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The Next Best Thing?

BW Online Bureau Nov 08, 2014

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[As work environments become more challenging, data is growing exponentially. Such changes create a need for maximum use of technologies and solutions to expedite the work flow. One such technology is cloud computing which is gaining significant traction as a new IT delivery model with significant business and financial benefits. It is one of the most transformative and hottest technologies available for any enterprise today. A number of conversations around moving to the cloud and the benefits it is expected to bring to enterprises across verticals. The economic downturn facing the world today has further compounded the need for such technologies. The cloud computing market holds tremendous potential. A recent study by Nasscom and Deloitte predicts the Indian cloud computing market will reach $16 billion by 2020. Management Consulting firm Zinnov, pegs the market size at $4.5 billion in 2015. A recent IDC study says that cloud computing will generate over 2 million jobs in India by 2015. Indian organizations are also considering cloud in a serious way. According to the India findings of the Symantec 2011 Virtualization and Evolution to the Cloud Survey, one-third of those surveyed, are in the discussing/planning stage for private and hybrid cloud deployments. Data intensive sectors like BFSI, telecom etc. will experience higher adoption rates .However, huge potential is also seen in sectors like education, healthcare and government as being major adopters of cloud in the future. This model provides visible benefits to businesses by enabling them dynamically scale their computing without having to invest in costly infrastructure. The recent economic downturn has further put pressure on enterprises to tighten their IT spending. Technologies like cloud computing look very appealing since they require less financial investment. According to an IDC study, the fact that this technology enables conversion of large, upfront capital investments in IT into smaller, manageable ‘Pay-per-use' annuity payments is what makes it so attractive. However, this rising interest in cloud based services and their benefit is accompanied by a cautious approach towards its deployment. According to the Symantec 2011 State of Cloud Survey, over 80 per cent of Indian organizations are discussing cloud adoption, less than 20 per cent have completed implementation-which is a significant gap. While it does hold tremendous potential to provide significant cost savings and efficiencies to enterprises. Barriers to adoption include security, control, and compliance. We live in an information driven world where information is the most valued asset for any company. Hence, whether it is information on-premise or on the cloud, it is very important that it be safeguarded. In fact, concerns include fear about data being transmitted and stored by a cloud services provider, keeping it safe, and preventing it from being lost or stolen are on the rise. Users often wonder about unproven cloud vendor security practices and the virtual separation between infrastructure and clients. Another concern is losing control and risking more downtime once data and applications move to the cloud. This is corroborated by the India findings of the sixth annual Symantec Disaster Recovery Study which shows that while Indian enterprises are adopting new technologies such as virtualization and the cloud to reduce costs, they are currently adding more complexity to their environments and leaving mission critical applications and data unprotected. Gap between expectation and reality is another impediment. According to the 2011 Symantec State of Cloud Survey, 85 per cent expected cloud to improve their IT agility, but only 57 per cent said that it actually did. Results also fell short in the areas of disaster recovery, efficiency, lower operational expenses and improved security. While this technology is expected to mature as more organizations adopt it. Deployment if best practices can go a long way in removing barriers. (The author is vice-president, Information Management Group, Symantec)