聚焦：IT业需要考虑的云计算问题

云计算精准而神秘。最近企业关于云计算的一个热议话题就是高管们对云计算的那些方面半信半疑，在哈佛商业评论中，麻省理工大学数字商业中心的首席研究员Andrew McAfee就以下要点与高级执行官分享意见，以便在权衡是否向其他企业组织托管的服务器中移入更多的线上信息技术时加以考虑：

预算窘境

　　理论上，云提供的任何东西都可与内部的方法相匹配。但是IT总是捉襟见肘，据微软统计，只有11%的资金用于开发新程序，余下的花销都用于维修和基础设施。而且，11%中大多用于大战略中，如：购买和确立核心企业制度。McAfee博士指出：“如此下来，无法确保职员在任何地点、任何设备和任何人访问需要的文件。”

促进合作

　　团队合作在以前都是天方夜谭，但现在这种方式创造了云计算的丰功伟绩。如：位于弗吉尼亚的咨询公司CSC转向与Jive（基于云计算的协作软件的制造商）合作后，2万5千多人注册，创建了2100个团队。CSC总裁称这一成果令人“瞠目结舌”，他还补充道：“这是我们合作方式的实际标准。这是公司的表达方式。”

分析数据以便洞悉内部情况

　　分析学是云计算另一主要好处，它可以了解、预测和影响客户行为。但是位于佐治亚州的Radiant Systems(为成千上万的餐厅提供Aloha销售终端系统)也使用云聚集数据更好的掌控员工盗窃，分析可疑模式，如：在周五的晚上有大量高于平均值的小费，这表明酒保没有收取酒水费用来赢得高额小费。

　　在云计算出现以前，软件开发者需要购买、配置和维修自己的服务器，这会使开发者不能集中精力编写优质的编码。当位于明尼苏达州的3M公司转向Windows Azure 云平台时，平面设计师也可以使用 Visual Attention Service软件工具，此时，同时，3M在没有资金的情况下获得了快速便捷扩大容量的机会。云计算使公司在有限的困扰下扩大了IT规模，增加了IT的影响力，加快了访问和部署。

管理障碍

　　由于在转移前，公司混杂的保留系统必须进行整顿和简化，因此移入云计划会面临合并和统一的艰难抉择。

成本

　　关于成本的调查——移入云是节省成本还是增加成本——是矛盾的。但是McAfee认为，由于规模优势，久而久之，构建和维持技术基础设施的经济状况会有利于云发展，成本也会下降。

可靠性

　　如果谷歌或亚马逊倒闭，那这将是新闻头条。但实际上，加利福尼亚帕洛阿尔托的Radicati 集团（技术市场研究公司）判断，谷歌 Gmail的可靠度是普通公司e-mail系统的32倍。

Cloud computing is wispy and mysterious, one of the latest hot ideas for business about which many top executives are dubious. In Harvard Business Review, Andrew McAfee, principal research scientist at MIT’s Center for Digital Business, shares these points for senior execs to consider when weighing whether to move more information technology online to servers hosted by other organizations:

Theoretically, anything the cloud provides can be matched by on-premise approaches. But IT budgets are invariably stretched, with only 11 per cent of money spent on developing new applications, according to Microsoft. The rest of the spending goes to maintenance and infrastructure. Moreover, much of that 11 per cent is spent on big strategic efforts such as purchasing and establishing a core enterprise system. “That leaves few resources for, say, ensuring that employees have access to all the documents they need no matter where they are, what devices they are using, and whom they are working with,” Dr. McAfee notes.

Facilitating collaboration

Some of cloud computing’s greatest successes have come from allowing groups to work together in ways not previously possible. For example, after Virginia-based consulting firm CSC turned to Jive, a maker of cloud-based collaboration software, more than 25,000 people registered, creating 2,100 groups. CSC’s president called the results “stunning” and added, “It’s the de facto standard for how we collaborate. It’s the language of the company.”

Mining data for insights

Analytics are another key benefit of the cloud, helping to understand, predict and influence customer behaviour. But Georgia-based Radiant Systems, which supplies the Aloha point-of-sale system to thousands of restaurants, also used the cloud-gathered data to get a better handle on employee theft, analyzing it for suspicious patterns such as a volume of tips far above the average on a Friday night, suggesting the bartender was not charging for drinks in return for a high gratuity.

Developing and hosting applications

Before the cloud, software developers needed to buy, configure and maintain their own servers, which was a distraction from the core activity of writing good code. When Minnesota-based 3M Co. turned to the Windows Azure cloud platform when making its Visual Attention Service software tools available to graphic designers, 3M gained the opportunity to add capacity quickly and easily, with no capital. The cloud allows companies to increase the scale and power of their IT and the speed at which it can be accessed and deployed, with limited headaches.

Administrative barriers

Moving to the cloud forces tough decisions about consolidation and standardization, since the company’s hodgepodge of legacy systems must be untangled and simplified before bring transferred.

Costs

Findings about costs – whether moving to the cloud saves or adds money – have been contradictory. But Dr. McAfee argues that over time, economics of building and maintaining a technology infrastructure will favour the cloud because of the advantages of scale, as costs go down.

Reliability

It’s big news when Google or Amazon goes down. But in fact the Radicati Group, a technology market research firm in Palo Alta, Calif., estimates that Google’s Gmail is 32 times more reliable than the average corporate e-mail system.

Harvey Schachter is a Battersea, Ont.-based writer specializing in management issues. He writes Monday Morning Manager for The Globe and Mail's T.G.I.M. page, management book reviews on Wednesdays and an online work-life balance column on Fridays.

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