Cloud Computing is not just another buzzword

The IT industry is notorious for coming up with buzzwords and technology that fails to deliver. Cloud computing is not another buzzword; it is a fundamental shift in the way we access and consume IT resources. It’s being driven by the consumer and it’s impacting every industry.

Cloud computing is already changing the way in which both IT and business services are delivered and managed – yet there are often a number of concerns that need to be addressed for companies considering moving to the cloud. Below are some of the commonly asked questions when it comes to adopting cloud computing for many different industries.

What are the main benefits of cloud computing, and what are the challenges in adopting it?

There are many benefits of adopting cloud computing for the right systems: these range from lower cost of ownership with transparent pricing, to productivity benefits by getting the most out of software and focusing on the business benefits rather than the maintenance and management.

The challenges for businesses are in finding the right cloud vendor to partner with; making sure you find someone who understands clients’ requirements and not someone who has done a rush job to jump on the cloud bandwagon.

Looking at the long-term, what are the long term impacts of shifting to the cloud?

There are security concerns but these have been overstated and there are the regulatory issues that are starting to be addressed by the asset management and IT industries. It is more important to consider what the long-term benefits could be – from improved reporting techniques for clients to significantly reduced hardware costs – especially when it comes to performing functions such as attribution analysis or risk management software.

Is the case for cloud different depending on the function of the software – for example is outsourcing performance systems different from outsourcing client reporting or data capabilities?

The case is different depending on the software function. There will be large back office system that won’t be transitioning to the cloud any time soon, but there are many functions that simply don’t need large on-premise, expensive, inflexible and time consuming systems. Portfolio analytics and reporting are good examples of this.

Take the asset management industry as an example. This is no different to any other industry, and there are many competitive advantages to adopting cloud computing – along with the new intelligent software driven data centers, rather than continuing to build and manage their own hardware driven solutions.