Ms. Congeniality Year 2000.
Beauty pageant question to Sandra Bullock: “What is the one most important thing worlds needs ? “
Sandra Bullock: “Harsher punishment for parole violators”
Total Silence.
She adds “..World Peace”.
Now all the cheers and claps.
Like world peace in Ms. World, it is Cloud in technology sector.
Today we see that everywhere cloud is talked about wherever there is discussion on innovation. Every idea is force-fitted into Cloud. The people who control funds are also easily convinced when the idea is bundled with Cloud service. No wonder – you as innovator – have much better shot at innovation kitty of the organization. And, you have been told that Cloud is the next big thing for you. Is it really? The cloud technology companies would like you to believe so. However the truth is – if you do not know what cloud means to your business, you are setting yourself up for failure.
Remember the following when it comes to cloud computing and your organization’s innovation initiatives:
1. For most businesses on earth, it is just a deployment option.
Most businesses on earth cater to more basic needs the society. Imagine switch gear, all the equipment in garage, medicines, transportation, telephone.. The list is endless.
What could be the big thing to these industries? What should the top and middle management focus on, in these industries? These may be new material, new drug composition, better battery technology, faster & cheaper IT.. Again there is long list.
The point is – the next most important thing in your context is less likely to be cloud. If you have products & services happen to be software intensive, Cloud could be a deployment option.
2. By wrongly focusing on cloud, you are killing innovation in your company.
Innovate around your core and its benefits. Use cloud if makes sense. If not, your competition will win at your cost. Let us say -you offer online service on health data management service, focus on how to differentiate on core benefit to the customers. They do not care if it is on cloud or on a dedicated server. Focus on your customers, not on cloud. Else you risk losing the direction of innovation.
3. Cloud means different for different people and businesses.
- For product managers at VMWare, Amazon etc. – it is business opportunity.
- For software architects across industries, it is new technology innovation.
- For IT administrators – more use cases to take care and more contract management. In most organizations you still need local infrastructure. In addition, you have cloud based infrastructure to administer.
- For startups and small businesses – Organizational and infrastructure innovation. You can rely on cloud based options without need for dedicated IT team.
- Most business and people on earth – New deployment option. Life can go on without thinking about cloud. If it makes sense to technical staff, they will choose it.
Top management need not be concerned with cloud in most cases. You would save a lot of energy by NOT thinking about cloud.There are many other hyped up trends. Gartner publishes hype cycle to cover these. Have a look if you have not done so already.