The 'cloud' improves collaboration, saves costs

Mass High Tech reporter Galen Moore’s assessment of how cloud computing can “cut costs dramatically” and provide a “valuable service to power business intelligence” emphasizes the benefits of cloud-based infrastructure (“Cloud computing’s SLA obstacles clear in 2009,” Jan. 9). However, the natural corollary for IT decision makers to consider is the array of user benefits that accompanies cloud-based services: Everyday business communications tools such as online e-mail, calendaring, instant messaging and documents.
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As businesses throughout New England well understand, today’s approaches to IT are being redefined by the Internet. Cloud computing is transforming how businesses operate.

Of the many benefits delivered by the cloud, two in particular stand out — productivity gains and cost savings.

Cloud computing opens new opportunities for greater collaboration and accessibility, especially among small businesses. Online software applications help people work more productively together and share information in ways that haven’t been previously possible. A team member in Framingham, for example, could chat in a spreadsheet at the same time as a colleague telecommuting from Nashua or Providence — or a manager traveling in Dublin or Hong Kong. With the strains on travel budgets, too, sales teams spread across locations could easily meet on a single document ‘in the cloud’ to plan the next quarter’s budget or to share and edit notes from a conference.

During challenging economic times, local governments and businesses of all sizes are pursuing ways to decrease costs while making operations as efficient and effective as possible. IT traditionally involved a big upfront cost, followed by the demands of daily management. By employing cloud-based e-mail and other services, IT departments can be freed to focus on other essential priorities while reducing the costs of buying licenses and purchasing and maintaining servers.

Back in 2001, the Gantry Group issued the “State of the Economy: Massachusetts High Tech Research Report,” that found local businesses overwhelmingly confronting the economic challenges of the time by seeking a “Back to Basics” approach.

Eight years later, services such as e-mail, calendars, and documents are today often considered some of those most essential basics. As a recent Forrester report, “Should Your Email Live in the Cloud? A Comparative Cost Analysis,” summarizes: “Every time you have to upgrade, switch, or add users to your e-mail system, you should examine your fully loaded costs and consider the delivery alternatives.”

Look to the cloud.

In seeking the best solutions, as Moore highlights, trust is essential.

At Google, we eat our own dog food, meaning that we use the same online tools we provide for businesses, universities, and local governments. We’ve found that Google Apps has become essential in driving innovation by enabling our office in Cambridge to collaborate easily with our engineering and sales teams throughout the world. We also understand the importance of reliability, and our Premier Edition SLA guarantees 99.9 percent uptime.

As the move toward cloud-computing services continues in 2009 throughout the region and across the country, businesses are discovering new ways to become more agile, flexible, competitive, and innovative.

For IT decision-makers in New England, now is the time to consider how the cloud can save costs while improving work and collaboration on the ground.

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BY Steve Vinter
Source：The Journal of New England Technology

Steve Vinter is engineering director at Google Boston, in Cambridge.

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