Home / Debates

Cloud Computing: SMB's only IT department?

Moderated by Josh Gingold | January 23, 2012, 7:00am PT

Summary: Will the cloud eventually enable smaller companies to do away with their IT departments?

Christopher Dawson
Yes
or
No
Heather Clancy
Best Argument: No
31%
69%
Audience Favored: No (69%)
List of Events:

Opening Statements

The solution? The cloud

Christopher Dawson:  If you run an SMB, chances are you’re all too familiar with the many hats you wear. Manager, CEO, CFO, CIO... Even for medium-sized businesses that have more established roles and staffing, IT tends to be an afterthought until it breaks. No matter the size of your organization, though, doesn’t it usually run better when your time can be devoted to strategic thinking and growing the business instead of bothering with software licensing, hardware rollouts (or fixing old hardware), and the security of your expanding stores of customer and supply chain data (to say nothing of intellectual property and other digital assets)?

Yes. Yes it does. The solution? The cloud. Leveraging hosted software-as a-service on whatever devices are affordable and keeping your employees happy means your attention is on the business while cloud providers deliver everything you need online. Pay the Internet bills and go change the world.
 

Adult supervision required

Heather Clancy: Just because cloud infrastructure and applications can be provisioned easily by line-of-business managers and be paid for outside of regular IT budgets doesn’t mean your SMB can eliminate its IT department as you take them on. The role of the SMB IT manager actually becomes even more strategic and complicated as SMBs invest more deeply in cloud services. Some small businesses that have relied on outside IT services companies in the past may even want to consider bringing someone on staff to manage the big picture.

There are three big reasons: 1) Moving to the cloud requires disciplined data management. 2) As different services are adopted from different cloud service providers, someone must maintain a holistic view of a company’s entire IT footprint. 3) Someone needs to figure out how cloud services should interact and integrate with remaining on-premise applications.

To be truly strategic, cloud investments require IT management oversight.

The Rebuttal

Great Debate Moderator

Mic Check
Less than 15 minutes until we begin. Are both debaters online?
joshgingold 24th Jan
I'm here!
happy
mrdatahs 24th Jan I'm for Yes
Roger
Ready when you are, Josh.
Heather Clancy 24th Jan I'm for No

Great Debate Moderator

The most obvious question
Okay, let's begin! The first question of the day is also the most obvious. Is it realistic to suggest that SMBs can eliminate in-house IT services altogether?
joshgingold 24th Jan
To some extent, it depends
on just how small your SMB is. The smaller the SMB or the less focused on tech, the more likely that all of your IT needs can be fully outsourced and all of your computing needs can be met in the cloud. As business get toward the medium side of the spectrum, the majority of services can be placed in the cloud for others to worry about, with in-house staff spending their time focused on the use and integration of technology.

Oftentimes, though, for the small business, it comes down to money. If you're already wearing the CEO, CMO, and CFO hats, isn't it better to let someone else wear the CIO hat, especially if tech is outside your business's core competencies?
mrdatahs 24th Jan I'm for Yes
Outsource the tactical, not the strategic
I do believe it is possible for an SMB to completely outsource the tactical concerns of information technology, such as help desk, infrastructure monitoring, certain cloud infrastructure services (such as backup). But, ultimately, there needs to be someone IN HOUSE who is concerned about the strategic role of technology and who is responsible for making sure that the investments being made in IT are managed properly. And, quite honestly, for setting goals about what the business expects to get out of IT.
Heather Clancy 24th Jan I'm for No

Great Debate Moderator

In-house expertise
This is a tough question because every business is different but, roughly speaking, how many qualified people would be required to manage a modest SMB portfolio of cloud-based services?
joshgingold 24th Jan
Actually, 0
This isn't to say that it's an ideal approach, but technically, even the management of the services can be outsourced. That said, at least one person in-house needs to be able to "talk tech" and interface with outsourced IT management vendors, help define requirements, etc. Again, as the size of the organization grows, so too must the techies, but generally, with the right cloud services and the right vendors, a max of 3-4 for the largest of medium businesses should be sufficient.

