Daily Archives: September 20, 2010

Wednesday Webinar Wackiness I: Webinars This Wednesday

The Sourcing Innovation Resource Site, always immediately accessible from the link under the “Free Resources” section of the sidebar, continues to add new content on a regular basis — and it will continue to do so.

The following is a short selection of webinars this tuesday and THIS WEDNESDAY that might interest you:

Date & Time Webcast
2010-Sep-21

10:00 GMT-04:00/AST/EDT

Order to Cash Evolution: An Insider’s Guide

Sponsor: Sutherland Global Services

2010-Sep-21

13:00 GMT-04:00/AST/EDT

The Challenges of Online Compliance

Sponsor: Web Collage

2010-Sep-21

13:00 GMT+01:00/CET/WEDT

IT Accounting – Proving Value

Sponsor: Improvement and Innovation

2010-Sep-21

10:30 GMT+10:00/AEST

Happy at Work

Sponsor: Australian Businesswomen’s Network

2010-Sep-22

9:00 GMT-04:00/AST/EDT

Measuring the efficiency of Quality Control systems with CAPA Metrics

Sponsor: Global BioPharmaceutical Resources

2010-Sep-22

10:00 GMT-04:00/AST/EDT

Export Compliance Controls

Sponsor: Supply Chain Solutions

2010-Sep-22

14:30 GMT-04:00/AST/EDT

GLOBAL BUSINESS: IT’S ALL ABOUT THE BOTTOM LINE

Sponsor: LVP Solutions

2010-Sep-22

12:00 GMT-04:00/AST/EDT

Turning Accounts Payable and Procurement into a Competitive Advantage

Sponsor: Paystream Advisors

2010-Sep-22

13:00 GMT-04:00/AST/EDT

Identifying Optimal Targets: An Innovative Way of Getting it Right the First Time

Sponsor: Marketing Research Association

2010-Sep-22

14:00 GMT-04:00/AST/EDT

Demand Generation Benchmark Data: How Your Peers are Engaging and Converting More Leads

Sponsor: Frost & Sullivan

2010-Sep-22

12:00 GMT-03:00/ADT

Manage Your Transportation Process & Increase Cash Flow 10-15%

Sponsor: BrightTalk

2010-Sep-22

10:00 GMT-07:00/MST/PDT

Financial & Operational Process Automation Webinar

Sponsor: InterDyn – Remington Consulting

They are all readily searchable from the comprehensive Site-Search page.

Yet Again, the Cloud is Not a Fluffy Magic Box

This blog has told you that the cloud is not a fluffy magic box and given you a number of reasons, but yet, even though it is one of the seven deadly software sins, it would appear that many people are still holding on to this notion. Take this recent panel from Ariba Live for example. Even though the experts admit that there are still issues to be addressed and problems to be solved, I get the feeling that many of them still believe that the cloud will solve all your woes. It won’t. And if you’re not careful, it might even create new ones!

First of all, do you even know what the cloud is? Is it the next form of SaaS? of IaaS? of PaaS? Is it truly computing-as-utility, or is it the next step in the evolution of computing on its journey to become a true utility service? Depending on which vendor you talk to, it might be any of the above, all of the above, or none of the above … and thanks to the proliferation of useless buzzwords, you might never know what your provider’s definition is (until the service goes down and they don’t fix it in a timely manner because it’s “not their problem”). Until there is a consistent definition of cloud, it can’t even be called a platform!

Secondly, it won’t necessarily lower costs or increase efficiencies. That is all dependent on your internal efficiencies, the provider’s efficiencies, and the platform your provider operates. With respect to software, one has to consider at least the following costs:

  • License / Maintenance

    the initial acquisition cost plus ongoing license / maintenance / utilization costs

  • Supporting Software

    back end database, web/application software, and middleware

  • Hardware

    servers, SANs, routers, switches, etc.

  • Power

    raw energy costs

  • IT Personnel

    system, server, and database administrators; network engineers; help desk / user support specialists; etc.

  • Bandwidth

    internet costs

which might not be reduced at all. Consider:

  • License / Maintenance

    will add up as the organization is paying monthly costs for infnity

  • Supporting Software

    doesn’t go away, it just gets rolled into the monthly cost

  • Hardware

    won’t be any cheaper for the cloud provider than it is for any reasonably sized organization

  • Power

    raw energy costs could be higher if the cloud provider’s data center isn’t situated in a region with low power costs (from sustainable sources)

  • IT Personnel

    are still required and still need to be paid a decent salary and the organization will only see savings if (a) the organization didn’t need full time resources which it would otherwise be paying for or (b) the cloud provider has resources that are more efficient

  • Bandwidth

    could go up as now all data is flowing back and forth over the internet, and not across internal networks

The cloud is only more efficient if the provider is able to take advantage of efficiencies of scale unavailable to the organization — and it’s only more cost effective if the cloud provider can pass the savings on and if the customer can pay only for what it needs (and not the shelf-ware that comes bundled with most current enterprise systems). This is never a guarantee as there are a lot of variables that have to be considered in the calculation of the lifetime total cost of ownership, which is the only true way to determine which system is the most cost effective.

Third, the contract, and the policies within, really determines the value. If the provider is not taking responsibility for delivering the whole solution, then there could be serious problems down the road. For example, if the provider is only delivering the software and using a third party for the infrastructure and the third party goes down, the provider might be down for days and leave you without recourse if the provider can claim “force majeure “.

Finally, the average executive doesn’t care how IT is delivered as long as it is cost effective. This says that the penetration of the “cloud” will be limited to those situations where it is truly the most cost effective solution and where IT is comfortable with a solution that stores corporate data off-site. Even in five years, despite the rosy predictions of some of the analyst firms, that’s not likely to be anywhere near 50% of the market.

So get your head out of the clouds (which bring asphyxia, hallucinations, brain-damage, and sometimes even death. It’s for the best.

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