Any time a new technology gains rapid acceptance in the market, the hype can be overwhelming. Vendors tout technical bells and whistles. Industry publications spew numbers and reports. Analysts predict a new era for the industry. It s enough to make an IT decision-maker s head spin. Hopefully, this whitepaper will help clear up some of the confusion. In the following pages, we ll take a look at four common concerns we hear from clients about the cloud. Are the concerns legitimate, or are they simply myths ready to be busted? Continue reading to find out. Myth #1: Cloud is such a vague concept, it s impossible to know where to start. Myth #2: The cloud is a just a passing fad. Myth #3: The cloud only benefits large enterprises, not smaller businesses. About Telapprise Are you fluent in telecom? We are and we know what we're talking about. Telapprise is the unbiased team trilingual in the languages of telecom. With our fluency in premisebased systems, carriers, and expense management, we overcome the language barriers that create chaos in your business. Founded in 2002 Headquartered in San Jose, Calif. Serve all of the U.S. and Canada Full suite of invoice, asset, and contract management technology Independent Agent for over 60 carriers Average savings of 20 40% of monthly spend
Myth #1: Cloud is such a vague concept, it s impossible to know where to start. The cloud s meteoric rise to prominence has made it difficult to keep pace with the actual state of the technology. We re all generally familiar with the concept. But the term itself has become a buzzword meaning many different things. When we discuss the cloud, it s helpful to consider what type of solution we re really discussing. There are the four primary ways that cloud solutions are offered to the market. SaaS (Software as a Service) Software as a Service accounts for software solutions that end users can log into from virtually anywhere and use in their daily work. Generally, SaaS solutions center around communication and collaboration applications or around enterprise productivity and efficiency applications like customer relationship management (CRM) or enterprise resource planning (ERP). SAAS is one of the more mature cloud solutions areas. Early concerns about security, reliability and performance have receded, and solutions have become increasingly flexible to provide businesses with experiences and features customized to their unique needs. A few popular examples include Cisco WebEx, Google Gmail, Microsoft Office 365 and Salesforce.com. IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) Infrastructure as a Service refers to hardware and software platforms being provided on scale to enhance or extend the effectiveness of a business infrastructure. To this point, the focus of IaaS vendors has been to serve the basic computing and storage needs of businesses. In other words, IaaS is your virtual datacenter or server room.
IaaS has the potential to drastically impact the bottom line of adopters. For example, IaaS often reduces the cost of computing power and storage (as we ll describe under Myth #2). However, some IT leaders are still hesitant to house mission-critical data and applications outside their own walls. This hesitance has given rise to a range of new security requirements and Security as a Service solutions to meet those requirements. Popular IaaS examples include Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Microsoft Windows Azure and Rackspace Cloud. ITaaS (IT as a Service) Companies have been outsourcing basic IT tasks like helpdesk for years. The cloud has kicked the trend into high gear. Organizations are now streaming productivity apps from the cloud and presenting workers with a virtual desktop. This allows them to reduce hardware costs by pooling storage and processing power in the cloud and either issuing lighter, cheaper PCs (typically thin clients) to employees or letting employees bring their own device from home. ITaaS is more than a cost savings move. Worker productivity improves thanks to the added accessibility and mobility brought by ITaaS. CaaS (Communication as a Service) Communication as a Service has come a long way over the last decade or so. After initial hiccups and a few growing pains, Hosted VoIP, also known as cloud telephony, has revolutionized the way calls are managed. For example, calls are now centrally queued and rerouted to any location worldwide in seconds. The trend toward CaaS shows no sign of slowing down. Sales of IP handsets have surpassed sales of proprietary digital handsets. And building and maintaining one s own on-premise PBX may soon become a thing of the past.
Myth #1: Busted! One of the most comforting elements of migration to the cloud is that you can get started easily by moving over a few less-critical or less-sensitive workloads first. For example, you can start with enterprise applications like Salesforce.com CRM or messaging solutions backed by large, stable enterprises such as Microsoft Office 365 or Google Gmail. In fact, you re probably already using one of these cloud apps today!
