Spring clouds are in the air

It's spring here in the Bluegrass region, and I'm excited to see so much activity in the cloud space.  I'm pretty much a risk averse individual, so jumping into a dedicated cloud consulting team at HP back in 2010 was relatively risky.  Perhaps you have heard about our leadership and strategic struggles - it was not at all clear that HP even had a cloud strategy back then.  I am happy to report that Meg Whitman's leadership has thus far been the best I've seen at HP since I was acquired as part of the EDS purchase.  More importantly, she's making some big bets on cloud.

A couple weeks ago HP's public cloud services went live.  They're still in beta, and this is not a plug for HP, but it's relevant to mention because it speaks to the continuing evolution of the cloud market.  For so long, it was Amazon only, and let's be honest, Amazon got into cloud computing as an afterthought.  "Well, we've got all these servers laying around here with extra capacity... why not rent that space?"  AWS has evolved into a compelling offering that is proving to be quite popular, but let's not forget its beginnings.  This week, SAP bought Ariba, and Oracle continues to backtrack on it's "cloud won't last" stance.

I love seeing a diverse mix of companies offering cloud services.  This is the free market at work.  The best models will attract more customers.  We've already got two competing open-source cloud architectures (CloudStack and OpenStack; note that Intel is betting on both). Perhaps most telling is that Enterprise IT leaders are reporting that around 1/3 of their budgets are now being spent on cloud.  Cloud is a new market, so it's also a level playing field (for now).  Small start-ups can offer XaaS just as easily as HP. These are all good things.

So what's next?  What will the rest of this year see in the cloud market?  My own two cents is that we'll start to see standardization in the way that cloud services are described, and that in turn will drive the creation of online marketplaces for cloud services.  I think this is the next logical step for cloud computing.  Amazon and Google already offer "app stores" for cloud SaaS, and I believe that model will expand to include XaaS offerings.  I see both a human interface version of these marketplaces, as well as a "UDDI" type standard for auto discovery.  Today, it's still very difficult to compare apples to apples when shopping for cloud services. Six months from now, I think that will no longer be true.

Bad marketers

Wow - it's been way too long since I got on my soap box about IT, so I apologize for that.  Sadly, this is a topic where the details may change but the general theme remains the same:  businesses are simply not optimizing their IT function, and it's hurting them.  Decades ago, firms learned that manufacturing & supply chain operations were a way to squeeze more profit out of their current business model.  Most firms now recognize that HR and Accounting are more than just a necessary evil, but can be true business partners.  So why is the IT shop still in the dark ages?  Let's call this part I of an ongoing series.

IT folks are generally terrible at selling ourselves to the business as being a value added partner.  It's just not in our nature.  We like to tinker, we like gadgets, we're easily distracted by devices with flashing lights.  We solve puzzles, we played dungeons & dragons as a kid, we argue about the merits of Star Trek versus Star Wars.  These stereotypes aren't true for the entire IT department, but they're true for many of us, and I love them.  As kids we were geeks and nerds, today we're "engineers" and "DBAs," and we keep the lights on.  But that's not enough.  People expect the lights to be on when they are needed.

We need to start promoting ourselves better.  We need to speak to the business on their terms, and earn a seat at the table when they're making strategic decisions.  In too many IT organizations all I see are complaints and funding requests.  Small wonder that business is starting to go around IT to public providers like Amazon, Google Apps, and SaleForce.

Check out this article from Dana Gardner this week.  In it, there's a quote that explains exactly why marketing needs to become a greater focus for the IT team.  "Cloud computing may be taking the business world by storm, but its success could mean a “perfect storm” that endangers the role of IT."  I couldn't agree more.

My advice to the CIO?  Find a basic marketing textbook and read it.  Learn the 4Ps.  Learn about Porter's 5-forces model.   Look at the business as your customer, target specific business users as key customers and give the appropriate level of attention to those accounts.  Promote yourselves.  Explain what you offer that Amazon doesn't (that list is probably a lot longer than you think).  Build your brand.  Good luck!

Mobile Computing

You'll learn pretty quickly that I'm a gadget guy, and a bit of a geek. Things like the upcoming Chrome OS netbooks, Apple tablet, and the new LG Projector Phone (shown here) have confirmed for me that 2010 will likely see a revolution in the world of mobile computing. I'm also firmly convinced that mobile computing presents small and medium business owners with a tremendous opportunity to leverage technology for a competitive advantage. If your business has a well-defined strategy for utilizing mobile computing technologies, and your competitor does not, you win. So what can mobile computing technologies do for a business? Here are a few examples.

• Netbooks are a great option for enabling a mobile workforce IF they fit with your existing IT infrastructure and roadmap. They're ultra-light, ultra-cheap, and pre-wired for mobile broadband access. They're not as powerful as regular laptops though, and they pose unique security concerns, so they're not for everyone
• Smartphones, including the iPhone, are also powerful tools for remote/mobile workers. Google's Android phone OS is brand new and it already has 20,000 applications, many of which are free. It reaches a broader audience than the iPhone and is already used by 5 times the number of devices, so I'd expect that in the coming years the Android store will pass the iPhone store in total number of apps.
  
• Cloud computing options such as Amazon web services, Google Docs and Salesforce.com (hosted Customer Relationship Management or CRM) allow businesses to get the maximum value for their IT dollar by leveraging infrastructure provided by a 3rd party. Why own the hardware or even the software when all you need is the functionality and the data? Again, not perfect for all businesses, so do your homework.
  

I'm not even going to begin to attempt to discuss all the possibilities for reaching out to new or existing customers using mobile computing technologies. We'll save that for another day.

Who is this guy?

That's a fair question. I'm a professional consultant with over 10 years experience. I've worked for 4 major consulting firms and one boutique firm. Since 2000, I've delivered projects for over 25 different clients, most of them in the Fortune 500. My consulting work has taken me all over the United States and Europe. The projects I have delivered range from IT strategy and systems integration to process improvement and custom software development. I have a bachelor's degree in business and political science (Miami University), and I'm working on my MBA at Indiana University's Kelley school of business. I'm a "big picture" guy, and I love solving problems.

The next logical question might be "who the heck is Floyd?" He's a sort of alter-ego. I picked Floyd as my bowling name a few years back when my wife and I joined a league. Floyd is my own version of "The Dude" in the movie "The Big Lebowski." If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.

Welcome!

I am creating this blog as a platform where I can offer my opinions and insights about tech trends and how those trends impact business people. There are of course plenty of "tech trends" resources on the web and an even greater number of "business advice" resources as well. These resources each serve an important purpose, and I will provide links to the ones I find most helpful. What I find lacking is a good set of resources for the small and medium sized business owner that merges these information sets to make them relevant. As the lines between business trends and technology trends continue to blur, many business people are asking questions such as:

• "What does this new [gadget/software/technology] mean for my business?"
• "Should I be investing in _____ and/or moving away from ______?"
• "Is my business well positioned to capitalize on the _______ trend?"

These are the types of questions that I hope this blog will help you answer for yourself. I welcome your comments and feedback on how well (or poorly!) I am doing at meeting this objective.