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Smarter than the average cloud

Editorial Type: Opinion     Date: 05-2014    Views: 3786   









Getting the best out of a SaaS approach should not mean putting all your eggs in one basket, argues Tony Cheung, CTO at EASY Software

Everywhere you turn these days you hear someone talking about SaaS (software as a service) - also sometimes referred to as 'software on demand' - but where does the hype stop and the reality begin?

SAAS AND CLOUD
Software as a Service (SaaS) basically makes use of a cloud computing infrastructure to deliver one application to a number of users, regardless of where they are located. It has the advantage that activities can be quickly configured, have a lower cost of ownership and have the ability to be accessed/managed from all locations.

Everyone may be talking about SaaS and cloud, but what is the real state of play? Well I think we can safely say that the cloud has beaten the sceptics when SAP, a heavyweight in enterprise software and software related services and which is used by global companies to manage their ERP (enterprise resource planning) tasks, is extolling the virtues of cloud and SaaS as the way forward.

This all sounds great; having SaaS solutions reside in the cloud, providing companies with a scalable solution that can be integrated with other SaaS offerings. But look a little closer and you will notice a big glitch - and that, my friends, is the internet itself. If you resolutely rely on an internet connection to the cloud and have parked the bulk of your company's IT resources there - then that is where you have swallowed the hype and the cracks creep in.

There is a huge list of reasons why you should look at the cloud. You only have to look and see that the big names in software, such as Microsoft, have rapidly adopted the cloud ethos. As a result, it is pretty near the top of every CIO agenda - or should be. It offers an innovative and flexible way of working with technology in terms of Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) and Operating Expense (OPEX), offers speed of deployment, economies of scale and streamlines processes - the list goes on.

But before you decide to put all your company thinking in the cloud you need to make some careful considerations. Why? Because when you scratch the surface, cloud isn't all it appears.

For example, SAP have a great cloud offering, called HANA, which provides functionality for planning and business analytics. But take note: its reference customer, an $18 billion food corporation uses it - but on premise.

PARKING ALL YOUR ASSETS
I therefore think that when considering cloud, you should never actually park all your IT assets there. Do you really want to put all your valuable business assets in a place which is connected by what can be a fracturable line? Who then becomes responsible for managing your corporate assets?

It is also important to note that you can't put all your data in the cloud, even if you really want to. Consider why you have invested in ECM/DM (Enterprise Content Management/Document Management). It is for documents and records which were formed from your customers, suppliers or from your ERP. But you need to hold onto this information for years and years and in a compliant fashion too.

This suggests that a hybrid solution is the way forward: the co-existence of a strategy that couples Cloud computing power and on-premise architecture. You should not feel pressurised into choosing one route or the other.



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