Myth #2: The cloud is a just a passing fad. Every few months, one of the big analysts releases cloud adoption rates and forecasts rates for the coming months. And it seems that without fail, every time the next report is released, we learn that the industry has outpaced the previous forecast. There s no question the cloud is hot. And, as the technology matures (particularly IaaS technology), the question of the cloud s long-term relevance is put to rest as well. Here are three reasons organizations continue to embrace this technology: No Capex Investment The purchase of servers, storage, software and other infrastructure components creates a considerable capital expenditure hit on your balance sheet. Politically, that kind of hit can be challenging to justify regardless of the business need. It s not easy on the IT organization. And it s not easy on the C-suite. Cloud services are filed under operational experiences, enabling IT to respond to business requirements without raising eyebrows from the finance team. Lower, Predictable Costs Cloud solutions remove variability and unpredictability from your IT budget. How? First, cloud services are delivered on a simple subscription basis. Because you pay on a monthly or peruse basis, scaling up or down when your user base changes, you can confidently forecast costs. Second, because all of your hardware and software is maintained by your cloud provider, you don t have to absorb the headcount costs associated with general maintenance or unexpected failure. Speed and Agility The financial benefits of the cloud are well-documented. A less-recognized but equallyimpactful benefit of the cloud is increased agility and speed to market. The business need for
technology is constantly evolving. More productivity applications. More mobile and remote support. More computing power and storage. The cloud offers out-of-the-box access to new capabilities without the budget and schedule implications of researching and implementing long-term solutions. Myth #2: Busted! It s hard to argue with the numbers on adoption. Cloud solutions are playing a more and more critical role in the technology plans of your peers and competitors. Customer adoption drives vendor investment and vendor investment drives technology maturity. With old concerns around security and performance being rapidly retired, the cloud is poised to stay.
Myth #3: The cloud only benefits large enterprises, not smaller businesses. The latest innovations in business technology are often associated with the enterprise first. This is not surprising. Enterprise organizations have the scale and deep pockets to invest in technology projects as early adopters. However, the cloud is different. In fact, it s a technology that s ideally suited to the small business space. Here s why: Low Upfront Costs Most small businesses operate on thin margins and have limited capital to tie up in IT infrastructure ownership. Without servers, storage, software and other infrastructure components to purchase and deploy, it s easy on budgets and schedules to begin benefiting from the cloud. This mitigates risk and removes barriers to entry that typically prevent smaller companies from experimenting with and adopting new applications and technology services. Reduced Staffing Needs People are among a business s most expensive investments, and those costs are magnified for small and mid-sized businesses. With a cloud provider, the costs of hardware and software management from general maintenance to failure response are included in your subscription fee. This frees you from adding headcount and frees your existing team to focus on supporting your business in more critical areas. Competing with the Big Guys The cloud is the great equalizer for smaller businesses in competition with deep-pocketed enterprise companies. In the past, large businesses leveraged their scale to adopt new technologies and apply them to the market for cost efficiencies, worker productivity gains, and other advantages. The cost structures of the cloud level the playing field by giving small- and mid-sized businesses easy, cost-effective access to the same applications and technology services.
Myth #3: Busted! It s true that large organizations are typically the early adopters of most new technology innovations. The cloud is different. Thanks to the cost-effectiveness and easy-manageability of cloud solutions, the technology is ideally-suited to emerging businesses competing with deeppocketed enterprise-level organizations.
Myth #4: Public cloud providers can t keep my data secure. For those technology leaders who ve stayed out of the cloud to this point, the No. 1 reason given for staying on the sideline is security. It s one thing to move email or web conferencing to the cloud. It s quite another to move sensitive data off your own servers. However, even if you re in a highly-regulated industry like healthcare or finance, data security and integrity is as important to your cloud vendor as it is to you. After all, if they experience a data loss, they re almost certainly out of business. Here are the steps the top cloud providers Technical Security Many businesses managing their own IT infrastructure build basic perimeter defenses like network firewalls and call it a day. A good cloud provider goes deeper. As you talk to vendors, be sure to ask about technical security features such as: multifactor authentication for VPN access, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) mitigation, web application firewalls, and multitenant separation within shared server and storage space. And always double-check their work. Insist on regular reporting into the types and frequency of attacks on your network and how they ve been blocked. Physical Security Although the cloud is virtual, the hardware storing your data and running your applications is very real. Thus, physical security takes two forms. First, to prevent physical access to the datacenter, cloud vendors should take security precautions like badged access, hardened cages, and video surveillance. And then there s security against acts of God-like power- and weather-related issues. This is where cloud vendors really deliver the goods, as they house data in temperate geographies and invest heavily in failover and recovery.
Myth #4: Busted! Security is a top concern for IT decision-makers considering the cloud. This is understandable. After all, it s reassuring to see and touch the box that stores the data and runs the apps upon which your business relies. However, given their investments in both technical and physical security, well-managed cloud environments are often safer than your own datacenter.
Conclusion As with any next business technology, the cloud has created plenty of questions for IT strategists and business leaders. We hope this whitepaper has helped to answer some of those questions for you. At Telapprise, we ve found that the cloud has helped many clients find cost efficiencies in their technology environment while maintaining or improving the ability of IT to support the business. So, is the cloud right for your business? We d love to help you find out. Call us at 877-222-8266 or visit www.telapprise.com to learn more today!