In an ideal world, those few should also be savvy marketeers, entrepreneurs, social strategists, etc., who can be looking for the right integration points and the right cloud-based strategies to be advancing the business and carry dual roles that just happen to have an IT component (and the underlying expertise).
mrdatahs 24th Jan I'm for Yes
One, at a bare minimum
I think it depends less on the number of employees that are being supported by the cloud and more on the number of cloud services and applications that are being used by the business.

For example, if a company has decided to invest in Salesforce.com as a CRM platform and it is also using some complementary applications, you would need at least one expert to focus on making sure the integration is seamless and managed properly.

One way to think about it would be to think about who is being served by the applications. At a bare minimum, you???ll need one person to focus on applications supporting your internal team and one person to ensure that outward-facing services (such as e-commerce applications) are working properly. In really small companies, this would probably be the same person.
Heather Clancy 24th Jan I'm for No

Great Debate Moderator

What's really at stake
Many SMBs already outsource much of their IT responsibilities to third-party managed service providers anyway. Is this really about saving money by eliminating the need for on-premise servers and storage?
joshgingold 24th Jan
It's about focus and expertise
Oftentimes, money can absolutely be saved by using cloud-based services and off-site, contracted service providers. If you only need 10 hours a week of IT support, for example, it hardly makes sense to employ someone in house. Even as an organization grows, contracted services tend to be cheaper in terms of benefits and indirect costs.

The cloud, as well, tends to offer the opportunity for cost savings in software and licensing, as well as the required hardware to run applications.

However, the real story is freeing internal resources from dealing with tech and allowing them to focus on the business. Many businesses would be better served by a full-time marketing team or a full-time social media strategist than by IT staff who are a dime a dozen contracted. Maintaining servers and other infrastructure on premise also tends to require more in-house support, again, making the case for moving the back end offsite and focusing on the core competencies of the business.
mrdatahs 24th Jan I'm for Yes
It's about making things easier
Businesses move to the cloud for two big reasons: to provision new applications and users more quickly AND to change the way they pay for technology ??? turning IT services from a capital expense into an operational expense.

That is appealing for many smaller companies with cash flow challenges. It is also appealing from a strategic standpoint. Sometimes, the cloud is really the only option that an SMB has to use an application that might previously have been available only for the enterprise.

No matter what the motivation, though, any investment in the cloud has to be managed closely to make sure it delivers on business objectives.
Heather Clancy 24th Jan I'm for No

Great Debate Moderator

CapEx vs. OpEx
Is there some value to the idea of replacing capital expenditures (CapEx) with operational expenditures (OpEx)?
joshgingold 24th Jan
Most definitely!
Welcome to post-recession 2012, where flexibility is king. When times are good, ramp up; when times are bad, scale back. If you've invested in on-premise hardware (whether in the back room or on the desktop), these costs stick with you, even if staff don't. If IT is an operational expense, then growing or shrinking to align with current needs is a much less costly approach.

For many companies, hardware and software licensing are some of the biggest capital expenses, especially at a time when hardware is out of date the day after it's purchased and boxed software requires regular updates to stay ahead of bugs and security issues. SaaS solves a lot of that.
mrdatahs 24th Jan I'm for Yes
Absolutely
The cloud is especially relevant in today's economic climate, where it has become vastly more difficult for SMBs to get access to financing and investment capital. Cloud is a great option for start-up concerns, of course, but it also is great for organization with highly virtual staffs.

But, you will still need someone focused on thinking about how these investments will impact and benefit your company. At some point, for example, would the money spent by your company on a cloud service be equivalent to what is spent on an in-house service. It takes ongoing management to be able to answer that question.
Heather Clancy 24th Jan I'm for No

Great Debate Moderator

Security
Doesn???t the security of some types of information really belong on-site where you can control it?
joshgingold 24th Jan
Have you seen the average SMB's server room?
Often, it's underneath someone's desk. Or in a closet. Without a vent.

Sure, large businesses can justify datacenter investments (or at least investments in private and hybrid clouds), but small businesses will almost never be able to provide the physical security or appropriate conditions for data and computing needs.

The cloud actually represents a far more secure solution than what virtually any SMB can provide, particularly as cloud providers begin looking at multi-factor authentication and deliver incredible redundancy and uptime compared to cost-effective on-premise solutions.
mrdatahs 24th Jan I'm for Yes
Again, close management is the answer
This is another reason why an SMB needs to maintain some element of IT management.

