Cloud computing starting its growth in 2010, with the leverage Cloud provides making its mark in 2011. This initially took hold as solutions in data and information management, esstential pre-requisites for use in BI and analytics.

Two years on, software vendors are launching cloud BI solutions – providing a viable option to traditional in-house BI solutions. Not only was TCO reduced, by analytical capabilities were now possible. Prior to this, many BI roadmaps had been constrained by lack of processing power – making simple dashboards and limited query drill down the only options.

Typically, small to mid-size (SMB) organizations were the first to make the move to cloud BI in 2011 – with the hope of gaining a competitive advantage. Today, the trend is infiltrating large enterprises, who now see cloud BI as a viable option. After spending two years gaining confidence in Cloud solutions in general, the demanding BI solutions are seen as prime candidates for the Cloud.

BI in the Cloud is a great markeitng tactic for investment in Cloud in general. The increased capabiltiy and reduced IT costs are significant enough for the executive team to sit up and take notice.

To find out how your business can gain from Cloud Computing with BI

According to Vend, SaaS retail solutions were limited to eCommerce solutions – but failed to adequately address the needs of bricks and motar retail. So they set out to develop their own.

With more than 5000 businesses from 90 countries now using the product, it appears the SaaS model was a quick hit. With no commitments, no long term contracts, the Vend Saas model provides an affordable upgrade from their current on-site solutions. The beauty of the SaaS option is also that all the data is held securely in the Cloud.

The Vend team walk the talk of business in a Cloud – using Google apps, Gmail, Xero and cloud-based customer support software Zendesk.

Vends Vaughan Rowsell claims the strategy to their successful launch was a combination of:

1. Getting people to the site – using four Google AdWord campaign with different key words
2. Getting people to take action; either sign up to buy the product or to trial the free demo – with 50 new customers signing up each day, we can’t phone each of those people directly. If we had to do that, we wouldn’t be able to maintain our pricing model; it simply wouldn’t be feasible. It just means we have had to do things smarter.”
3. Customer case studies displayed prominently on the websit made a huge difference – pictures of people and testimonials.
4. Serious measurement of how people used the site – using Google Analytics and Woopra [for real-time analytics]. Crazy Egg is also used to provide a visual “heat map” of how people are using the site.

By understanding how people were navigating through the site, what they were looking for helped Vend realise the a lot of people were hunting for the Blog. A bit of split testing revealed the best performance paths through the website.

Convert trial prospects into paying customers – using CRM integrated with the Salesforce CRM software to track customer behaviour – identifying customers that are using the demo in a way that really utilises its potential. These are the ones and are getting close to making a decision to buy – e.g if someone tries to integrate Vend with Xero a flag is raised and the Vend team contact that person. They can also identify those new users who need a bit of help getting started.

This personal approach supplements regular emails sent to both prospect and customer groups – customised based on which features they have been using [or not using].

Accepting that progress is a constant learning curve, Vend are proud to admit they didnt make any big mistakes – on a lower level they would have iplemented CRM and started tracking measurable data sooner. Once you do that you are making changes based on real-world data rather than gut feel.”

“With this kind of business model, you just have to keep trying new things and measuring them. It’s a constant process.”

Sounds like a great case study for both Cloud Saas and business analytics. Well done Vend!!

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The headline simply reads “VMForce is coming,” a headline reads. “See it here live on April 27.”

Salesforce.com has been extremely successful in their offering to date, and VMWare can only enhance their capability.

With VMware’s recent acquisition of Java tools maker SpringSource, one can only speculate as to whether they are moving into application development. They also got their hands on Zimbra e-mail and collaboration suite from Yahoo.

All that remains is to tune in on the 27th, until then….

Gail

Getting to Cloud – Discovering New Business Opportunities with Cloud Computing

Cloud is the missing power base that underpins data warehouses and advanced analytics. So many businesses are either prevented from implementing BI solutions or stall early into the project through the lack of processing power or clean data quality management. Cloud provides the opportunity to leverage the significant benefits of BI, without reliance on outdated, overloaded IT infrastructures.

Cloud computing is so much more than a power base for BI – with its foundation in virtualization technology, it is the platform that will transform the competitive base of business. No longer will small businesses be constrained in competing against their larger competitors through lack of IT resources. Cloud remedies that.

Cloud also impacts the IT reseller market – rather than disintermediation of resellers, Cloud offers an expanse of new service and product opportunities that were previously beyond the technical or financial scope.

