Cloud Computing: An Infrastructure Perspective

Breakout Session
Date: April 28, 2011
Round One: 9:00-10:30 a.m.

Panelists:

Most technology providers aren’t ready to meet the expected demand for more than $100 billion in cloud service over the next four years. No wonder so many players are jockeying for a leadership position.

As companies are discovering ways to use cloud computing—not just to reduce costs, but to develop innovative products, improve operations, share information with customers, partners and suppliers, and run important enterprise applications—the workshop participants agree; cloud computing could provide a lasting competitive advantage.

Steve Nunn, Accenture’s Managing Director of Infrastructure Consulting, talked about the importance of having the whole picture:

• On the bright side, cloud computing is scalable and flexible. Using it, a company can reduce capital expenditures and recurring IT costs. Also, cloud computing can be used to share IT platforms, manage and store data, and run enterprise applications. Productivity and collaboration can be greatly enhanced, as can agility and innovation.
  
  
• On the dark side, are concerns about security and reliability, the underlying complexity of internal/external systems, and the management of the service provider (shared goals is mandatory).

The real surprise is that the most commonly cited use for cloud computing is to integrate different organizations. Breakout session participants spoke about the advantages of clouds as platforms, their ability to scale as usage increases, and the convenience of providing a single system and uniform processes that can be accessed by people in many organizations. The first step: a clear strategy and roadmap.

Read an Accenture survey of leaders from 669 global businesses in more than 20 industries:

• Cloud Rise: Rewards and Risks at the Dawn of Cloud Computing