IBM revamps it’s Cloud strategy

The Financial Times reports that IBM is to revamp it’s Cloud computing strategy. Having worked in IBM, handing such an area of business over to IBM Global Services will not be a fix to it developing an impetus to it’s Cloud computing business.

One interesting comment made by their head of Cloud computing business- Erich Clementi, was that there were as many opinions about their Cloud computing strategy as there were people.

IBM Global Services is a major outsourcer, and in my humble opinion, having to handle a Cloud Computing strategy alongside their existing business model is too contentious.

The IBM Software business has created SaaS products such as LotusLive, but this does not seem to be making an impact in the market place yet.

Whereas in previous era’s IBM has realigned itself just in time to continue to be a major force in the market.  I worry that in this new rapidly (not fast, but rapid) moving Cloud computing space, if they cannot sort out a cohesive strategy soon they may be usurped by new players.

Microsoft got the message in time and again in my opinion, realigned their business to meet the threat of disruptive market players like Google, head on.

I wonder what IBM customers must be thinking right now?

The Devil Is In The Detail

As we engage on another customer project for Salesforce.com, we are ever mindful that we are not simply implementing a new solution, but delivering a new tool to make people more productive, improve their morale and deliver improved sales, customer satisfaction and profitability to the organisation in question.

If you leave out the people in a new implementation, it doesn't matter how well you think you've designed the system, if it doesn't 'fit' the users then you are on a sure course for failure.  Change management is a serious consideration for any project.  You can't please all of the people all of the time, the saying goes.  That may be true, but if you show that you have listened and will continue to listen, there will be greater tolerance to work things through.  People are only human!

We encourage our customers to walk through the solution with their users and try and shape the system to work for them, whilst still achieving the desired objectives for the business.  You would be amazed at how many different features people use, compared to each other.  We all have our own way of doing things, so if the system allows users to do the same thing differently, then let them do it.  (Did you know you can send an Email three different ways in Salesforce.com?)

Considering your people puts the human element into a solution, and so long as that helps productivity, customer satisfaction, sales and profitability, who cares how they go about it. 

Get the details right, and the results will be positive and naturally occurring.  So, don't worry about getting a new system online¹ quickly, worry about getting it online first time at the right time.


1. The beauty about Software-as-a-Service is that it is online and ready-to-go.  So, you are able to spend more time thinking about your people, workflow and processes.  You can try things out in real-time without the risk and worry of hardware, set-up and consultancy costs.

Are You Or Your Company Doing Something Illegal?

As I get around to visit more organisations talking about Cloud computing, the same well answered concerns get brought up.

Most people assume that you shouldn't put your data outside the UK and what about the security of the data?

The answers are simple. All the major Cloud vendors have Safe Harbor policies that comply with both the US and EU Data Protection acts. Many people forget that their own personal banking data is already handled offshore for the purposes of processing. So why should it be any different for your company data?

Similarly, you can well imagine that these major Cloud vendors are prime targets for all manner of hackers, phishers etc.. You should reassure yourself that your data is most probably substantially better protected that you could ever achieve. When was the last time you really proactively monitored your network security, or put security patches on in a timely fashion? If your Cloud supplier is SAS70 type II audited, then you have got all bases covered. They're betting their business on securing your data. So, despite being prime targets, they are most probably managing their network security by the minute and security patching will not be a 'to do' list item.

The other concern is about having security agencies, accessing your data without your knowledge. If you have not got something to hide, why should you be worried? The security agencies aren't going to use your data for competitive advantage! So long as you advise your client of how you are handling their data, then they can advise you of their concerns and storage of their data can be provisioned elsewhere.

Microsoft, IBM, Salesforce and Google all have data centres in the European Union, as well as in other regions of the world. It is very easy to be reassured that your data is safe in their hands, and you as the responsible data owner only need to be concerned that the data is managed and handled in compliance with any company policies or regulatory requirements relevant to your business.

Sleep easy, Cloud computing is well protected and you can include it as part of your IT strategy.

The Trust Pillar

This week in the UK has seen a flurry of publicity surrounding the expense claims of Members of Parliament, from all parties.

Most claims are related to allowances to which they are entitled as part of their jobs. But the scandal surrounds the inappropriateness of some of the expenses in relation to the claimants jobs.

The allowances have rules under which MPs should claim, but the publicity has come about as to the extent to which members have stretched the rules. In all rules there are written as well as implicit meanings, and the latter are entrusted to individuals to interpret them with good ethics and morals.

The episode has tarnished all MPs, and has further broken the trust we empower them with to represent us in Parliament. In a bid to win back that trust many MPs are now making public apologies and committing to paying back monies for inappropriate claim items.

Trust is a very powerful thing and a founding pillar of all civilised societies. People and businesses build their reputations on trust.

One company that has built it's business on trust is Salesforce.com. They knew that for them to be successful, people had to believe that their highly sensitive and valuable data would be safe and secure out in the cloud of the Internet. So, the company has to be transparent in its operations and set up a dedicated website - trust.salesforce.com to show the performance of its systems and security state.

When you break people's trust, you can't win it back in an instant. The British MP's cannot believe that by offering to pay back expenses, that somehow people are going to start trusting them again. Trust has to be earnt, and companies such as Salesforce.com run their business on it, for them to break that, in this on demand world, would be the death of them.

There are many SaaS and Cloud Computing companies and the first thing they have to win from potential customers is trust. You can almost forget all other aspects of the relationship in the shadow of that most important pillar.

Customer Service - It's a System Problem

I watched the BBC TV Watchdog programme on Monday 4th May and was amazed at some of the comments from BT, 3, Sky and Tiscali, all communications companies that the programme investigated over their answering of telephone calls. Sky was the winner with a wait time of 2 hours and 10 minutes!

What perplexed me about the responses was that all the call waiting issues were blamed on technology and not on call volumes. BT's system was slower than normal due to a recent system upgrade and the ensuing teething problems. Sky apparently could not take calls for a WHOLE day due to a telecoms problem. 3 had also just recently upgraded their systems and were experiencing problems.

Well, the programme made 100 telephone calls to each company over 3 days, and to me it is an amazing coincidence that several of them upgraded their systems at the same time!

So, two things were lacking. Either, the companies didn't have enough call centre operatives or they can't scale their call centre IT systems, to handle the call volumes. Based on their responses to the programme, the latter seems to be the 'problem'.

If I.T. was to blame then you don't do a system upgrade that is going to give you a worse system performance or roll out a system that hasn't been capacity tested. Similarly, all these communications companies shouldn't do their upgrades at the same time! Maybe they need to consider running Software-as-a-Service applications and or utilising Cloud Computing, both of these paradigms are designed to be highly scalable, resilient, responsive and have SLA's of at least 99.9%. If I was the managing director of these companies I'd be asking awkward questions of the CTO/CIO.

But why don't the companies admit, having seen the programme and all their responses, that it's a manpower issue and maybe there might be a system performance issue as a secondary cause. Their reasons for failure are too similar for them to be real.

Cloud Computing Gets A Much-Needed Reality Check - Plug Into The Cloud - InformationWeek

Cloud Computing Gets A Much-Needed Reality Check - Plug Into The Cloud - InformationWeek

I am working with former colleagues to set up a business to resell software as a service products, providing a range of consultancy, delivery and training services to compliment the associated products for our customers.

There is a lot of positive information to read about cloud computing and software as a service and this is a good article to see, it will help us to make sure our plan is real and how we develop the proposition for our potential customers.