Any company that places data in the cloud needs to have a hand in data management planning and strategy to make sure that data (of any type) isn't stored in a place where it shouldn't be stored, for compliance reasons. Its also the reason that some companies pick a private cloud option for certain applications rather than public ones.
Heather Clancy 24th Jan I'm for No

Great Debate Moderator

Customization challenges
This is slightly related to the earlier question regarding in-house expertise but doesn???t customization require some specific line-of-business expertise that can only come from within your organization?
joshgingold 24th Jan
That's why you hire a good IT firm
It's their job to harness the in-house business expertise that better be there in the company's staff and translate it to an appropriate IT solution. As I noted, it's useful to have someone onsite who can "talk tech" but a good IT project manager or analyst from a reputable consulting firm is going to be able to distill requirements from even the most un-savvy of business people.

The cloud also just happens to beg for agile approaches to development and rapid prototyping delivered over the web to customers for review and approval. Gone are the days of massive customization projects that end up costing boatloads of money and then don't meet customer needs. That, after all, is why Agile workflows and processes were developed.

Sometimes, in fact, that in-house "expert" know just enough IT to be dangerous. Let the SMB focus on its business and let the IT consultants and SaaS providers focus on the tech.
mrdatahs 24th Jan I'm for Yes
In a word, yes
It is misguided to think that the cloud absolves an SMB organization of all concerns about how technology is used for strategic purposes.

Certain cloud applications might need to be adapted for workflows or business processes specific to the company. Or a disaster recovery plan will need to designed together by the cloud provider and someone within the SMB. (And then tested and adapted on an ongoing basis.)

The cloud elevates information technology management to an even more strategic role within your SMB.
Heather Clancy 24th Jan I'm for No

Great Debate Moderator

Size matters
Is this concept perhaps more appropriate for smaller businesses with limited IT needs as opposed to medium and commercial organizations with more complex needs and environments?
joshgingold 24th Jan
Of course, but...
Even larger organizations can often cut costs and hire staff better equipped to advance the business rather than those who are strictly IT support if they leverage the cloud and appropriate service providers.

No doubt, the smaller the organization, the less likely they will be to have the internal expertise, time, or resources to manage IT effectively. However, even as the organization grows, so too will its IT needs. As those needs increase, the best way to contain costs and maintain focus on business goals is to look to contractors and the cloud. It's also the best way to maintain the flexibility the business will need to grow intelligently and sustainably and scale back when it needs to.
mrdatahs 24th Jan I'm for Yes
Cloud works for every size of business
I think the cloud is appropriate for companies of all sizes, as one component of a bigger IT infrastructure plan.

A midsize organization that has legacy applications probably will need more IT management to help ensure the cloud applications and infrastructure services (such as excess capacity for backup and recovery) behave well in tandem with anything that is on-site.

Smaller companies can focus on teaming up with a technology expert who can help them evaluate the best cloud options for their individual business, or that can walk them through potential pitfalls.
Heather Clancy 24th Jan I'm for No

Great Debate Moderator

The big complaint among IT professionals
Are we over-commoditizing IT services and overlooking the business-specific knowledge of in-house IT professionals?
joshgingold 24th Jan
In large businesses, perhaps...
Even in medium businesses, especially those in niche areas and highly specialized industries, there will be value in in-house IT staff to, at the very least, manage outsourced IT and cloud deployments, if not handle actual coding or on-premise hardware. However, for most businesses in the retail industry, there are COTS tools that will generally serve them well, many of which reside in the cloud. In education, same thing. In service and hospitality? Yup, plenty of tools that require little in the way of customization.

Are you manufacturing high-precision parts in zero-gravity environments for the latest in telesurgery approaches to spinal repair for paralysis victims? OK, you probably need to have some in-house expertise on the computer systems you develop and deploy. You've got me on that one.
mrdatahs 24th Jan I'm for Yes
It's a natural evolution
The cloud will force IT professionals to better understand the business implications of the applications and technologies they are deploying, integrating and managing. They can't do their job in a vacuum anymore.

