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Working in the cloud: the pros and cons

Cloud computing has been a hot topic among technology professionals for many years now. Technologists, software developers and futurologists have long argued over its future, and how, or more importantly when, it will become the mainstream replacement for traditional installed applications, says Chris Stening, managing director of Easynet Connect.

When thinking about cloud computing, companies like Google, Salesforce.com and Amazon immediately spring to mind as early innovators, with applications like Google's Gmail and Amazon's EC2 successfully demonstrating the viability of the concept. But with Microsoft recently entering the race with the announcement of its Azure platform, cloud computing could soon be entering its perfect storm, reaching the critical mass of mainstream adoption.

But what impact will this shift have on small and medium businesses in the UK?

Cloud computing

Firstly, what is cloud computing? The actual ‘cloud' reference derives from the symbol used to depict the internet in computer network diagrams, and ‘cloud computing' is essentially the model of delivering IT-related capabilities as a service via the internet, as opposed to being installed within a company's offices on servers or PC hard drives. Cloud computing is closely associated with software-as-a-service or SaaS. The terms are often used interchangeably, but there is a key difference; SaaS refers specifically to the delivery of just IT software within the cloud, distinguishing it from other IT services such as hosting or storage (all of which can be delivered via the cloud).

Cloud computing does away with the complexities of managing a software portfolio

Cost savings boost interest

Research by Easynet Connect shows that UK SMBs are increasingly eager to adopt cloud computing with 47 per cent planning to do so in the next five years. With Microsoft now entering the game, this number is likely to increase as awareness grows. So why are SMBs interested?

More than a third (35 per cent) of those planning a move to cloud computing cited cost savings as the key driver, however there are many other benefits to consider beyond just cost. Cloud computing does away with the complexities of managing a software portfolio since numerous packages no longer need to be laboriously installed and set up on every machine in the organisation - instead software is upgraded automatically within ‘the cloud'.

Gone are the days of sitting down to get on with your work, only to be interrupted by yet another unscheduled software update. Having software immediately available in the cloud also significantly reduces the time to set up additional systems, allowing more capacity to be added seamlessly without using expensive IT support services.

Discs, documentation and licences no longer need to be stored and kept up-to-date, and as cloud services work on any platform with a web browser, compatibility issues of running an office on different systems are eliminated. When these factors combine, cloud computing significantly reduces maintenance headaches and saves time, ultimately freeing the organisation's IT specialists to focus on more strategic tasks. This is particularly attractive to SMBs whose IT support functions are usually small and under pressure to complete a multitude of tasks.

Constant access

So what must SMBs do to fully reap the benefits of cloud computing? Crucially, if you plan to move your critical business systems over to the cloud, you must ensure you can always access them. Recent research showed that 71 per cent of UK businesses today could not survive more than a day without their internet connection, yet Easynet Connect research shows that only 10-13 per cent of SMBs have considered improving their security, business continuity or internet access measures as they move to the cloud. Before you consider adopting cloud computing, work out the impact on your business if you were unable to access these services. There is no escaping the fact that once the cloud becomes the home of your most critical business applications, fast, reliable and secure internet access becomes absolutely essential.

Upload speeds

Cost comparison ADSL vs SDSL

Here is an indication of the cost of installing SDSL and ongoing running costs versus a standard ADSL line

Business ADSL:
Installation: £50-250 Price depends on whether you want a dedicated line, back up services and what sort of equipment (ie router) is installed.
Running costs: £25-100 per month 

SDSL:
Installation: £300-900 to install (always a dedicated line), dependent on equipment installed and backup services. Some suppliers offer a managed installation at extra cost but this should not be necessary.
Running costs: £170-350 per month

In addition to the reliability of your internet connection, cloud computing places new requirements on speed, in particular upload speed. Cloud computing requires you to upload as much, if not more, information than you download. For example Google Docs, a typical cloud computing application, must upload to the internet with every key stroke. While you may not notice any significant difference with a single user, a slow upload speed becomes apparent once everyone replaces their installed word processor with a Google Docs application. Currently, most SMBs use ADSL internet connections which are built primarily for downloading. SDSL by contrast is the obvious choice for cloud computing, as it offers equal upload to download speeds.

SMEs should talk to their software and services cloud providers about what services and guarantees are available when they start moving more of their businesses into the cloud. Work out how many people will be accessing the cloud services and from where, before you negotiate with your ISP or software vendor to move IT services into the cloud. It is important to assess what proportion of business could be conducted using cloud-based IT services before assigning availability and up-time of both the internet connection and bandwidth, as well as the security of software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications used.

Currently, Easynet Connect itself is evaluating a move to new SaaS-based customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software and has selected salesforce.com. It is still early days, but the company is currently looking at moving its data onto the new system and then cleaning up the data once this is done; it is also reviewing its safe billing system and evaluating whether to keep the current system or use salesforce.com

Cloud computing is likely to radically change the way SMBs use the internet. Reduced costs and greater simplicity are real draws, but the added risks of such an operational change must be met with the right attitude to the increased importance of their internet connection to their business. SMBs must take steps to ensure this cloud has nothing but a silver lining.

Checklist: what you need to know

• When considering a move to a cloud computing environment, these are some of the main issues to check before making the move to the cloud and transferring existing data from proprietary software applications 
• Is my data clean? Analyse your existing data - do you need to take it all across?
• Is there feature parity between the new and old data and links?
• How far away is the cloud computing service (ie Europe or Australia)?
• Think about which regulations affect you regarding the transfer of customer data - certain sectors have very strict rules
• Check the latest regulations regarding the use of cloud applications - in the banking sector, for example, they cannot use Google widgets to display data to customers as then Google would have access to banking details
• Are your PCs fit for purpose - do they have sufficient processing power and memory capacity?
• Keep to the vanilla ‘out of the box' configuration as much as possible to make future maintenance and support as simple as possible; only use a bespoke system where absolutely necessary
• Will you be accessing through a browser window or remotely? If you are changing this, it may affect the flow of the connection
• Will you adopt cloud computing all in one go or as a phased approach?
• Can you grow or shrink the service - check the scalability of the service?
• Can you download data from the cloud? Or is it one-way traffic only?
• What resiliency and redundancy does your cloud computing provider have? This is important when placing a large amount of business critical data with a single supplier
• Involve business users in the build and configuration - these ‘super users' can then take a greater role in support
• What training will your staff require?

Chris Stening is managing director of Easynet Connect

http://www.easynetconnect.net