud?
• How is our security group approaching the use of both private and public cloud models?

Though at first it may seem troublesome, organizations need to keep in mind that this is a one-time challenge, after which, they no longer need to manage or monitor their infrastructure. Furthermore, organizations will be equipped with capabilities far beyond the costly servers they already had on site.

Read the rest of the 5 questions, visit Computerworld and also see trends and forecast in the cloud market.

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Our articles are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. Join us on Facebook and Twitter.