If someone is working as part of an in-house IT department, the days in which he or she can be ???just??? a technical expert are numbered. I think the cloud is having exactly the opposite effect that you suggest: It allows IT professionals to better correlate the speeds-and-feeds of the technology they are managing with specific business impacts. That makes their value far more strategic.
Heather Clancy 24th Jan I'm for No

Great Debate Moderator

More compexity?
Might a wholesale migration to the cloud create more complexity and the need for additional oversight in a small or medium business?
joshgingold 24th Jan
Isn't that what those service providers are for?
Point being that even managing that complexity can be contracted quite handily to other organizations whose expertise is, well, managing IT complexity. A move to the cloud doesn't need to be a Christmas tree approach to IT, either (you know, keep adding ornaments over the years until you have a bit of green covered by junk and tinsel). Choose the right services for your needs. Communication/collaboration, CRM, possibly an industry-specific integrated solution, and you're done. For most organizations, especially the smaller SMBs, there are only so many systems that you need.

The cloud and related outsourced service providers will rarely add extra complexity unless they're bilking their customers. If a move to the cloud starts feeling too hard or too complex, then, chances are, you're getting screwed.
mrdatahs 24th Jan I'm for Yes
Possibly ...
Right now, few cloud providers have really sophisticated management tools -- the sorts that midsize companies used to running in-house infrastructure might have come to expect.

It is almost certain that your organization will have to manage multiple service level agreements whereas in the past it might have had a more holistic view. But how you get this view isn't exactly clear. That is why every SMB needs someone on ???their team??? to be thinking about how these services work together.

The other big gotcha comes if your organization ever decides it wants to switch cloud providers. From what I understand, migrating data is not a trivial project.
Heather Clancy 24th Jan I'm for No

Great Debate Moderator

Striking a balance
Is there a balance that SMBs can strike between cloud and traditional on-premise technology?
joshgingold 24th Jan
Sure...
Every business doesn't need to issue their employees a regulation Chromebook and expect everything to happen in the cloud. However, core services like communication/collaboration and web hosting don't really have any business sitting in the back office a small business. Cloud providers for these core technologies are too cheap and too good to justify managing an Exchange server.

Similarly, many businesses will have specific on-site computing needs like workstations or POS systems that can't be 100% cloud. Again, this is where the service integrators step in and ensure that staff are trained and empowered. For small organizations with IT focused business, chances are, employees know just what they need to order from Dell.com to get their job done. If they don't, you probably shouldn't hire them. It's better to empower than to spend time dealing with IT issues with dedicated in-house staff; it's both ineffective from a cost perspective and painful for savvy users.
mrdatahs 24th Jan I'm for Yes
Sure, but you need to manage it
I think many SMBs will have a hybrid approach that combine cloud applications and services with on-premise infrastructure. In fact, I think a hybrid model will be the most common model.

That will require SMBs to hire integration experts and managed service providers that can ensure that the on-premise and cloud infrastructure works as seamlessly together as possible. For example, a cloud CRM service should "talk" to the company's back-office invoicing, inventory and accounting applications. Or a cloud-based travel planning application would feed into the company's travel and expense system.

What's the point of managing them separately?
Heather Clancy 24th Jan I'm for No

Great Debate Moderator

Who you gonna call?
If there is some sort of problem with a cloud-based service, who within the SMB is most qualified to actually place that call to the provider for support and guidance?
joshgingold 24th Jan
Depends on the SMB
For my small business, it's me. For others, it's the project manager at your outsourced service integrator. For others still, it's the skeleton IT staff with those dual roles we identified above (e.g., social media strategy, web content and design, etc.).

When it comes down to it, many small businesses can't afford dedicated staff; in 2012, part of running a small business is having a degree of IT savvy. For medium organizations, when flexibility is the name of the game, the right service provider who can take that call at 1am is the best person to handle critical needs most cost-effectively.
mrdatahs 24th Jan I'm for Yes
Your IT manager
Your IT manager or the person who is accountable for the contract. It doesn't really matter if that person is "on staff" or an outside integrator you've hired to handle this on your company's behalf. Sure, the promise of the cloud is that it can be provisioned by the line-of-business. But do you really want your top salesperson spending hours with CRM technical support?
Heather Clancy 24th Jan I'm for No

