Intel’s earnings release last week was revealing. The company reported a 28% revenue surge, driven by a 42% increase in microprocessor sales within its data center group. The shift from personal computing to server farms and cloud computing is clearly underway.
Clouds represent a disruptive force in the delivery model of the Internet and information technology. Computer makers are talking about a new wave of laptops that are even smaller and lighter than Netbooks and contain no hard drives. Apple is about to release its tablet, an even thinner multi-media device that serves as iPhone, iMac and Kindle all in one.
Thus our business use of the Internet is about to take on a dynamic shift. Many are resistant to have their information stored on servers they don’t control, but to believe that information is safer on your desktop at home is simply flawed given vulnerability to viruses, hackers, disasters and lost data. Software as a service (i.e. ASP’s) have been popular for several years, but the movement to launching all applications via a browser (such as Microsoft office) has significant business implications, not only in terms of how we use the Internet, but how we invest in technology.
On any given desktop or server, there is a massive amount of underutilized space and computing power. Clouds present the opportunity for the population to collectively use the computing power we need, at the time that we need it, reducing the overall cost and energy depleted. There are also other potential benefits as various applications may be integrated at the server level, reducing the integration required by IT departments and users (an example would be syncing your Outlook and CRM or Blackberry).
For the business community to optimize (still my favorite word) the use of cloud computing will require a paradigm shift. While all companies will seek to mitigate their risk of losing vital information, the upside in terms of IT ROI may be extraordinary and worthy of our attention and investment.
Marc Emmer is President of Optimize Inc. (http://www.optimizeinc.net), and is an accomplished author, speaker and consultant specializing in strategic planning, performance management and human capital. Marc is sought after by CEO’s as an expert in strategy and implementation of The Balanced Scorecard. Marc can be reached at marc@optimizeinc.net
