Collaboration will drive cloud computing

Cloud computing was initially driven by a need to reduce cost, whereas today, the growth of cloud computing is being driven by a need for flexibility and agility.

This is according to professor Pete Janse van Vuuren, director of Africa CIO Forum and CEO of The Thinking Cap, who argued that collaboration will be the future driver of cloud computing.

Speaking at the ITWeb Virtualisation and Cloud Computing Summit, Janse van Vuuren said that, traditionally, IT departments have not had the budget for growth, and have spent the majority of their budgets on running costs. He adds that, for this reason, when businesses needed to grow, IT departments needed new ways to add value and drive growth.

According to Janse van Vuuren, this need to cut costs has steered many businesses along the infrastructure journey from basic to a virtualised infrastructure, and finally, to cloud computing.

Today, cloud computing is driven more by a need to be flexible and agile. Janse van Vuuren believes organisations are never going to do business the way they did in the past. He argued that flexibility and speed to market have become crucial for business success, and cloud is the model that enables this.

However, Janse van Vuuren argues that an 'everything in the cloud' model is as unlikely to emerge as an entirely paperless office. He explained that no matter how powerful the Internet is, some data is too sensitive to leave in the cloud. Therefore, he believes a hybrid cloud will be the best practice for the next 10 years.

Janse van Vuuren also stressed that the role of IT departments will be to ensure a seamless experience for end-users. According to him, it should not matter to end-users where data and applications sit, be it in the public cloud, or an enterprise's cloud.

In the future, cloud computing will be about innovation and collaboration, said Janse van Vuuren.

He used the example of teams collaborating on projects while working from three different countries. He said this is enabled by these teams working online, using the cloud. According to him, when cloud computing is used to enable collaboration, it does not matter where people are based, as long as communication is instantaneous.

Janse van Vuuren notes this collaborative future of cloud computing is being driven by social media, and customers' demands to be able to use any device at anytime, from anywhere.

Africa's cloud usage is similar to that of the rest of the world, said Janse van Vuuren. He explained that e-mail, server-based computing, networking, storage, and app development and testing dominate Africa's cloud usage.

However, Janse van Vuuren stressed that Africa needs to look at ways to use the cloud to harness business intelligence.

Bandwidth in Africa is growing, he noted, adding that network build-out across Africa is making cloud computing a viable option. He also pointed out that while sophisticated networks are not common inland, there is great potential for mobile cloud in Africa because of mobile penetration.

In another anecdote, Janse van Vuuren discussed a workshop he held with digital natives, the buzzword for the new generation entering the workforce. He said he asked these digital natives whether they would have a branch for their businesses. Janse van Vuuren said he was pleased when they said 'yes'.

However, he said one of the digital natives then stressed that his office would have to be on Facebook. When Janse van Vuuren pressed the speaker on how he would conduct meetings, his response was that he interfaces with people on Facebook. Furthermore, the speaker pointed out that he would be able to close deals online in less time than it would take a customer to go to a branch and stand in a queue.

The Virtualisation and Cloud Computing Summit runs until 17 July. Follow #ITWebCloud on Twitter for live tweets from the event. For more information, click here.