Great Debate Moderator

Thank you!
Chris and Heather will post their closing arguments tomorrow and I will declare a winner on Thursday. Between now and then, don't forget to cast your vote and jump into the discussion below to post your thoughts on this topic.
joshgingold 24th Jan
Ends in:
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Closing Statements

Vital in this economy

Christopher Dawson

The cloud is the best thing to happen to small businesses since, well, since a long time ago.  Software as a Service allows businesses to scale quickly and pull back in truly flexible ways that are vital in a post-recession economy and  allow even the smallest of businesses to build international reach and access markets growing far faster than those in developed economies. Countless service providers have built their own businesses around managing cloud deployments, allowing many SMBs to set aside the hassle and expense of capital IT expenditures and management of on-premise technologies.

Although SMBs clearly need to be able to "talk tech", they don't need to do everything themselves anymore and certainly don't need to devote significant time or capital expense to technology issues. Rather, the cloud and related services allow businesses to focus on strategic maneuvers and the use of technology to advance their businesses. 

IT become more strategic

Heather Clancy

Small companies should absolutely replace certain on-premise applications and infrastructure with cloud-delivered services. But that doesn’t mean they can cede every nuance of IT strategy to someone outside the company.

The bigger your company, the bigger the chances it must manage a hybrid IT environment that includes some on-premise technologies and some cloud-delivered services. That will require IT experts who can keep these hybrid environments running smoothly. It doesn't matter whether you tap an outside expert or someone in-house, you'll still need to assign someone to manage this function.

That's because SMBs will need to someone to provide holistic view of their IT infrastructure – regardless of where it lives. They will need someone to make sure things are working together and to address situations when there isn’t a seamless experience or when things break outright.

Certainly SMBs will be freed from many burdens of IT management, if they choose a cloud approach. If anything, that will elevate IT management to an even more strategic role within the company.

We're not ready yet

Josh Gingold

 

Without a doubt, cloud-based services are indeed replacing many of the traditional on-premise services that require more hands-on IT administration.  In some cases, it certainly is possible (and maybe even  a good idea) to move an entire SMB to the cloud. But for the vast majority of us there are still too many concerns to actually make it feasible without some sort of in-house expertise if for no other reason than strategic, business, and technical decision making.

While there are certainly many benefits in terms of reducing costs, converting CapEx to OpEx, simplified backup and recovery, providing new services, etc., many important concerns remain regarding the ultimate command-and-control of business technology and information.

The Internet (a.k.a. the cloud) is not quite as ubiquitous as electricity or telephones just yet and until that's the case, it probably isn't prudent to think of cloud services the same way we think of utilities.  The business-critical nature of information management simply demands much more oversight and strategic thinking which in-turn requires more than a tactical understanding of the business.

In this case, as in so many others, there's a big difference between what we can do and what we should do.  In other words, as much as I want to agree with Chris's point of view, I don't think we're there just yet and I have to declare Heather the winner.  Obviously, most of this audience agrees.

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0 Votes
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RE: Great Debate: Cloud Computing: SMB's only IT department?
bmonsterman Updated - 24th Jan I'm for No
Custom development may be deployed to the cloud, but it will likely happenin house. Someone from the company is going to have to manage apps regardless of what is being outsourced.
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RE: Great Debate: Cloud Computing: SMB's only IT department?
MilitaryGeek 23rd Jan I'm for No
I think companies need to realize that IT is part of any business model, period. If you feel that you can get away with having an IT staff and save money by implementing a DIY, then I can only assume you want your business to fail.
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Privacy concerns
vgrazi 23rd Jan I'm for No
You didn't mention security. I think there will always be privacy concerns and so any business worth its salt will at least need to retain some data on premises.
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RE: Great Debate: Cloud Computing: SMB's only IT department?
MilitaryGeek 23rd Jan I'm for No
@vgrazi

Sir,

I became Active in the Air Force in 97 and Security was important then, so when I got out in 07, it seems that Security wasn't important 10 years later. So do still feel that SMBs are truly understanding the importance of Security?

