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Heads in the Cloud: can we see?

The recent report from BT Global Services based on the Enterprise Intelligence survey suggests that during the recession, businesses have too often cut IT budgets which cuts now risk impairing performance as we emerge back into the sunlight of economic activity. It’s an old story when people at the top of a business assume that any parts of the organisation that they don’t understand, cannot be that important and so can be cut. And, of course, because the cuts usually fall with disproportionate force on new developments, leaving current systems jogging along as before, it is only when a competitor steals a march with a better system that the problem becomes apparent. And that’s when you risk rushing a new idea through, in order to catch up but without the care and diligence that would normally be applied.

The Cloud is now being touted as the panacea to both cut the costs of computing and improve the quality of capability but, even if we are desperate for a quick fix, as with any new wonder cure, all sides should be considered before embarking on it. The first one that springs to mind is risk. If the Cloud comes to dominate global IT operations, a great deal of the world’s intellectual value and data will be held in server farms in cool countries (and I mean low temperature, not style leaders). Now, don’t get me wrong but are we absolutely certain that data held in countries such as Russia and China will be treated with the same respect for ownership and dedication to corporate privacy that we have come to expect in the West?

It may be; but I think that we need a great deal more evidence that countries who wish to benefit from the global economy are prepared to subscribe to global values before we leave too many of the family jewels in their care.
© Copyright EMP Media 2006

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