With cloud computing becoming more viable in SA, organisations must ensure they understand the concept's implications and find solutions that work for their business.
So says Pieter du Preez, group executive of Business Solutions Development at Spescom DataFusion, who adds that while a recent Gartner report puts SA 15 years behind US cloud adoption, that doesn't mean SA will take 15 years to catch up.
He believes that with the recent bandwidth boom in SA, it is now possible for companies to adopt cloud solutions faster.
"Previously, low bandwidth availability, high cost and variability of throughput reliability made cloud computing a risky venture locally.
“Today, with more bandwidth available at lower cost, it may well be a more cost-effective solution than owning infrastructure and software, especially when you add licences, upgrades, integration and maintenance expenditures to initial purchase and installation costs,” he says.
Testing ground
According to Du Preez, a hybrid solution may be what is needed at the outset for South African businesses.
He explains that a hybrid solution is a combination of an organisation's infrastructure with cloud infrastructure and services.
“This will allow you to test the waters, retain data, and fully understand the benefits and limitations of this environment," Du Preez says.
He adds that while the business model that drives cloud services suggests only standard 'off-the-shelf' solutions may be available, it may be worthwhile to find a provider that specialises in a particular service or industry and will tailor or customise a solution to suit an organisation's needs.
Using a contact centre as an example, Du Preez notes that the organisation would need cloud services that use suitable computing power and applications.
"In this scenario, the contact centre is likely to 'own' the people and create the processes - these being the two components within contact centres that enable the greatest competitive advantage.
“The technology platform can sit anywhere. The contact centre then has the choice to invest in technology and in-house skills or buy in a hosted service, where the functionality is obtained via a network - or make use of cloud computing services."
Dedicated networks
Du Preez believes a traditional hosted service provider is likely to have physical premises housing servers and other computing equipment close by, providing a dedicated network with guaranteed service levels.
“Hosted services obtained in the cloud may come from anywhere and will rely strongly on bandwidth and throughput available to the user. The challenge is to ensure reliability and cost of the network and services are in line with budget and risk appetite," he notes.
He states that the advantages of cloud and hosted services include use of opex rather than capex. “The vast functionality that is available at a fraction of the cost of outright purchase and, of course, the flexibility of being able to scale services up or down as customer or business service requirements change.”
According to market analyst IDC's 'IT cloud services survey', conducted in the second quarter of 2010, those who find private clouds more appealing than public clouds outnumbered those who find private clouds less appealing by more than five to one.
Fellow research firm In-Stat notes that cloud computing and application hosting benefits are already delivering practical solutions to very real business problems.
In-Stat discovered that many small businesses are using managed cloud services as their primary method to solve a variety of IT requirements.
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