Online – Forget the technology

Ben Kepes

Diversity Limited

May 2010

Online services are changing how we do business. They let us

focus on what we need to do without being slowed

down by technology

Agenda

• Who am I?

• Why even talk about cloud?

• Understanding SaaS – What is it?

• Benefits of SaaS

• Key competencies to look for

• Summary

Ben Kepes

• Editor - CloudAve

• Diversity Analysis

• Evangelist

•Adviser

Why Talk About Cloud Computing?

“The bottom line: Early adopters are finding

serious benefits, meaning that

cloud computing is real and warrants your scrutiny as a new set of

platforms for business applications.”

Forrester, August 2009

“A recent IDC survey of IT executives, CIOs, and their line of business (LOB) colleagues

shows that cloud services

are ‘crossing the chasm’ and entering a

period of

widespread adoption.”

IDC, October 2008

“... among large enterprises, cloud computing is gaining

critical mass, with more than 80 percent of

respondents at least in trial stages for

public and private cloud computing deployments.”

F5, August 2009

“...most enterprises will eventually exploit

cloud-based services for a

significant portion of their

information services over time and, in the long run, a majority of these

implementations will be hybrids.”

Gartner, December 2008

Cloud is…

Cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with

minimal management effort or service provider interaction. This cloud model promotes availability and is composed of five essential characteristics, three service models, and four deployment models.

Essential Characteristics:

On-demand self-service. A consumer can unilaterally provision computing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, as needed automatically without requiring human interaction with each service’s provider.

Broad network access. Capabilities are available over the network and accessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneous thin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones, laptops, and PDAs).

Resource pooling. The provider’s computing resources are pooled to serve multiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physical and virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according to consumer demand. There is a

sense of location independence in that the customer generally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of the provided resources but may be able to specify location at a higher level of abstraction (e.g., country, state, or datacenter).

Examples of resources include storage, processing, memory, network bandwidth, and virtual machines.

Rapid elasticity. Capabilities can be rapidly and elastically provisioned, in some cases automatically, to quickly scale out and rapidly released to quickly scale in. To the consumer, the capabilities available for provisioning often appear to be unlimited and can

be purchased in any quantity at any time.

Measured Service. Cloud systems automatically control and optimize resource use by leveraging a metering capability at some level of abstraction appropriate to the type of service (e.g., storage, processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts).

Resource usage can be monitored, controlled, and reported providing transparency for both the provider and consumer of the utilized service.

US National Institute of Standards and Technology

Cloud is…

Connected

Location independent

Online

Utility

On-Demand

Understanding SaaS...

Understanding SaaS

S o f t w a re a s a S e r v i c e ( S a a S ) i s a m o d e l o f

S o f t wa re D e l i ve r y w h e re t h e s o f t wa re

c o m p a ny p ro v i d e s m a i n t e n a n c e , d a i l y

t e c h n i c a l o p e ra t i o n , a n d s u p p o r t fo r t h e

s o f t w a re .

- Wikipedia

”

“

SaaS is about service, not about software

- Rod Drury, CEO Xero

”“

Understanding SaaS...

• Software that lives “in the clouds”

• Software you “rent”

• Software you DON’T maintain

• Inherently collaborative

• Anywhere/Anytime

Understanding SaaS...

Benefits of SaaS...

• Manages risks of acquisition of software

• Minimises roll-out requirements

• Keeps IT strategically focussed

• Scales (almost) effortlessly

• Enables collaboration

• Generally reduces cost

• Gives agility to teams

• Eases pain of managing on-premise apps

Subscription

and TrialWeb AccessService

Administration

Trial and Buy

User Management

Settings

Support

Tools

Anywhere Access without VPN!

Single Sign On

Application Access

SharePoint Links

Downloads

Password Reset

Rich Client

Access

IT ProEnd User

Instant Messaging

E-mailWeb Conferencing

Document Sharing PresenceCalendaring Work Flow Mobility Offline Access Archiving

Financial Benefits...

• Makes your costs even and predictable

• Reduces both capex and opex

• Priced simply: includes both software and hardware

Process Benefits...

• Business class availability backed by SLAs

• Highly secure operations

• Assurance of world class operational standards

Technology Benefits...

• Faster deployment

• Better productivity through ‘anywhere access’

• Simplified management

People Benefits...

• Enables IT staff to focus on adding business value

• Helps meet the challenges of workforce reduction

• Helps IT adapt to mergers and acquisitions quickly

Strategic Focus...

Basic Standardized Rationalized Dynamic

IT Is a Cost

Center

IT Is a More

Efficient Cost

Center

IT Is a

Business

Center

IT Is a

Strategic

Asset

Software + Services Accelerate the Journey+ Services Accelerate

Benefits of SaaS...

Source - 007 SaaS Index, ACA research/salesforce.com

Benefits of SaaS...

Source - 2007 SaaS Index, ACA researc/salesforce.com

Benefits of SaaS...

Source - 2007 SaaS Index, ACA research/salesforce.com

Key benefits...

Source - 2007 SaaS Index, ACA research/salesforce.com

Services designed to scale to tens or

hundreds or millions of users will

dramatically change the nature and cost

of solutions deliverable to enterprise..

- Bill Gates

Microsoft Internal memo

”

“

I believe, over time, more and more

software will be delivered as a service.

I totally believe that... We have to be

good at this, or we have a problem.

- Larry Ellison CEO Oracle

”

“

We’ve Been Doing This For Years...

• Hotmail

• Google/Bing

• Flickr

• YouTube

• Amazon Web Services

• Salesforce.com

Key competencies to look for

• A vendor with a credibility

• Pre-existing SLAs

• Proactive approach towards security agreements

• A deep understanding of the domain

Summary

Resources

• Diversity blog www.diversity.net.nz

• Choosing your cloud vendor whitepaper http://diversity.net.nz/wp-

content/uploads/2010/03/Questions_To_Ask_Your_Cloud_Vendor3.pdf

• Hosted email whitepaper http://diversity.net.nz/wp-

content/uploads/2010/03/Top_10_Questions_to_Ask_Before_Moving_Your_Email-

formatted2.pdf

• Microsoft online services site http://www.microsoft.com/online/en-nz/default.mspx

• Microsoft New Zealand cloud site: www.microsoft.co.nz/cloud