Memoirs from the Cloud

Stu Lees attended the recent Brightstar Cloud Services and Security Summit and writes about the key points for small businesses trying to grapple with the question 'what does the Cloud mean for me?'.

Last month I was lucky to attend the Cloud Services and Security Summit held in Auckland last month. I kind of expected to be bombarded with 'cloud sales guys' and overly geekly 'cloud-vangelists' but was pleasantly suprised at the balanced view points of the speakers.

The summit was sponsored by industry leaders including OneNet, ICONZ and Fronde. Speakers represented a mix of Cloud users, providers, integrators and security specialists. I greatly enjoyed the summit and have summarised my key 'take home' points below;

Find out what you need to know
Just about every business that is vaguely related to IT is using the term 'cloud' in their marketing. Business managers need to understand the basics of Cloud technologies before talking to sales people. Here are some concepts to start learning about;

Software as a Service (SAAS) : Renting a hosted software package and connecting to it via a web browser instead of owning and maintaining it yourself.
Infrastructure as a Service (IAAS) : Renting a hosted server solution and connecting your office computers to it securely over the internet.
Infrastructue Co-location (Co-lo) : Moving your servers to a data centre rather than housing them yourself.

You are going to need a strategy
Unless you are running a very small business, your current IT needs are probably spread over several computers and software solutions. You cannot simply move everything to the Cloud. You need to work with your IT support partner or an indepdendant advisor to plan out the best way for your to migrate your business over time.

For most small businesses, the most likely candidates within your network to move into a Cloud solution are;

• Email systems such as Microsoft Exchange
• Accounting packages
• CRM packages
• Online backups

Beware...not all Cloud providers are equal
Several speakers, including one of KPMG's systems audit team provided a stark reminder that the world of Cloud computing is a bit 'wild west' at the moment.  They related tales of Cloud server facilities being located in the back room of a dusty old warehouse to a one of the worlds largest Cloud providers, Amazon EC2 crash that lasted several days and that took some significant businesses offline.

If you run a small or medium sized business in NZ, here are the things that you need to be aware of;

• Your chosen Cloud provider needs to be a reputable company whom you can do background and reference checks on. If you can't phone them or visit them, then you are going to run into difficulty if it all goes pear shaped.
• Is your Cloud provider using another Cloud provider to run the servers? This could be the weak link in a long chain of risk. If in doubt, ask your provider.
• Where is your data going to be stored? For financial data in New Zealand, the IRD require it to be stored in New Zealand and this is a major issue being dealt with by Xero right now.
• Who has access to your data? What measures are taken to
• Are you able to back the Cloud data up and make your own copy? Is this a straightforward and cost effective exercise? If not - you may be left completely high and dry if something goes wrong with the provider.

 

Implement Stronger Access Security Policies
A senior KPMG IT risk auditor presented a strong case for the concept that "businesses should NEVER try to outsource risk". What he was getting at is that Cloud providers, like any other business, are trying to make the most revenue out of customers by utilising the least amount of effort and cost.

Most small and medium sized businesses currently rely on an IT support person or firm to manage their internal computer security (adding staff, removing staff and maintaing passwords and security).  These businesses very rarely have any formalised procedures or policies for this type of security and when their systems are moved to Cloud technologies, often forget that ex-employees do not have to be in the building anymore to access the systems.

Don't rush... more is on the way
There is no doubt in my mind that the world of Cloud computing means for a far more reliable, cost effective and accessible IT infrastructure for small and medium sized businesses. The key thing for businesses to understand is that these technologies are only just maturing and the market place is steadily growing and offerings broadening.

Business people should be working towards setting a strategy in place to migrate their systems to Cloud technologies over time and in a manner that is right for their business, budget and situation. The Cloud aint going anywhere so take your time and make good decisions.

If you would like to discuss planning a Cloud Strategy for your business with me, please get in contact