cloud computing Archives - Foster Institute

Why Siri is Such a Big Deal–Are You Serious?

Mike Foster — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 04:00:02 +0000

New artificial intelligence tools, such as Siri, are a big deal since they “grow better” every second of every day. Since Siri is “hosted in the cloud” that means scientists can monitor and update Siri in real-time.

Whether you find Siri useful or not, the most exciting part is that Siri is indicative of what is to follow—from Apple or another vendor.

As with any service that is based in the cloud, the service providers have the opportunity to fine tune, upgrade, and repair said services.

Here is an entertaining, short, four-minute film of what might happen if Siri takes her intelligence too far: www.flixxy.com/psycho-siri-short-film.htm

Keep an eye on the new offerings that allow interpretations of voice inflection, such as an angry or happy voice, recognition of facial expressions, and other ways computers will become more “human”. Service providers literally have the opportunity to improve the intelligence every minute of every day.

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How to use the cloud wisely

Mike Foster — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 04:00:11 +0000

Many executives know to carefully examine their strategies. If you are considering moving to the cloud, consider these important steps:

Of course, keep your own backups of your data in case the cloud provider ever loses your data and they cannot restore your data.
Establish your own business continuity plan. This plan, which you may practice implementing one or more times a year, is what to do if your cloud provider fails.
Have your legal advisor help you with your contract such that the contract includes clauses for both a service level agreement and a quality of service. The former specifies how much of the time the provider will be up and running for you to use their services. The latter specifies how quickly the service will perform. You want a rapid response as opposed to applications that function so slowly that your user productivity suffers.

Handled correctly the cloud can be very helpful. In case you missed them, the past 3 blog entries discussed the benefits of, cautions for, and dangers of moving to the cloud. Click the links below to read each of those blog posts:

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Dangers of using the cloud

Mike Foster — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 04:00:53 +0000

As an executive you always want to avoid making strategic decisions that are, in the end, more damaging than helpful.

Some of the dangers of moving to cloud computing include:

The provider accidentally deleting your important data. This has happened before—even at some of the major cloud providers.
The provider failing, leaving you unable to use the application until you find a replacement.
Not being sure your cloud provider is actually keeping your data secure. History demonstrates your data may not be as secure as you think.
The expensive cost to convert to the cloud; have you considered how expensive it would be to move from the cloud back into your own network?

In the next blog post I’ll discuss some ways you can mitigates some of the dangers.

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Cloud computing problems and concerns

Mike Foster — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 04:00:14 +0000

Just how important is “moving to the cloud” for your organization?

Executives who use Dropbox regularly were concerned to learn about a security event at Dropbox. You can read the details here:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/06/dropbox.html

As some of my consulting clients move towards the cloud, others are digging their heels in and refusing to turn loose of their security. They do not want to trust the security of their private data to services, nor are they sure their data will be available when they need it.

Still, some very large organizations are moving to the cloud.

What are your feelings? What applications do you use in the cloud?

Please post your comments on this blog.

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Will you trust the cloud after the data losses?

Mike Foster — Thu, 19 May 2011 04:00:23 +0000

How do data losses, like what happened at Amazon, affect business adoption of cloud services?

Reports indicate that Amazon’s cloud had a loss of data.

Chief executives and their teams that I visit with seem to be largely polarized. Most of them are very open to switching to cloud services. Then, the other camp is adamantly against trusting their most important data to be stored in the cloud.

The camp “for” using the cloud cite advantages such as:

No need to worry about backing up your data anymore (I disagree on this one by the way—I feel strongly you need to keep a local copy of your data as well).
No need to purchase and support the servers that you would otherwise need to host the
application in-house.
Built-in disaster recovery options provided by the data center infrastructure. IT professionals at the cloud service are very familiar with configuring and supporting the applications—so there is little if any need for the businesses to keep that expertise in-house.
and more.

The “against” group adamantly points out they aren’t going to the cloud because:

They can no longer customize their programs.
They may lose their important data (like the Amazon example).
If their office’s Internet connection goes down, they are dead in the water.
They do not trust their most private data to be hosted in the cloud.
and more.

With the possible exception of not being able to customize their applications, effective controls exist to mitigate all of the drawbacks listed above.

Where are you? Do you trust the cloud with your online backup service? Do you use hosted e-mail? What else do you put into the cloud? How do the pros outweigh the cons in your decisions?

Please post your comments on this blog.

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Important benefit to cloud computing

Mike Foster — Thu, 05 May 2011 04:00:03 +0000

These days, more and more members of your workforce carry smartphones and/or slate devices such as the iPad. With cloud computing, often these devices work as well as using a computer to connect to your cloud services!

Sometimes using the smaller devices is an advantage because slate computers are easier to carry. Smartphones are already in just about everyone’s pocket these days. Even laptops can be smaller and lighter yet the executive still experiences high speed because applications are actually executing (running) out “in the cloud” on very fast computers.

Agreed, this instant availability keeps some employees from knowing “when are work hours and when are off-work hours” so much that their spouse reminds them.

How do you feel about the added mobility that cloud computing provides?

Please post your comments on this blog.

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Interesting cloud computing side effect

Mike Foster — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 04:00:09 +0000

In the “old days” before cloud computing, most organizations used a firewall and everyone understood two areas. First, inside the firewall are your own assets. Then, outside the firewall is the public Internet. This simplistic thinking no longer works.

Sure, we had DMZ’s if you are aware of those—not quite private and not quite public, and with cloud computing, even that concept is fading away.

When you subscribe to your payroll system, where does the perimeter of “inside vs. outside” go? What if your entire ERP is hosted in the cloud?

As more and more companies move into the cloud, defining what is inside and outside your organization becomes very difficult to describe.

Please post your comments on this blog.

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