Industry news

It may seem as if cloud computing programs are intended to be the cure for any and all of the organisation or tech issues your SME experiences in day-to-day operations, but it's not. Cloud-based solutions are intended to act as tools to help you organise your SMB and be easy to use, so you won't rely on the IT department for cloud adoption and maintenance.

Is It for You?

A survey conducted by Forbes recently found that more than a quarter of the executives who took the survey (32 percent) still rely on their IT departments to adopt and maintain their companies' cloud-based programs. Hosting solutions, like Windows VPS, are meant to be easy to use and accommodate most cloud-based software solutions, so why is it that 26 percent of these SMEs preferred their cloud program be maintained by their IT department and only onsite? It does defeat the purpose of having your information and finances in "the cloud" if executives are going to be so protective and not allow "anywhere access" or refuse to trust their employees. Maybe the bigger issue is that not all business are ready for the cloud revolution, and there is no problem with that. Just because "cloud solutions" happen to be the latest trend doesn't mean that you must use one to run your business.

Ready, Set, Cloud

How can you tell if your business is ready for a cloud solution? Forbes' Joe McKendrick came up with a few great questions you should be asking a representative before you and your SMB make the flying leap to using cloud solution software. Here are a few:

Can the cloud program run on your current OS (operating system) and will it run your applications easily and seamlessly?

Will this solution meet our input and output requirements?

What are the data protection strategies and the costs for added storage?

How quickly can operations be restored if the main system goes down? Is there a backup system if the program blacks out?

Does the provider offer 24-hour customer service?

Also, consider asking yourself these questions:

Will moving to a cloud solution simplify my daily operations?

Can I trust employees, other than IT, to file reports on a cloud-based program?

Can I afford to make this transition at this stage in the game?

Do I need to build my business more before adopting a cloud-based solution as part of my company's operations.

Depending on what your answers are to the above questions will hinge greatly on what your next step should be. Cloud computing has made managing a small business more possible and practical. With a solid data recovery backup, easy-to-use CRM (customer relations management) software and other useful tools made available through a cloud-based solution, SMB executives can expect an all around easy to use, fully accessible solution for their business, if they're ready to hop on the cloud!

Rumours of a plan by Microsoft to invest figures of between $1 billion and $3 billion as part of a planned buyout have been triggered by a report from CNBC citing close sources.

Three way talks are reportedly being held between Dell, Microsoft and investment firm Silver Lake Partners with a goal to buyout Dell. The importance of Dell to Microsoft, in distributing the company’s software was given as a potential reason for the move.

Dell has been significantly hit by reduced hardware sales with the decline of the pc market and the impact of the global recession.

UK employment has fallen by 2.49 million between September and November 2012, reaching an 18 month record low.

Figures released by the ONS also showed that people in work rose to 29.7 million.

The positive figures were offset by increase in unemployment in younger working generations, with unemployment in18-24 year olds increasing.

Employment Minister Mark Hoban commented on the release of the figures, saying: “These are very positive figures showing employment rising for 15 months and despite difficult economic circumstances”.

Shadow work and pensions secretary Liam Byrne, welcomed the results but cautioned the “shaky foundations” of the UK job sector.

Businesses are potentially wasting significant resources in storing unnecessary data.

Gartner warned that businesses are spending 20 percent more than necessary on backing up unnecessary data, with more than $10 billion being wasted worldwide.

The research pointed to a failure by many businesses, to effectively update their backup policies, resulting in worthless data being retained.

Dave Russell, research vice-president of Gartner, said: “Often, the problem is that companies mistake backup technology for data archiving,” adding, “Backup is largely for operational recovery, not for long-term retention.”

BT has been selected by Westminster Council to overhaul the departments HR and finance system.

The delivery of the contract is expected to create savings of around £30 million and will involve a complete overhaul over an eight year period.

The overhaul will focus on shared services and integration across London boroughs and will provide a system with increased flexibility.

A further 17 boroughs have expressed interest in pursuing similar contracts with BT.

The Student Loans Company is looking to tender a huge 11-year contract worth up to £100 million to redesign the company’s core business systems.

The contract will include the complete overhaul of security, software, development, programming and consultancy services.

The contract is expected to be awarded by September this year, with bidders needing to apply by 22nd February to have the chance to be included in the supplier shortlist.

Members of the European Commission have come out against the European Union Cloud Computing strategy.

The strategy has met opposition from EC committee members who have warned against the risk of stemming competition.

Both the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) have promoted alternative strategies, with a focus on local European businesses and the creation of an online dispute resolution scheme. The Cloud strategy has already faced opposition from America for red tape.

The development of the Affordable Care Act by President Barack Obama has created a rich market for outsourcing firms.

One company to take advantage has been Infosys, India’s second largest exporter of software.

Infosys has acquired four multimillion state contracts and is competing for four more contracts as Obama seeks to include a additional 30 million Americans under national health care coverage.

Healthcare is expected to become a major market for outsourcing firms, with the market having the potential to grow beyond defence and social security spend.

Figures released by the Information Services Group (ISG) have revealed a decline in ITO, reaching a five year low while the BPO market continues to expand.

The ISG TPI Index revealed that BPO has risen significantly, up 35 percent in 2012, as businesses shift from a ITO focus.

The annual value of contracts fell by 12 percent from 2011, with a 21 percent decrease in the numbers of contracts awarded, however overall contracts in Europe, the Middle East and Africa have doubled since 2007.

While global outsourcing fell, the UK remained a buoyant market despite a reduction in the numbers of contracts up for tender, with the annual value of contracts rising by 20 percent to €3.7 billion. The UK’s success was helped by several large financial services contracts.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has been selected by National Rail to host the organisations primarily website.

The dominion nationalrail.co.uk is heavily subscribed by users for planning journeys and for updates regarding service conditions, receiving an average of 19 million visitors a month.

The AWS cloud will also support National Rail applications including the organisations real-time service feed.