What is the real value proposition of Cloud Computing?

We have entered an era where business is getting impatient with the kind of IT support  it has been used to for well over a couple of decades now. With everything going 2.0 business needs more experimentation to achieve quick assembling of solutions, eliminate things which will not work and adapt what will fill the need. These need to be delivered in a highly responsive and flexible environment. Speed has become the essence of the game. Cloud computing or more simply software, services and/or infrastructure delivered on a pay per use mode over the internet, has an attractive value proposition.

1. You can try out a solution or a software or even a service (check out www.stylusap.com for a software and services combine)  without a commitment.
   
2. You have an immediate access to perform all the basic features on offer. Try it and justify later.
3. Use it and scale it as you go.
   
4. Forget all the earlier restrictions in the form of approvals, CIO endorsements etc that were required before an IT solution was pressed into service for your department.
   

As an outsourced services provider, I always had professed my faith in remote engagement. My moment of truth came however when Pujarini, my webmaster and key person on marketing, had to relocate to another country. We decided that it was time now for us to walk the talk on a strategic function such as marketing. Based on my experience, here are few points that I think are critical to the success of any remotely engaged service.

1. Throughput over Activity. Most managers I have come across are comfortable tracking, monitoring and reporting activity. It is good to remember that value is communicated much better when throughput and not activity is reported. When everybody is comfortable with the throughput idea, the reason to micro manage ceases to exist. As throughput gets standardized, its helps build confidence and trust across the board.
2. Environment over Application. The lesson to be learnt here is well taught by social media based networking. The joy off remote engagement is truly enhanced by the environment that is set up. It is ideal to have a single dashboard that serves as the interface to all the stakeholders that are engaging remotely.SaaS and Cloud basedapplications have much to offer in this space as we keep discovering with both clients and our own team.
   
3. Shared Values over Contract. The Satyams and Madoffs will continue to happen in spite of the Enrons and the Worldcoms and the answer is not more and more regulation. Rather, it is more fundamental and vital to upfront ensure that certain shared values govern the relationship and this is well understood by all stakeholders. It also pays to go beyond the agreements to comply and examine demonstrated behavior in these areas. 

In the past, enterprises have leveraged the advantages of outsourcing and offshore processing centers. Entry barriers have been high in this space for smaller companies owing to the initial investments in setting up proprietary environments and training cross cultural workforce.

The advent of SaaS applications and Cloud Based Workflows has thrown open the advantages of Platform Driven Services to the medium sized and small businesses. Without the need for upfront heavy investments, you can set up an environment that suits your workflows.  Then you can get to choose between engaging an on-premise team or a remote team or even a combination of the two, based on your assessment of risks and cost advantages.

We (www.thomasandalex.com ) have been increasingly impressed with the benefits from our experience with customers, moving them from a traditional VPN (Virtual Private Network) based services delivery model to a cloud based delivery model. This has also been the inspiration behind launching our latest offering - On demand Accounts Payable Solution (www.stylusap.com)