"Making Sense of ‘The Cloud’" by Extrinsica Global

Great reading: "Making Sense of 'The Cloud'" by Extrinsica Global.

The Exec sum from the article:

"The term ‘cloud’ is currently being used to describe a wide range of IT-based services that are delivered or consumed via the Internet. Unfortunately, the simplicity of the term and plethora of ‘cloud services’ already available in the market causes confusion in the minds of potential customers. This non-technical white paper is designed to enable business owners and leaders to understand the options when it comes to ‘the cloud’; to understand the range of cloud services available and which types of services are likely to be most suitable for their businesses.

The paper first segments cloud services into logical groupings and then describes, in general terms, each type of service. It also examines the applicability and the pros and cons of each service for small (25 – 250 employees) and mid-market (250 – 2000 employees) businesses. Finally, the paper addresses objectively some common concerns about the cloud approach and cloud service providers.

The paper demonstrates that there is a wide variety of services in the marketplace but, by segmenting the services and examining each segment in turn, it is possible for non-technical business leaders to make sense of ‘the cloud’ and get a good feel for the type of cloud services that would be appropriate for their business. It also shows that, while businesses should be cautious, the cloud approach to consuming IT functionality is a viable and practical proposition even at current levels of Internet bandwidths available to businesses. Nevertheless, because it is an emerging market, there is variability in the quality of vendors' offerings and companies should choose their service providers with care."

Register and download the complete article from: http://blog.extrinsicaglobal.com/extrinsica-global-white-paper-making-sense-of-the-cloud/