Getting to Cloud looks at the questions both buyers and sellers need to be asking themselves right NOW. It provides detailed ROI case analysis and savings data for use in business cases…and so much more.

Find out more about Getting to Cloud by clicking here

Just reading a rather entertaining debate over how to plaster up the cracks in Internet security. The main article suggests that each Internet user must have a passport and that security control for ISP practices be mandated by each country, with users traceable via assigned IP addresses for each user. This will overcome the wall of anonymity behind which hackers hide. However, the debate heats up as respondents to this concept point out that assigned IP addresses would not work. Others suggested that Microsoft Windows be banned from accessing the Internet for secure transactions.

On a less technical level, it was wisely pointed out that whilst passports would be useful for certain sites, the bulk of the Internet relies heavily on anonymity.

It is widely held that Microsoft struggles to keep up with patching security holes in Windows, however, until someone comes up with a better solution that enterprises are willing to adopt as corporate standard I guess we are stuck with the issue for a time yet. One of the main problems is that most AV programs have a difficult time running with Windows – the incompatibility leads to users turning off certain functions to prevent their computers crashing or slowing down everytime a scan on oncoming data is run.

The article got me to asking myself just how much the issue around public Cloud security is impacted by these concerns with Internet security.

I will leave that debate to the technical experts, however Cloud is proving to be one step towards a resolution, with Trend Micro using the Cloud to process file for viruses and security risks before they reach the users computer. When a call is made by the users computer to a webpage or email server, the files are sent via the a virus checking Cloud before they hit the users computer. This means that the power hungry processing is no longer competing with Windows resources and virus definitions are always kept up to date.

To read the full article

A common response to this requirement is virtualization. Virtualization is seen to delivering the most wide reaching impact on cost management out of 60 technology options.

To date, adoption of virtualization has been largely focused on how to scale up virtualization on a single server, using hyper visor management software and powerful processors. Today, that focus is turning towards how to scale out – where virtual machines and virtual instances of applications over multiple servers in a Cloud approach

Needs to have the ability to move virtual instances from one physical server to another without disrupting an application.

Needs to be intelligent enough to automatically shift applications off the primary server onto a secondary server when a problem occurs and/or potential crash on the primary server

From an operational cost reduction, virtualization is extending into a new realm of technology that ensures high availability. With scale out virtualization, the IT-as-a-Service model has the capability to deliver real cost savings across multiple areas. And that sounds very much like an Internal Cloud to me!

But in a room full of techies who are struggling to define the various forms of Cloud and exactly what cloud computing is…such comments are somewhat unfortunate. It just doesn’t help!

Fortunately, ‘GettingToCloud‘ will make everything perfectly clear – so kick back and enjoy the holiday break with the confidence of knowing that come the new year, ‘GettingToCloud‘ will be available on Amazon to clarify exactly why such statements are perfectly avoidable.

In fairness, I have to add that Mark gave two great presentations, both in content and delivery style, so he’s still trumps in my book….but after all….he is an ex Kiwi!

Chatter – a collaboration tool integrated into all other communication tools
New user interface for salesforce.com [ expected for 2010]

View the full suite of Dreamforce presentations on Youtube Channel HERE

It may sideline the firmware process, boot loader, the OS’ kernel loads, system services start, and start-up apps, going straight to loading the Web browser.

It is to be expected that Chrome OS has jettisoned the baggage no longer needed, yet still heralded by the overly cumbersome MS Windows, yet to claim it is ushering in a new era of Cloud computing only signals to me that the person who wrote this has very little understanding of Cloud. I will certainly conceded that we are moving to a browser only computing hardware environment, but it will be many years before we can avoid the need for a system that will deliver a stable hardware platform for onsite applications to work in harmony with Cloud applications.

Is Google Chrome OS getting ahead of itself – your thoughts?

Getting to Cloud is the next book in the TLO Management Insight Series that focuses on helping business owners, executives and managers understand the impact of new advanced technologies.

Cloud computing is confusing not only to enterprise IT managers, but also to many in the IT industry itself. Getting to Cloud helps to unravel the confusion and provide a clear insight into how businesses can benefit from cloud computing, as well as how the industry will change.

Cloud computing represents huge opportunities for both IT resellers and customers. It will open doors and level playing fields between large and small business. It will enable the high performance levels required by advanced performance management tools, such as business intelligence.

Gail La Grouw, the author of Getting to Cloud has been a strategic and operational performance consultant for over 20 years, specializing in helping companies adapt to new technologies, both in terms of the new opportunities and threats it presents, but in also utilizing new technologies within their own businesses.