The IT complexity of cloud computing
I recently had a very interesting discussion on this topic with Rene Sotola, Vice President in CGI’s Global Telecommunications Sector. He indicated that in order to be able to offer a seamless service to the end-users of cloud computing; a very sophisticated integration will need to take place for a range of software and hardware, and in the end everything needs to be done in real time, with strict attention to security issues – not an easy task.
Another challenge is that most enterprises, government authorities and telcos have many legacy systems and often more than a hundred of them need to be aligned, combined, integrated, etc. Larger organisations could have even more than a thousand of those systems – in other words, a nightmare. This explains why the early analysis, as mentioned above, needs to be done to determine which systems are the best candidates to move to the cloud.
In order to make the right decision in relation to cloud computing one has to ask – are we serious about this? Cloud computing is also a total transformation of the IT environment. This is very complex and, as in the examples mentioned above, telcos have tried to streamline their systems, yet 20 years later much of this remains in a mess.
The need for system integration cannot be overestimated. As a matter of fact, the telcos were among the first to recognise however, they took the wrong approach. They acquired independent SI companies and integrated them into their own companies, where they were simply smothered by the incumbent culture of the place. So that certainly is not the way to go. It will be interesting to see whether they have learned from that and whether their recent cloud acquisitions (eg, Terremark, Savvion) will be more successful. So far they have let them operate as independent entities. The challenge, however, will be to see what happens when telcos go to SaaS – will they expand the mission of their recent acquisitions (and do such acquired companies possess SaaS skills) or will this be another ‘silo’ with all of the attendant ramifications?
What is needed is for a telco to build, in parallel, a totally new system based on the future requirements of the digital economy, rather than to continue the patching-up process. Outsourcing and using off-the-shelf solutions are the way forward, rather than bringing it all in-house.
Another challenge for cloud providers is cloud aggregation at the SaaS level, as it is probable that an enterprise will want to deal with a limited number of cloud providers. This also reaches the security area – the aggregated cloud is only as secure as its weakest link, and security threats are growing daily (US general Alexander estimated these would cost the world economy $1trillion a year).
How committed are these players to accepting such cultural changes? Comparable cloud computing contenders operate at cost levels often 4 or 5 times lower than the telcos, so a lot of shrinking needs to take place before they can be truly competitive in this area.
Most enterprises are not so complex, but a cloud service for the government could face even more significant problems. While this all can be done in segments, there first needs to be an analysis, followed by an agreed master-plan.
Similar to what we are seeing in other sectors, a business deconstruction is needed before a reconstruction can take place. And, as mentioned above, we have seen what happens with companies – and indeed with whole sectors – if one fails to take this seriously.
For a full analyses of these latest developments see: Global – Cloud Computing Insights.
Tagged in: Cloud computing, Global
