An Ignoble Experiment

2. New studies confirm cooling on IT job front

Cloud computing will be the highest priority for IT investments for the next few years, but the move to the cloud brings a number of risks to organizations that don't do it right, a new study by Research in Action finds.

The research firm recently surveyed 468 IT decision makers on their experiences so far with cloud-based computing, as well as their investment plans in the cloud going forward. Participating organizations represented a wide range of industries and came from North and South America, Europe and Asia.

The study revealed increased reliance on the cloud to deliver business-critical applications and supporting infrastructure, and increased complexity over time.

"This presents an increased risk to companies that leverage these services as their business-critical applications become more dependent on the cloud," the study report said. "Since many of these services, such as e-commerce platforms, are externally focused, any disruption becomes very visible to customer. These disruptions can therefore cause customer churn, reputational damage, and ultimately loss of revenue."

While much has been written about security concerns with cloud computing, the study found that 79 percent of organizations worry about the hidden costs of cloud services as well.

"In particular, companies are concerned about the impact poor performance in cloud services can have on their revenues," the report said. "When asked about the top three concerns related to management of cloud services, poor end-user experience was cited by 64 percent of respondents as the most significant risk. The most common concern was poor performance due to performance bottlenecks."

The report concluded, "With the introduction of ever-more sophisticated infrastructure, integrating hybrid, private, and public, as well as third party applications such as social media, ecommerce and ads, there is no doubt that cloud, and IT environment overall, is growing in complexity. As such, the opportunities for performance issues are increased and resolution is complicated, as companies struggle to find the root cause of issues when they occur. Such issues have a direct impact on the business, increasing the overall operational costs of cloud services that may initially remain hidden."

Read more:
- see the Research In Action survey report

Read more about: cloud computing, Research in Action
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By David Weldon

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3. Executives sold on value of the cloud

Two new research reports are confirming a cooling in the IT hiring market as we head into the fourth quarter.

A recent study--"IT Spending and Staffing Benchmarks"--by Computer Economics finds that organizations are stepping up their investments in IT capital projects, but IT hiring hasn't fully benefited.

"Until we see more strength among smaller companies, we have to conclude that this year will look much like the last two years: there will be a slow improvement coupled with a lack of sustained hiring," said Frank Scavo, president of Computer Economics. "We are in the midst of an IT spending recovery, but it will need to become broader and deeper before we see any acceleration."

Where there is good news on the hiring front is with large organizations, Scavo said, which is where most of the spending on capital investments is taking place.

"Confidence is up. IT capital spending is up. But we would like to see the IT spending recovery become broader and deeper. We would like to see smaller companies creating jobs," Scavo said.

Meanwhile, a recent survey by giant group finds that IT contractors are seeking a bit more job security these days. The firm surveyed 227 IT contract professionals in the first half of 2013 on their employment terms and wants. The results reveal that contractors increasingly want longer-term assignments over higher pay.

As reported by Computer Business Review: "The results suggest that IT contractors are recognizing the benefits of greater job security and quality rather than simply more money in the short term," said Matthew Brown, managing director of giant group. "We're actually seeing a slight drop in the length of time between contract assignments which is reflective of these changing priorities, and we expect the number of contractors opting for longer projects over higher per hour payment to further increase through 2013."

Read more:
- check out the Computer Economics study
- see the Computer Business Review article

Read more about: hiring, jobs forecast
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By David Weldon

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4. Case Study: Agricultural co-op finds project management solution in the cloud

Corporate executives see cloud computing as not only a means of saving money but also as an enabler for new ways of doing business, according to a recent study by research firm Saugatuck Technology.

Saugatuck surveyed 53 senior IT and business leaders on their views of cloud-based computing as a driver of business innovation. The survey also asked their views on such technologies as mobile, social, big data, advanced analytics and sensors. Approximately 75 percent of survey participants were CIOs or CTOs. More than two-thirds were from organizations with over $1 billion in revenue.

Saugatuck CEO Bill McNee was quoted in Forbes as saying survey results show that the cloud "is not only about cost savings and internal process improvement, but about innovating the way that companies engage with customers and partners, and in terms of their ability to deploy profitable new business models."

According to the Forbes article, 68 percent of executives ranked cloud computing as very important or extremely important to their organizations. Other findings from the study:

Cloud computing, mobility and advanced analytics are the most disruptive forces impacting businesses today.
Cloud computing is facilitating speed-to-market.
Corporate culture is the largest obstacle to innovation with cloud-based computing.

Read more:
- check out the Forbes article
- see the Saugatuck Technology research report (reg. req.)

Read more about: Saugutack Technology, cloud computing
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By David Weldon

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5. Cedexis announces upgrades to Radar service

Managers and employees at the Southern States Cooperative love sunny days, but their customers depend on rain as much as anything to succeed. So when the cooperative needed a new collaboration tool to effectively manage its 1,200 retail locations in 23 Southern and Mid-Atlantic states, a cloud-based product made perfect sense.

The SSC found its solution with Clarizen, a leading provider of cloud-based project management applications.

SSC is one of the largest farmer-owned cooperatives in the country and has been providing agricultural products and services since 1923. The co-op provides seeds, feeds, fertilizer, farm supplies, petroleum and crop protection products to its various retail locations.

Unfortunately, when it came to managing so many outlets in such a large region, the SSC had become a victim of its own success. Company officials couldn't effectively track orders and inventory or IT initiatives.

"We couldn't see the big picture on what was going on," SSC systems analyst and IT project manager Shel Hankley told FierceEnterpriseCommunications.

Hankley joined the SSC two years ago, and her first assignment was to find a project management solution for the co-op's vast network. At the time, there was no universal system in place for project planning. Some employees were using Microman Legacy Software, running on an outdated DOS platform. Other employees were simply emailing spreadsheets back and forth.

The immediate need for the SSC was a tool that would house all data generated by the thousands of employees at the 1,200 retail outlets in a central repository where it could be effectively accessed, managed and analyzed by all as needed. Hankley needed a tool that would allow her team to track projects, resources and timesheets while providing a readily-available global view for the management team to improve reporting and planning...continued

Read the full article on the Web

Read more about: cloud computing
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By David Weldon

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