The Savvy CIO

Twitter, media darling that it is right now, is logging a bit of bad press for having company documents stolen.

The short version is a hacker got into an employee’s web email account, and from there was able to access information stored in Twitter’s Google Apps account.

Depending on where you read the story, the spin is:

Twitter has serious security issues (partially true)
Cloud computing is unsafe (mostly false)
Someone needs a better password (clearly true)

The real lesson to be learned here is be extremely cautious with your email. Think about it. Virtually everything online is linked to your email account.

Are you equally vulnerable?

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Continuing our series of posts on how to implement the most popular cloud computing services for small business, we come to collaboration tools: advanced email, group calendaring, shared contacts and more.

For many, collaboration means Microsoft Exchange. But Exchange is costly for a small business.

If you have 500 users and spend the $13,000 a year it typically costs to own Exchange, the cost per user is a modest $26 per year. With 50 users, the cost per user is a whopping $260 per year. 10 users? $1,300 per user per year. Yikes.

What collaboration tools actually make sense for a small business?

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Where are small businesses finding value in cloud computing?

A recently released report by Forrester Research sheds some light on the subject.

The top five business processes small businesses are moving to the cloud are:

1. Customer service and support
2. Sales force automation
3. Content management
4. Collaboration
5. Marketing automation

What’s to note? You can target THREE of these processes with ONE cloud solution.

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The Savvy CIO’s last post detailed the main advantages and challenges of moving business software into the cloud, concluding “The question is not if you should move tasks to the cloud, but what and when.”

How do you decide what and when to move to the cloud? The answer is NOT everything and now.

Jonathan Blum at CNN offers a good reminder that moving to the cloud isn’t the magic bullet for every problem your business faces. But a carefully considered what and when can gain solid rewards from using the cloud.

Choose a Target
Where is time being wasted or opportunities being lost? Communication? Customer relationships? Sales? Project management? Document storage and retrieval?

Your biggest challenge is a prime target to move to the cloud, addressing a significant problem without a large initial cost. A trusted advisor or a Google/LinkedIn search can lead you to the best cloud platforms in an area.

Know the Cost
Pay careful attention to the pricing structure of a cloud platform. Some offerings have tiered pricing that are attractive for low needs and low cost entry, but can add up quickly as you begin to take real advantage of the platform.

For example, very basic access to Salesforce.com only costs $9 per user per month. But the fully featured Salesforce.com maxes out at a costly $250 per user per month. Not all cloud platforms scale in this way, but a careful analysis of costs and returns are needed before making a move to the cloud.

Plan for the Future
Before making the move, ask questions that will be important two or five or eight years from now:

• How difficult is it to migrate out of this platform?
• Does the platform scale well?
• Will this platform integrate openly with other systems?

Have a good or bad experience moving to the cloud? Tell us about it below.

Hearing more and more about the term “cloud computing”?
Cloud computing is moving tasks traditionally done on a local PC or server to a service provider in the Internet “cloud”. A service provider gives you access to a program through your web browser, and your data is stored on the provider’s servers.

I’ll be blunt: The cloud is the future of business IT. At some point, the only thing you’ll limit by moving to the cloud is your IT costs.

The highest profile part of the cloud is webmail; Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and Hotmail have offered personal email in the cloud for years. In the last five years, business tools in the cloud have exploded, with platforms for business email, customer databases, accounting, document authoring, project management and much more.

Can you benefit from the cloud?

ADVANTAGES

⇨ Cost: Local servers and software can be big-ticket items. Most cloud platforms are on subscriptions, letting you pay only for what you use. You do not need to support, maintain or have expertise in the technology infrastructure in the cloud that supports you. Businesses who move to the cloud can often more than halve their IT budget.

⇨ Access: The cloud lets you work like you’re at the office from anywhere with Internet access. Applications often have scaled-down interfaces for use on smartphones.

⇨ Security: For many businesses, data is safer in the cloud. With data not stored locally, the inevitable PC or server hard drive failure won’t affect you.

CHALLENGES

⇨Internet reliability: If you cannot access the Internet, you cannot use your applications. Some cloud apps provide an “offline” client, but regular online access is required.

⇨ Maturity: Many cloud apps are not as mature and feature-rich as their desktop equivalents.

⇨ Trust: You are entrusting a service provider with your critical data and ability to operate. So make sure to pick one with a reputation for good service and reliability.

For many businesses, the advantages already outweigh the challenges. Working in the cloud is only going to get better.

The question is not IF you should move tasks to the cloud, but WHAT and WHEN.

Are there other big advantages or challenges to moving to the cloud?