Using cloud computing in the company   

As is the case with so many ICT-related decisions, users must consider the topic of cloud computing from two perspectives: the business side and the technical-operational side. The first covers all of the market-oriented opportunities which result from the new way of utilizing ICT. The latter focuses on internal improvements, especially cost savings, which come from the changed provisioning of ICT services.   

The dominant drivers for new business opportunities are the relative speed and above all the openness with which business requirements can be implemented through the use of cloud computing – both seen in comparison with internal ICT solutions. Applications and platforms which are provided on the network can be used very easily and very quickly and can also be made available to partners. This makes them ideal for collaboration across corporate boundaries. CRM solutions from ­Salesforce.com, for example, are frequently utilized by companies with franchise networks or partner distribution. All any of the partners need to utilize the common CRM application is an Internet connection.   

Thanks to its open networking possibilities, cloud computing is ideally suited to exploiting the potential of modern work and organizational forms ranging from the creation of added value networks to the virtualization of companies and cooperation in partnerships across company boundaries and locations, the scheduling of temporary and mobile employees, and the flexibilization of the working world through the convergence of private and business life. In these application areas, cloud computing often has a content overlap with unified communications* and Web 2.0 applications. Communication and teamwork in diversified networks are increasing in both business and private contexts. More and more people want to use the things that support their private productivity in a professional context as well. Google is one of those placing its bets on this trend. Google Docs expresses the combination of cloud computing (“work online”) and Web 2.0 (“share and collaborate”) directly in its service claim: “create and share your documents and tables online with others – anywhere, anytime”.   

The use of cloud computing has advantages in terms of speed mainly because ready-to-use infrastructures and applications are available at the click of a mouse, more or less. This makes it possible to carry out one-off or short-notice projects quickly and outside of the normal and undoubtably necessary IT processes within the company. Companies are then in a position to introduce innovations on the market as test balloons, without the need for high CAPEX investments where the returns are uncertain. When, for example, the New York Times decided to make its archives available to the public, the newspaper was able to use the Amazon services EC2 and S3 to convert 11 million articles from the period between 1851 and 1980 into PDF documents within 24 hours. The process required the movement of 5.5 terabytes of data on 100 virtual computers. The project would have become inordinately more expensive and time-consuming if the newspaper had set up its own infrastructure. Experimental web sites for campaigns or new internet sites can be realized in a similar way with little expense. Start-ups and small companies can also develop their product lines at low cost and very quickly. The online photo and video archive “Phanfare” has stored more than 100 terabytes of user data on Amazon S3. According to information from the firm, this saves more than 50% of the costs that would have been incurred for the setup and operation of its own storage solution.