If the answer is yes, then there shouldn't be any debate at all about having an IT staff in any business, regardless on the size or complexity of the business. Any thoughts???
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RE: Great Debate: Cloud Computing: SMB's only IT department?
devils_advocate 25th Jan I'm for Yes
@MilitaryGeek Really? The more difficult you make it for folks to do their job the more likely they will try to do the job on the sly. Security in this day and age is a misnomer - are you going to take away their phones, which they need so the can be available 24x7? And will that lone IT person give their id and password to someone to cover for them - or their SecureID? IT doesn't have the training or skills to understand the behavioral side of technology - which is both the biggest risk and biggest upside potential they face.
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RE: Great Debate: Cloud Computing: SMB's only IT department?
hayneiii@... 23rd Jan I'm Undecided
We have IT consultants instead of a department, and no cloud. The question is meaningless for many companies.
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RE: Great Debate: Cloud Computing: SMB's only IT department?
mheartwood 23rd Jan I'm for No
As the CEO/CTO of an SMB, and working on a private cloud system, I am busier, not less busy. The cloud can provide many things, but the providers can't provide us the exact tools for our specific business. Someone needs to write/adapt those. The person in charge of that is me. To expect/allow the cloud provider to do it would be suicidal to this company.
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RE: Great Debate: Cloud Computing: SMB's only IT department?
MLHACK 23rd Jan I'm for No
Cloud Computing may solve the issues with software installation/updating. But i am the only IT person in the SMB i work for and they could not survive without an IT person here. Simple tasks such as attaching files to an email or ftp upload/downloading. Trying to open files over and over that have no file ext association. i know of very very few IT consultants that respond to there clients in a quick fashion. and if this is available i am certain that it will cost you much more than inhouse IT.
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Vendor Oversight
Middle_Age_Man 23rd Jan I'm for No
Not every SMB can get away with outsourcing without having to manage the vendor. A small community bank cannot get away with telling the FDIC we let the cloud provider do it all without someone in an IT role overseeing the operation.
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RE: Great Debate: Cloud Computing: SMB's only IT department?
Warprints 24th Jan I'm for No
I handle the IT at my firm. I would still need to handle inside IT, whether our programs and data were stored on our servers or in the cloud. Except for occasional fits and starts, most of my IT time is not directed toward database management or actual programming fixes.
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Privacy Issues
Warprints 24th Jan I'm for No
Yes. Big problem for me. With the current state of things, I would not let my data reside in the cloud. (Law firm)
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Murphy's Law - Caveat emptor - trust
Solenoid 24th Jan I'm for No
Things will go wrong. Whether your staff is in-house or not determines your response time on a problem, of any sort. Do you deal with deadlines? Chances are that systems fail at the worst possible time, when a problem-solver is real handy to have nearby.

Also, "if tech is outside your business's core competencies," then Caveat emptor for you, and good luck making an informed decision without falling victim to a salesman's loaded-marketing tech-speak.

Regarding "in-house "expert" know just enough IT to be dangerous," do background and reference checks, and don't hire untrusted people. I'm sure that is useless advice for businesses with limited options and definite needs, but you need to be able to trust your solution provider absolutely, whether it's in-house or outsourced.
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RE: Great Debate: Cloud Computing: SMB's only IT department?
jzanni 24th Jan I'm for Yes
Christopher and Heather are both correct ??? but about different types of SMBs. In Parallels SMB Cloud Insights??? primary research, we identified three types of SMB audiences for the cloud based on their IT staff ???no IT staff, those who rely on IT consultants, and those with a dedicated IT staff. The vast majority of small businesses fall into the first category ??? about 22M in the US alone - Read more on our blog http://blogs.parallels.com/.
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RE: Great Debate: Cloud Computing: SMB's only IT department?
smallbiz1385 24th Jan I'm for No
Also missed in this discussion is the fact the the vast majority of non-metro areas (even many suburbs) do NOT have the infrastructure required and will not for possibly decades. Our business is located in an office park less than ten years old in a suburb of over 40,000 people and 1.5Mbps was the max bandwidth available to us without breaking the bank. Running cable was a $17,000 bill just for the install. That coupled with a lack of 'ownership' of one's own data, the cloud makes for storms, I perfer sunshine (to paraphrase a collegue of mine).
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RE: Great Debate: Cloud Computing: SMB's only IT department?
garry@... Updated - 25th Jan I'm for Yes
We (TriSys Business Software ; trisys.co.uk) have been managing cloud based IT for SMB's for a decade now. It truly works. The IT managers at these SMB's, do not do cabling, air conditioning, hardware procurement or maintenance, or manage complex software licensing. They simply pay a monthly fee and focus on solving business problems. Cloud is here folks.
0 Votes
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no candidates for 'cloud'
pgit 25th Jan I'm for No
I really can't see any of my SMB clients being able to avail themselves of any services 'in the cloud.' They all have proprietary apps, most have pressing needs to keep information private and secure, many are in areas that don't have totally reliable internet connectivity.

