Cloud Computing: SaaS and Utility Computing
Peter Hand
VP Technical Sales
Best IT
Cloud Computing as defined by Wikipedia is "Internet-based ('cloud') development and use of computer technology ('computing')." Since the advent of the cloud as a metaphor for wide-area networking many years ago, I have thought it very appropriate to describe how the average person views these abstract concepts and services. It is how they should be viewed. In today's hyper-competitive business environment, companies are compelled to focus on the clear and direct object of their business. If the object of your company's business is not technology, Cloud Computing is a solution you ought to consider.
SaaS – Software as a Service
Cloud Computing offerings run the gamut from SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) providers to infrastructure utility providers. SaaS providers typically offer an on-demand one-price offering that can be subscription based. SalesForce.com is one of the more successful models. The major advantage to SaaS, especially in the case of SalesForce.com, is that the customer doesn't have to worry about any of the infrastructure or management of the systems they are using. There are no concerns about hardware, operating systems, databases, networks, storage or software beyond paying for the solution at the level at which they use it.
Budget, flexibility and configurability can all be challenges with a SaaS offering. While many SaaS offerings are widely configurable, my experience is that the more you exercise that configurability the more you defeat the very purpose of a SaaS offering. If the purpose is to limit the amount of development that hits your IT budget, then configurations that push the limits of SaaS will likely push the limits of your budget too. This is the point at which you may consider an in-house alternative. The best thing to do is to carefully analyze the offering and make sure you have a significant (90%, what is your threshold?) match of your business requirements. This will keep the configuration within acceptable limits and go far to ensuring your success with SaaS.
From a flexibility perspective, most SaaS offerings are a specific product with a specific set of features and a specific road-map that you don't control. This may work for you for a while and after investing in the solution, your business strategy may diverge from the SaaS offering. This, of course, is another good reason to keep your configurations as vanilla as you can. Companies that find themselves in this situation can develop interfaces to the SaaS provider that serve that business purpose. If your SaaS provider also has a Utility offering, there's a chance they can provide you resources to develop, host and manage the solution. This is a good short term fix, but might create another anchor to the SaaS environment, and should only be undertaken if you are within a few points of that significant business requirements match.
Budgetary impact of SaaS is key. You may start out with a cost effective solution, and wind up with features that while compelling, cannot be justified when the return on the investment is scrutinized. The careful IT executive reviews the SaaS offering with their company's Business Leaders at least annually, regardless of the term of the SaaS contract. This keeps expenditures for SaaS in line with it's performance as a business tool. Most SaaS contracts (well, the good ones) have limitations on cost and some can fix the costs over several years. This is a real advantage as long as the solution meets business requirements without expanding beyond your budget. The final concern is that SaaS services typically offer one type of software, sometimes including related modules. Any IT executive deals with many systems, so having multiple SaaS providers brings some of the same issues as having those multiple systems in house.
Utility Providers
Perhaps the oldest part of the cloud are the utility providers. Their staying power is a testament to the flexibility inherent in the solution. The evolution of Grid and Utility computing architectures has quickened over the last few years and brought the cost of these offerings down considerably as well. If this weren't compelling enough, the increase in computational power, storage density, and network speed in affordable commodity hardware can make the Utility providers data center, quite literally, an extension of your own. This is, in fact, a primary objective of utility computing providers.
Like SaaS, the utility service can be delivered to Service Level Agreements (SLAs). In a utility scenario, these SLAs are tied to responsiveness, availability and reliability of the systems and the team providing the service, rather than just the performance of the software product. With some providers, a customer can create an SLA that gives them control over at least some portion of all of the tiers of the SLA, or none at all. In that way, the utility service is very flexible. Since many customers use it as a replacement for internal staff, the challenge becomes regularly auditing the service to make sure it isn't costing you more than maintaining the infrastructure and staff in-house. The other thing that many customers find a challenge are restrictive access regulations that, while they protect your systems, also prevent the access you require to meet your business objectives. Customers can insist on a more organic SLA that strikes a balance between data security and appropriate access. This issue can, of course be complicated by regulatory requirements of various vertical market segments.
From a configuration perspective the utility service is usually very accommodating. Since these are your systems, you can make choices as to how the systems are configured. If a provider is not giving you those choices, it may be time to find another one. From replication techniques to virtualization strategies, the utility computing customer has a wide variety to choose from, and in most cases, the utility computing provider has an architect to help you develop the road map for your systems. Regular architectural assistance and counsel is an important component to look for in your utility computing provider.
The more diverse your business, the more a utility provider may be for you. The utility model provides a company with finer control over expenditures than multiple SaaS providers because it can single-source the provision of infrastructure concerns. Many providers offer licensing of software at a reduced rate, allowing the customer to take advantage of volume discounts they might not be able to get on their own. In models where the customer maintains ownership of software licensing, the utility computing provider can manage those licenses, to ensure they are being leveraged to the company's best benefit. In many utility providers, the cost of hardware is significantly below the cost at which even a large company could purchase and maintain the same footprint.
BestIT's Cloud Computing offering is a utility computing model that frees our customers from infrastructure management issues that would distract them from their core business objectives. Our hosted/managed grid infrastructure offers customers a solid, managed solution that is monitored 24 hours a day 365 days a year. Our Service Level Agreements are partnerships with our customers that respect regulatory requirements, but allow our customers appropriate access to their systems. Contact BestIT today to find out how our Cloud Computing solutions can save you money and accelerate your business.