Cloud is the “big new thing” and you’re probably here to understand a little more about it and to understand the benefits it brings you and your organisation. Generally we find that people move through six stages of realisation:

Stage 1 – Curiosity – what is cloud?
Cloud as a concept has been around from an infrastructural point of view for around 20 years its just now however that we are being able to realise the benefits. One of the issues is that the term “Cloud computing” is widely used term with at least three broad categories, which is one of the reasons for the confusion. There are:

IAAS – Infrastructure as a Service – hardware on demand
PAAS – Platform as a Service – low cost framework tools that you pay for on a monthly basis
SAAS – Platform Software as a Service – Usually software applications that are accessed via the internet

Additionally many organisation are looking at internal cloud based solutions enabling them to realise the up sides without having to convince compliance of the security of data on the internet. In short – Clouds popularity is based on the adoption of web 2.0 technologies which reduce costs and accelerate the creation of so many new things over the last decade within the consumer space.  Cloud brings these new techniques into the field of commerce and banking.

For a more detailed explanation of cloud computing click here

Stage 2 – Interest – What does it mean for me?
The cloud cost paradigm is “pay for what you use” rather than the more traditional large upfront investments for software, hardware and development. Using a restaurant analogy – when you’re hungry you want to go to a restaurant and order what you want, paying for what you order.  The old IT model required you to buy the restaurant before you can eat there. Since the technologies remove many of the arbitrary architectural decision from the delivery process associated with traditional IT projects, it delivers faster. You effectively choose from the menu rather than going and buying the raw ingredients and handing it to the chef to cook.

Stage 3 – Comprehension – How will I get a benefit?
Cloud computing saves you time and money. You can deliver a new application for about 20-30% of the cost of traditional methods and have the first deliverables in use within a month.  This means that you can fund a project from your expenses budgets and realise the upside rather than having to go through Capital Expenditure processes.

Stage 4 – Realisation – How cloud may deliver benefit
Delivering cloud based solutions is a fast iterative process – therefore no more development team disappearing for 6 months and delivering something that no longer meets the needs of the business.  There are still the challenges of defining what the business needs, agreeing the processes definition and sourcing data. But cloud solutions arrive faster and can be modified and scaled quicker. When volumes reduce they can be scaled back to reduce cost. Additionally, since the technologies don’t create “Them and Us” barriers, it is easier to deliver what the business needs.

Stage 5 – Proposal – How much and what is the business case?
Obviously this is a case by case answer – so why don’t you invite us over to discuss? To give you some ideas, we have:

• Delivered solutions for clients that have enabled them to enter markets that traditional IT solutions would have prevented resulting in them establishing themselves as leaders rather than laggard.
• Delivered integrated new product approval processes that have enabled other clients to reduce the cycle time from months to days therefore ensuring that the front office complies with the business governance procedures rather than trades and hopes.
• Created solutions that enable clients to interact with their counterparties in a much more efficient way reducing costs and errors front to back

Stage 6 – Adopt
Click on this link and we will show you how cloud computing can deliver benefit