So I'm not really "debating" the merits of the cloud head on here, but regardless I still wouldn't recommend going to 'the cloud' even for clients who do fit the profile. Something just seems wrong with the idea of your data being "out there" somewhere... possibly violating some arcane law in Lower Slobovia where a server happens to reside.
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RE: Great Debate: Cloud Computing: SMB's only IT department?
pankajunk 25th Jan I'm for Yes
My starting point is that technology is strategic. Tech purchase decisions need to be preceded with strategy think - how will it help my business? what new possibilities does it open? what will be the long term impact.

In my opinion, smaller companies can completely do away with an IT department, where the owner dons the hat of CIO to take strategic IT decisions, which all the tactical and operational needs of IT are outsourced.

In larger companies however, as the strategic interactions become more complex, the company needs someone in house to make strategic IT decisions.
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RE: Great Debate: Cloud Computing: SMB's only IT department?
2rs 25th Jan I'm for No
I've already experienced the need for INCREASED IT involvement after moving our MS Outlook from a physical server to Microsoft Online Services. Just one example - outages.
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Legacy dies hard
devils_advocate 25th Jan I'm for Yes
How soon we forget that in the 70's and early 80's it took a company to purchase ONE computer! Now you can carry that kind of processing power in your pocket. Businesses need a new paradigm and new rules for how to manage computing resources and data. The answer is not to hire an "IT" resource, it's probably to hire a technical architect, but SMBs have not gotten the message yet. Or maybe they have - TAs are hard to find!
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Legacy dies hard
devils_advocate 25th Jan I'm for Yes
How soon we forget that in the 70's and early 80's it took a company to purchase ONE computer! Now you can carry that kind of processing power in your pocket. Businesses need a new paradigm and new rules for how to manage computing resources and data. The answer is not to hire an "IT" resource, it's probably to hire a technical architect, but SMBs have not gotten the message yet. Or maybe they have - TAs are hard to find!
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RE: Great Debate: Cloud Computing: SMB's only IT department?
hongkongdt 26th Jan I'm for Yes
Cloud will reduce the number of in-house IT staff needed and change the skill set they need to have. Someone with the company will needs to talk to the cloud vendors in terms of the service(s) need but not at a deep technical level. For example we all use mobiles phones which are backed up by a huge and very technical infrastructure but we don't need to understand how cells communicate or packets are transmited to decide on the best phone and provider for our needs. IT staff will eventually be replaced by service management teams with requirements gathering skill, good vendor management skills and contract negotiation skills. Most of the other functions traditionally handled by in-house IT teams such as user training, 1st line support, etc will be outsourced.
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Easy and more secure
Francisco Reis 26th Jan I'm for Yes
I'm an IT guy and I know how much easier AND safer it is to place all software and data in the cloud.
0 Votes
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Until the cloud services companies can understand security it is NO
oldsysprog Updated - 26th Jan I'm for No
I am a one person shop, recently I was shopping for some software and kept coming upon nice offers for cloud based systems to handle what I was looking for. In the end I queried a half dozen cloud base software/services combinations. I had some questions for them:

1. What provisio's do you have for me to get my data if you go under?

2. What in your design will ensure my data is there when I need it?

3. How do you go about securing my data from unauthorized access?

There answers were 1. "We intend to be here for the long haul", 2. "It is the cloud so we have multiple servers" 3. "You have a password, and our people wouldn't access your data."

Bottom line all six companies were clueless! I showed the responses to some of my customers who are fortune 500 firms, all of them said "You start using that service, and we can no loinger employ you!".

