CloudBus

Cloud Computing is changing the face of computing and is a disruptive technology which no professional can ignore today ! It has moved center stage and is the Future of Computing; are you prepared to harness the cloud? If you are a Business Leader then it is time for you to understand the use of cloud computing as a strategic business tool. The Cloud is an Utility and is for everyone to use and no longer confined to the Technology Geeks. If you have not prepared then it is time for you to attend a course on Cloud computing which will help you understand on how Cloud Computing and Business can be woven together to add value to the bottom line of your enterprise. Whatever your role be in the enterprise, a member of the Board, the CEO, a C level executive CXO, CFO, CMO, CRO, CHR it is time you understood cloud computing as a business enabler and how to harness this utility. It is time for you to sign up for a Cloud Computing Program for Business Leaders which presents Cloud Comput...

Recently I was in a panel discussion in a Seminar and the question of the CIO's journey to the corner office as the CEO of the Company. Unfortunately the instances of the CIO transforming to a CEO are few in the world of business and there are number  of reasons logically this transformation is possible but in a Real world it is a fantasy. Let us examine the qualities of a good CIO the first of course is being a good team player, second political acumen to survive and please the various stake holders in business and the last is the IT prowess. CIO's who are successful do excel in people management and handling corporate warfare and wading through uncertain cycles in the business. But are these qualities enough to make them the CEO, there are certain factors missing, the CIO never leads the business troops which is essential to be a CEO, neither does the CEO interact with the Board on a regular basis in most companies, the CIO is drowned in budgets,data and analysis whereas ...

The urgency of the CIO to ride the juggernaut called inclusive technology is a challenge. Today the young executive is more tech savvy then most people in the IT department who have become tired and jaded in just keeping the lights on. Innovation and Excellence from the IT department needs a CIO who can juggle being a strategist, innovator and also hit the sweet spot in emerging technology swings. The CIO needs to deploy  technology as a catalyst to stitch the organization together in delivering the same goal and vision as articulated by the Board . CIO has Miles to Go and Promise to Keep in an Uncharted Terrain! In the world of SMAC the CIO has to become an aggregator and has to change his teams pace in adopting technology which is driven by his company's employees and customers rather than by the IT Team. Gone are the days when the CIO had a chance to choose build deploy and support technology, today the CIO  has to deliver in real time in a hyper competitive envir...

It it time to bid goodbye to cloud computing, the time has come to evangelise the three services offered by the cloud IAAS - Infrastructure as a service PAAS - Platform as a service SAAS - Software as a service. Are you ready to embrace cloud services Cloud has been established as an utility - secure reliable resilient and trustworthy. So the future is in evangelizing, marketing, branding and deploying the services that ride on the cloud. The opportunity in SAAS has seen exponential growth making cloud ubiquitous for computing. The next challenge is in increasing PAAS and SAAS adoption, this means shaking up the enterprise computing space, changing the mindsets of the CTO/CIO and the CISO  and the Cloud Strategist. Are we ready for this, the next year will see the intense adoption of PAAS and SAAS as more companies shut down their data centers and move to cloud computing. Are you prepared to ride the next tsunami in the cloud computing saga, are you prepared to d...

Many Enterprises start with virtualization in their data center and then scale their data centers into a private cloud and then maybe migrate to a hybrid cloud by integrating with the public cloud. This approach could be flawed though it may give comfort the CTO/CIO of the organization,  because  it may be a risky route to test cloud computing. Virtualization management needs good skilled personnel more so when the virtualized servers run into a problem, these resources are a challenge to find and even if found difficult to retain . Secondly building private clouds may not be economical and is time consuming to get it resilient and reliable. Most private enterprise clouds do not have a self service model build in their deployment, rather it goes through the IT department again, which means there is no agility and ease of deployment of services for an end user. A Private Cloud May turn out to be like the boat in the Well! A better route for an enterprise is to start...

Today an old friend of mine asked me on my idea of selling SAAS software solutions to a CIO. His contention was since I was a CIO  could I share my perspective of how to go about selling SAAS solutions to CIO's. The CIO The CIO - Chief Information Officer is a busy person, who is more like a juggler who has to make sure that the digital infrastructure and solutions are working like a well oiled machinery for the success of  the business. CIO is a busy person and it is important you have your elevator pitch ready to get your product into his.her eco system. Pitching to the  CIO Will the solution be useful for his business, does it feel a need that a Business has been asking for  a while. If it is a new fad the CIO has no time for your solution. Important for you to map the CIO with the benefits and advantages for your software product. Remembers not more than 7 points .. that is all his attention level, so get the best first. Here goes a sug...

The Big Data Conundrum continues, those who are innovative and know how to leverage it, benefit. Big Data is not for everyone, just like market research is not used by all enterprises.  The first answer you will need is will Big Data be useful to my business and can I get the required investment ? If your Business can benefit, then do you have clean data? the job of cleaning and collating Big Data is a challenging task and is not for the weak.   You will then need to build a team with complementing skills to work on big data, though the attitude needed will be the ability to sift through chaff for grain, with patience and a need to win.  Big Data cannot be driven by the CIO rather it should be driven by the leadership team who handle the business strategy, the CIO can help with the technology tools and solutions to make Big Data Reality. Big Data similar to a Bougainvillea Bush, Beautiful but one needs to manage the thorns! So who should...

