ETEC 522 – Sept. 2011

What is in a name? Cloud Computing.

As a small business owner I’ve been nervous about jumping onto the cloud bandwagon even though it seems to be cost efficient to do so. Maybe it’s the name cloud. There is something non-permanent about the name that makes me nervous about using it as a foundation for running my business. I’ve always thought a foundation should be strong and solid like concrete rather than vaporous like a cloud.

Since mid 2010 I have been working towards establishing training programs for Business Intelligence applications but up until recently it has been cost prohibitive because of the software setup and maintenance costs. Therefore I’m watching what the industry is doing to increase amount and quality of applications leveraging from the Cloud model. I need the industry to be somewhat advanced before I can assess the viability of training programs for small businesses in this area. It would have a lot of benefits for the same reasons that are identified for cloud hosted email but even more so because business intelligence applications tend to be extremely pricey.  I recently attended a workshop by Graham Ross, the VP of Product Management for Indicee, a vendor in this market space, and was reminded of both the pros and cons of this decision. Ross agreed with the recommended company size that would benefit from cloud applications as well as the cost benefits identified in the Forrester Research  article. Ross also identified the key concerns as security and data transfer rates similar to what was identified in the ‘Harnessing Live Online Learning’.

Schadler’s (2009) cost chart illustrated in this week’s learning team blog illustrates exactly why, as a single person entity, I can’t afford to setup applications on my own. I would also add cost of not having access to your data to Schadler’s list. Although this may be difficult for a business to quantify it is nonetheless critical to the final decision. It crosses staffing, e.g. do you need a person available 5 days a week at 8 hours a day or do you need staff available 7×24 because access is mission critical and no downtime is acceptable.

I would have liked to see more diversity in the company user list that Forrester surveyed for their email cloud report. They looked like technical or IT consulting type of firms. It would have been nice to see the results from a more diverse group of companies. In my experience, the problem with cheaper software solutions is that they are generally better for technically savvy clientele who can work through the glitches.

I started experimenting with cloud applications last fall with my initiation into the MET program. I began with the Idisk and Mac software Pages and Numbers which convert relatively easy to similar Microsoft applications. These worked well for keeping me connected while I was vacationing in Europe. However, I found after my return to Canada that I started partly reverting to Microsoft applications and partly continuing my use of Pages and Google Docs, particularly for documents shared with MET project teammates. This hybrid of applications caused me a lot of grief because I would inadvertently create multiple versions and forget which one was the most recent resulting in lost work and time spent in clean up activities.

The more I use applications like Google Docs and free web design software, the more I am convinced that the cloud is the right business decision for the future. I think one of the keys to success is making the commitment and doing a complete transition.

I’m starting to see that the idea of turning the foundation concept upside down has benefits. A business application foundation that is concrete may be solid but this means it’s planted underneath you in a single place and is inflexible. The cloud moves with the air and is always above you no matter where you are.

At the end of the MET program I hope to have a new foundation of educational technologies which keep the cost of doing business affordable. The cloud definitely has a place in my future.