Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Laef Olson, CIO of RightNow (Part 2)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Shaloo Shalini

SM: What is the scope of your internal IT organization? What you mentioned just now is the IT infrastructure piece for delivering your cloud-based offering or product as a cloud vendor. What about the internal requirements of RightNow as a company? >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Paul Wilcox, CIO of HMH Publishing (Part 4)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Shaloo Shalini

SM: What is your perspective on what Google is doing with Google Docs and Google Apps?

PW: Well, for a lot of these kinds of applications is the same thing with the similar applications for the iPad. Our problem, or I guess our challenge, is compatibility. It is compatibility with legacy-created documentation that is our biggest hurdle. For example, Keynote is very widely used for high-quality presentations for the sales force to schools districts and the like. Some of those things don’t really convert well back and forth. We also really haven’t had, as of yet, significant adoption of the Google operating system. Speaking of mobility, we are trending away from the BlackBerry which used to be our corporate standard. Now we are going more toward the Android operating system and the iPhone and iPad. >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Laef Olson, CIO Of RightNow (Part 1)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Shaloo Shalini

The Software as a Service (SaaS) delivery model of cloud computing has seen steady and overwhelming growth that has cut across industries, verticals, and big and small enterprises. Worldwide SaaS revenue in the enterprise application software market was pegged at $8.5 billion in 2010, up 14.1% from 2009 revenue of $7.5 billion, according to Gartner, Inc. The projected shift in total SaaS revenue from just over 10 percent of the combined markets in 2009 to more than 16 percent of these combined markets in 2014 due to widespread adoption of SaaS, is creating newer opportunities for cloud computing entrepreneurs. The SaaS space is no doubt crowded when it comes to innovative solutions, but there is a clear gap, especially in terms of solutions that address concerns of SaaS adopters such as cloud provider lock-in and the ability to interoperate from one cloud to another – be it infrastructure, the platform, or the solution itself. >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Paul Wilcox, CIO of HMH Publishing (Part 3)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Shaloo Shalini

SM: Well, sounds like it makes perfect financial sense that a private cloud is going to be more cost effective than an environment where there is a lot of duplication, no virtualization, and all of that. I know the financial answer to this question, but the question remains. There is also this public cloud available. You chose to go directly from an on-premise, owned and operated environment with lots of wasted infrastructure to a private cloud which is virtualized and efficient. Now, that is saving a lot of money. Did you not consider the interim step of going to a public cloud? >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Paul Wilcox, CIO of HMH Publishing (Part 2)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Shaloo Shalini

SM: Okay, that gives us some context. Now let’s explore what your philosophy for computing is and where HMH is in terms of cloud computing adoption. Have you moved on from the pilot stage to broad deployment, and which workloads have you moved to the cloud? >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Paul Wilcox, CIO of HMH Publishing (Part 1)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Shaloo Shalini

It was not so long ago in the history of books – 1936 – that publisher Allen Lane started Penguin Books Ltd. in what would be the first major successful attempt to print and sell cheap but high-quality fiction and nonfiction books on the mass market. Today, the advent of iPads, Kindles, and e-books coupled with the availability of cost-effective, efficient, and scalable cloud computing technology is creating another shift in the publishing industry. Valid environmental concerns about electronic publishing aside, cloud computing seems to be spurring on trends in publishing world such as self-publishing, which can entail additional effort from authors but can also get more books to market faster, cheaper, and on a larger scale. Besides Amazon’s self-publishing technology there are others such as Lulu and Mimeo that are latching on to this trend – Author Solutions saw 50%-70% cost and time reductions with cloud-based publishing workflows. >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Rick Blaisdell, CTO Of ConnectEDU (Part 8)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Shaloo Shalini

SM: Are there other thoughts you have on entrepreneurship and how cloud computing could make a difference in the field of education? Say, from an administrative system’s point of view, the area that you are working on, related to the process of finding a college that is a good match? This process has become very cumbersome, and I can tell you based on my experience here. I applied for college in 1988 from India. At that time, we had minimal Internet or desktop computer penetration. I typed my applications on a typewriter. Since then, college admissions have come a long way. A lot more information is available more easily, but at the same time, the college application process has become very stressful and competitive. [Among some socioeconomic classes], there is a huge amount of money being spent on college consultants. What are your thoughts on this scenario? >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Rick Blaisdell, CTO Of ConnectEDU (Part 7)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Shaloo Shalini

SM: There are several companies working in the area of skill gap analysis. Many of these solutions are starting to penetrate the education sector. But the people who are dealing with K-12 educational technology, primarily in the case of online learning management systems, are having difficulty penetrating the schools in part because of the unions. The teachers’ unions are sometimes a problem as far as technology adoption is concerned. What are your thoughts here? >>>