The CIO on his own cannot introduce cloud computing in the Enterprise, even if the CIO is a believer in cloud computing his business leadership may not accept cloud computing adoption;  they have bigger risks to handle with higher rewards which takes priority over technology and as a business priority they still believe in the old saying " If it ain't broke don't fix it " when it come to corporate computing. The CIO needs the Cloud Evangelist to Navigate the Cloud ! Business Leadership look at CIO's as people with high IQ who are a necessary evil in the business ecosystem and are best left to do what they need in their own Ivory Tower. A smart CIO can use some help from a Cloud Computing Evangelist to convince the business leaders in  on the benefits of Cloud Adoption. The Cloud Computing Evangelist can work with the CIO to pitch the cloud as a strategic business enabler and as an utility to steer the the Business leadership's understanding a...

EDP was the origin of computing in business, it was the acronym for "Electronic Data Processing", The  EDP department was a busy factory during salary computation, closing of the financial books and also month end sales and inventory management and finally MIS (Management Information System) . There were no Microsoft workstation in those days, no lotus 123 just reams of printout in high speed printers which were transferred neatly into transparencies with marker pens ! The EDP was always under the control of the CFO - the chief financial office and EDP manager was a powerful person who had to be reliable and accomplished in technology. EDP began with punched cards, then tapes and so on ; today they are relics, but the EDP department was the temple of information, it was the knowledge bank of the business and access to it was restricted. The CFO was the lord and master of the EDP department because the first baby steps of data processing was accounting,...

In Hindu mythology Shiva is the destroyer and Nandi the Bull is Shiva's mount and is the gate keeper to Shiva and his consort Parvathi. Every Shiva temple has a Nandi at its entrance which prevents direct view of the idol at the Sanctum of the temple. More on Wikpedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nandi_(bull) If the CIO is the Nandi then cloud computing is  Shiva the destroyer of traditional computing. Unless the Nandi moves the business cannot reap the benefits of the cloud and attain salvation. Hence it is important that the CIO transforms himself as the mount for the organization to benefit from cloud computing rather then being the gatekeeper who will not allow the business to adopt cloud computing. Is the CIO - Nandi ready for the transformation from a gatekeeper to the mount for the business to ride into cloud computing for agile and innovative computing ? The  monolithic  stone Nandi Lepakshi, Andhra Pradesh  (length 27 feet, he...

As we ring out 2012 which had its share of success and tribulation in cloud computing. We can ring in 2013 as the year Cloud Computing will  transform into an everyday utility like electricity. The Cloud will cease to be a novelty or a laboratory, it is for real and it has proved it can deliver reliably in 2012 despite the pessimists who  kept picking on every cloud disruption rather then seeing the totality of the benefits. 2013 will be the year when the cloud will be the utility that transform and drives the economy in a tough and recessionary year. There will be large cloud utilities formed by merger and acquisition of fragmented cloud server providers and we we will have companies like Microsoft, HP, Dell, IBM, Cisco, EMC  embracing the cloud for their survival and relevance in the technology landscape. More then 250 companies in the Fortune 500 can move to the cloud today based on their nature of their business and focus on gro...

The Business will lead cloud computing adoption in 2012 and beyond. Just like ERP adoption was led by business and not the EDP manager , cloud computing adoption will be led by the Business and not the CIO/CTO. If you do not learn how to ride the cloud computing horse, then you are doomed to be trampled under their hooves, learn to adapt to business. Unless Technology leaders learn to change their stripes quickly and improve their trust and knowledge on cloud computing they stand to be drowned in the cloud computing deluge which is waiting to be unleashed in the coming years. CIO/CTO/ Die Hard Technology non believers, convert and repent and adopt cloud computing else you will be swept away into insignificance like the old EDP Manager . Welcome 2012 with the belief and conviction that Cloud Computing and Business will tango together just like the two horses in the picture. Add Cloud Computing Adoption as the No 1 item in your TO DO list for 2012!

Cloud Appliances A cloud appliance is an off the shelf computing  equipment delivered fully assembled and tested, with the software stack loaded and configured. When the appliance is connected to the power and network and turned on, it works. This is one of the easiest methods to build a private cloud as an IAAS deployment, so if you had three cloud appliances in three data centers and a network, all you need is to plug in the three cloud appliances and Presto you have an enterprise (private)  cloud.  Cloud Appliance the Boat for Enterprise Cloud Computing all photos in this blog courtesy Ajay Gopal (aj2z on Twitter) Today's cloud appliance are more matured and can be deployed for connecting to the public cloud thus creating a hybrid cloud. So now you have your enterprise private cloud and you can connect to the large and powerful public cloud using the cloud appliance.  This allows the the enterprise to use the cloud appliance as a boat to the public cloud and ...