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2014 | Book

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Moving to the Cloud Corporation

How to face the challenges and harness the potential of cloud computing

Authors: Leslie Willcocks, Will Venters, Edgar A. Whitley

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan UK

Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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About this book

Drawing on an international survey of over 1,000 business and executives, this book provides a management perspective on cloud technology. It outlines the need to know information for strategic decisions on cloud technology including its capabilities, how it can be implemented securely and the way forward for the next ten years.

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Table of Contents

Frontmatter

Chapter 1. Cloud in Context: Managing New Waves of Power

Abstract

How to locate the cloud phenomenon? Cloud’s profile has been very high in the media since 2008. On corporate radars, cloud has been rising from something to note through something we can use to something that may help us transform the business. Those new to technology watching will recognize a bandwagon and want to jump on. The old technology watchers will have seen much of this before, through waves of technological advances. When moving to cloud, they will take a more pragmatic, better informed, more granular approach to the latest gee-whizzery. This chapter is designed to support such a perspective. We take a longer-term perspective on cloud, backwards, as well as forwards. For both history and the likely future have a lot to teach us about how to act now.

Leslie Willcocks, Will Venters, Edgar A. Whitley

Chapter 2. The Technology Trajectory

Abstract

In this chapter we focus on the technology developments leading to cloud computing and the challenges and opportunities this turbulent technology landscape presents for business. We discuss how organizations need to deal with technological shifts and paths of innovation and how technical innovations have been and can be diffused into business and management practices to become the ‘new normal.’

Leslie Willcocks, Will Venters, Edgar A. Whitley

Chapter 3. The Service Trajectory

Abstract

Cloud computing is the consequence of the evolution of two distinct strands: technological innovation — based around virtualization and shared computing provision — and a distinctive service-based perspective on computing. Following from this dual-strand perspective on cloud computing, we argue in this chapter that the drivers of the near-term development of cloud computing will have their origins in both strands. We have already seen in the previous chapter, with the Desires Framework, how important it is to see and focus on the business service dimension inherent in cloud developments. In this chapter we develop the notion of the service trajectory with cloud. On a larger canvas, based on our interviews and analyses of the IT industry, we identify three big impacts that relate to the service trajectory in cloud computing. These are: a radical shift toward service performance, a move from products to business services and a radical reconfiguration of the supply industry. In practice, as will emerge, these three shifts present major challenges to the IT supply industry and also to its user organizations.

Leslie Willcocks, Will Venters, Edgar A. Whitley

Chapter 4. The Challenges

Abstract

In the near term, cloud computing faces a number of challenges clearly identified by our research. These include legal and regulatory compliance considerations, security and privacy issues, managing the contractual relationship between client and cloud provider, including lock-in and dependency, as well as managing the very flexibility that cloud provides. Nevertheless, many of these types of challenge have been faced previously and effective solutions have evolved. For example, safe harbour provisions address legal and regulatory issues about transferring data abroad and over 25 years of IT outsourcing have resulted in a skill base that is capable of managing contractual relationships with key partners. End-user computing, whether in the form of desktop computers or, increasingly, smartphones, has become effectively integrated within the IT infrastructure of most organizations. Cloud computing can, and should, learn from these experiences if it is to achieve its full potential. In this chapter and the next, we report on the five major challenges identified by our research and discuss ways forward.

Leslie Willcocks, Will Venters, Edgar A. Whitley

Chapter 5. Security and Privacy Concerns Revisited

Abstract

The most frequently raised concerns about cloud computing relate to the security and privacy of data held in the cloud. In some cases, we found that these concerns were actually preventing the adoption of cloud services, a point confirmed by Everest Group research in 2013 (see chapter 1). In other cases, security and privacy increased the costs of adopting cloud by requiring increased diligence in assessing cloud suppliers. Finally, there is also the perspective, uncovered in our interviews, that these concerns can be exaggerated by IT departments who are reluctant to cede further control over, or out of, the IT function — departments, perhaps, that have learned their own lessons from the outsourcing revolution.

Leslie Willcocks, Will Venters, Edgar A. Whitley

Chapter 6. Cloud and the Diffusion of Innovation

Abstract

The First Law of Technology applies to cloud. The law says: We invariably overestimate the short-term impact of new technologies, while underestimating their long-term effects.¹ In his work on the future of the Internet John Naughton makes a strong case for this law. Certainly, it is clear that if the much hyped take-off period from 1995 ended in the bursting of the ‘e-business bubble’ in 2000/01, all predictions of its impact now have to go way beyond the technology and hi-tech sectors, into widespread social, economic, indeed global impacts.²

Leslie Willcocks, Will Venters, Edgar A. Whitley

Chapter 7. Management: Building the Retained Organization

Abstract

Earlier chapters have pointed to the promise of cloud. Generically, the promise is: speed, payment based on consumption, lower costs, clearly defined services managed to appropriate services levels, on-demand availability, and scalability. There is simplicity (complexity hidden from view), allowing a focus on business requirements, strategy, and innovation, away from day-to-day maintenance and technology issues.¹ We have also pointed to the challenges presented by cloud computing technologies, their likely impacts and their potential for incremental, architectural, and radical innovations for the business. The opportunity is clear:

Leslie Willcocks, Will Venters, Edgar A. Whitley

Chapter 8. Cloud Futures: Changing the Form of Organization

Abstract

The previous chapter discussed developing the retained organization, suggesting ways forward for managing, harnessing, and capitalizing on cloud computing. What was not addressed, however, was whether in practice wholesale new forms of organization will emerge, harnessing cloud computing and challenging incumbents and existing players in their marketplaces. An influential paper by Erik Brynjolfsson and colleagues at MIT written in 2010 hinted that we cannot consider cloud purely in relation to old organizational forms: ‘Computing is still in the midst of an explosion of innovation and co-invention. Those that simply replace corporate resources with cloud computing, while changing nothing else, are doomed to miss the full benefits of the new technology.’¹ This chapter considers the extent to which the benefits of cloud computing may reshape organizations themselves. The chapter leaves behind comparisons with existing data center and outsourcing arrangements, focusing instead on the potentially disruptive innovation cloud computing is likely to cause over the longer term.

Leslie Willcocks, Will Venters, Edgar A. Whitley

Chapter 9. Conclusion: The Bigger Picture

Abstract

This final chapter builds upon chapter 8 to look to the future and considers the impact cloud computing is likely to have on society and the economy. In 2007, nobody imagined using a data center on the other side of the world to send a text message or book a calendar appointment. Yet, well before 2013, Apple Siri and Google Now were exploiting cloud computing to provide these services. Here we discuss the social and technological implications of cloud, looking at its potential impact on smart cities, communication, and business. Within this we also note the emergence of other technology trends such as super-low-cost computing (for example, the $10 computer-on-a-chip) and additive manufacturing and explore their potential in shaping the commercial landscape when linked with cloud computing. Essentially, the chapter addresses the question: If computing is in the cloud — what next?

Leslie Willcocks, Will Venters, Edgar A. Whitley

Backmatter

Title: Moving to the Cloud Corporation
Authors: Leslie Willcocks
Will Venters
Edgar A. Whitley
Copyright Year: 2014
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan UK
Electronic ISBN: 978-1-137-34747-3
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-46733-4
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137347473

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