Media confused about #CloudComputing?

Writes Peter Kretzman:

Flickr, Gmail, and Facebook are great services, but declaring that they represent the burgeoning trend of cloud computing is as incomplete and unsatisfying as explaining the Grand Canyon as just a tourist attraction in Arizona.

The problem here, and the reason that so many of these mainstream articles get it so wrong, is they’re trying to explain cloud computing as a consumer-oriented phenomenon, and it’s basically not. Not the exciting or “new” part, anyway.

Read the rest of this extremely well-written article.

Is #CloudComputing about Cost or Innovation?

Writes Michael Hickins:

The thing that most stuck with me was his idea that if all companies do is run the same systems in the cloud as they have in their data centers without changing their business processes, they’re simply going to be dealing with “a cloud-based hairball instead of an on-premise hairball.”

Coughing up the hairball by using different (and theoretically better) business processes isn’t just about cost-cutting. Changing business processes also means relieving IT departments of mundane administrative tasks like patch management and version upgrades, and allowing them to create new applications that can actually give companies a leg up on their competitors.

My take:

• Cloud computing is an example of deflationary innovation  – cost reduction on the infrastructure will continue to be the primary economic reason for uptake in enterprises.
• However, competitive differentiation (the result of innovation) must arise from unique business processes
• Which further implies the service delivery model (cloud, on premise, hybrid, others) is completely independent and will potentially have a minor impact besides “funding innovation” due to cost savings
• Cloud will force, as was articulated well in this note, closer alignment of IT with business which will imply greater contribution to business strategy due to elimination of the more mundane “keep the lights on” spend in enterprises