Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Judy Spitz, CIO of Verizon (Part 4)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Shaloo Shalini

JS: Well, here is an expression that I heard years and years ago. It seems so right to me that I repeat it many times. I think it is very relevant here; it is the expression is about consumer expectations today – the slowest speed I am willing to tolerate is the fastest speed I have ever experienced! >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Judy Spitz, CIO Of Verizon (Part 3)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Shaloo Shalini

JS: This applies regardless of whether I think about clouds in terms of internal operations or I think about them as I imagine other enterprises would think about cloud computing – meaning how we should position this to our customers. >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Judy Spitz, CIO Of Verizon (Part 2)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Shaloo Shalini

SM: What is the scope of your IT organization at Verizon that services the enterprise business?

JS: By scope, do you mean the size or the things?

SM: Size or anything that gives us some idea of the scope of IT management at Verizon. >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Judy Spitz, CIO Of Verizon (Part 1)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Shaloo Shalini

What is a typical user’s expectation of a tolerable speed of mobile connectivity? Connectivity today spans telephony, infrastructure and service access speeds, application speeds, and perceptible performance. Having been in the business of managing ever-higher customer expectations for telecom providers, Judy Spitz, CIO of Verizon, has a witty answer to this question. She says that for a typical user, the slowest speed they are willing to tolerate is the fastest speed they have ever experienced! >>>

Strong Growth In SaaS CRM

According to research firm Gartner, SaaS within the customer relationship management (CRM) industry is expected to exceed $4 billion in total software revenue in 2014, representing more than 32% of the overall CRM market. Salesforce.com, the pioneer of SaaS CRM, recently reported strong sales and said it expected cross the $2 billion revenue milestone this year.

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The State Of Cloud-Based Storage – Is It Ready? Are You? (Part 4)

By guest author Bob Shinn, with an introduction by guest author Shaloo Shalini

[In this final segment, Bob discusses the cost savings of cloud storage in detail and advises businesses what to consider when deciding which applications to move to the cloud.]

The Cost Analysis

In our discussions with CIOs, many from Fortune 500 companies (and most entrepreneurs are working to be on that list), we have developed our own variation of the Pareto rule – 80 percent of applications and data are non-differentiating and not related to your venture’s IP or value proposition, and so are good cloud candidates. These include e-mail, archive and backup, and data on shared drives (e.g., documents, spreadsheets, databases.) The other 20 percent of your data and applications are critical IP and differentiate your company or carry substantial regulatory or compliance requirements. These should not be put in the cloud. >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Sankarson Banerjee, CIO of IndiaInfoline (Part 11)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Shaloo Shalini

SM: How active is this market segment comprising Netmagic-type cloud services in India? Are there a lot of startups coming up in that cloud segment?

SB: No, no. Data centers have large startup costs, and there is a [high] barrier to entry. So, I don’t see that Netmagic has too much competition yet. >>>

The State Of Cloud-Based Storage – Is It Ready? Are You? (Part 3)

By guest author Bob Shinn, with an introduction by guest author Shaloo Shalini

Open Issues with Cloud Storage Adoption

Many enterprises are sensitive as to where the data is actually stored in cloud; for example, a U.S. company doing business globally cannot store client data in China or a host of other countries. Legislation and regulations such as the EU’s Data Protection Directive describe conditions to regulate handling and processing of personal data to protect personal privacy. The United States, on the other hand, takes a less restrictive approach to handling personal data, although stringent rules govern export of software containing encryption algorithms. The ‘Framework for Global Electronic Commerce’ proposed under the Clinton administration suggests that the private sector lead the way in ensuring data protection and security. Data breaches have prompted various branches of government to implement regulation, but to date no overarching construct or regulation is in place that governs placement of data in the cloud. Businesses would do well to follow the recommendations of Booz & Company’s ‘Eyes Wide Open – Mitigating Risk in Cloud Computing’ report and demand contract clauses that address security and privacy by “asking cloud vendors for location guarantees that use geographic limitations and local partnerships to control cross-border data transfer and to take operational responsibility for applications by following the same procedures used internally.” >>>