Till the folks who think cloud wake up to the real world, forget it.
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RE: Great Debate: Cloud Computing: SMB's only IT department?
bigdoggiants Updated - 26th Jan I'm for No
I would side with the no faction of this debate. While yes, the cloud does provide various and sundry benefits to SMBs, it can't always provide the exact tools they need for their specific businesses. SMBs need someone with at least a rudimentary level of IT expertise within the company to be able to adapt to those tools. Having said that, I believe there is a huge value to being able to free up IT resources, which the cloud certainly does. Companies can realize significant cost and productivity savings by identifying tasks or processes they can outsource to the cloud. To do this, an SMB may need to look for external expertise to carry out a long-term strategy, or simply deploy a new technology platform that does the same job more efficiently and cost-effectively than an in-house option.

--Lee Rothman, Symantec
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RE: Great Debate: Cloud Computing: SMB's only IT department?
JamesNT 26th Jan I'm for No
Before anyone makes any decisions about cloud based IT, listen to Mark Minasi's audio CD called "Cloud Computing: A Lapsed Economist's View" at www.minasi.com/cloudtalk.htm

JamesNT
0 Votes
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RE: Great Debate: Cloud Computing: SMB's only IT department?
JamesNT 26th Jan I'm for No
Before anyone makes any decisions about cloud based IT, listen to Mark Minasi's audio CD called "Cloud Computing: A Lapsed Economist's View" at www.minasi.com/cloudtalk.htm

JamesNT
0 Votes
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RE: Great Debate: Cloud Computing: SMB's only IT department?
gparadelog 30th Jan I'm for Yes
I think that, for many SMB companies, going cloud will reduce their IT complexity and simplify managment of IT resources.
0 Votes
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RE: Great Debate: Cloud Computing: SMB's only IT department?
timwessels Updated - 2nd Feb I'm for Yes
In the SMB market premises apps delivered on premises servers are proving to be financially unsustainable in a long term no-growth economy. SMBs need flexibility and agility to respond to changes in their business environment, which they cannot get using their legacy IT systems. Moving to the cloud is a both a technology and business decision. SMB's should start with adopting low-risk apps in the cloud and create a cloud strategy and a road map for getting there that is appropriate for their situation. SMBs should focus on using cloud services to support their business goals and get out of the IT business. In the long term, all app development will be done in the cloud and that is where people will go to run them.
0 Votes
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I agree
aflemo 6th Mar I'm Undecided
I love the controversy and I agree that businesses need a new paradigm and new rules for how to manage computing resources and data.
donna cerca uomo

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Comments from the floor

  • I agree
    I love the controversy and I agree that businesses need a new paradigm and new rules for how to manage computing resources and data.
    donna cerca uomo
    aflemo 6th Mar
    I'm Undecided
  • RE: Great Debate: Cloud Computing: SMB's only IT department?
    In the SMB market premises apps delivered on premises servers are proving to be financially unsustainable in a long term no-growth economy. SMBs need flexibility and agility to respond to changes in their business environment, which they cannot get using their legacy IT systems. Moving to the cloud is a both a technology and business decision. SMB's should start with adopting low-risk apps in the cloud and create a cloud strategy and a road map for getting there that is appropriate for their situation. SMBs should focus on using cloud services to support their business goals and get out of the IT business. In the long term, all app development will be done in the cloud and that is where people will go to run them.
    timwessels 2nd Feb
    I'm for Yes
  • RE: Great Debate: Cloud Computing: SMB's only IT department?
    I think that, for many SMB companies, going cloud will reduce their IT complexity and simplify managment of IT resources.
    gparadelog 30th Jan
    I'm for Yes
  • RE: Great Debate: Cloud Computing: SMB's only IT department?
    Before anyone makes any decisions about cloud based IT, listen to Mark Minasi's audio CD called "Cloud Computing: A Lapsed Economist's View" at www.minasi.com/cloudtalk.htm

    JamesNT
    JamesNT 26th Jan
    I'm for No
  • RE: Great Debate: Cloud Computing: SMB's only IT department?
    Before anyone makes any decisions about cloud based IT, listen to Mark Minasi's audio CD called "Cloud Computing: A Lapsed Economist's View" at www.minasi.com/cloudtalk.htm

    JamesNT
    JamesNT 26th Jan
    I'm for No
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