Industry news

The initial challenge for most businesses when assessing their cloud computing options is overcoming the confusion surrounding cloud terminology. With so many labels and technical jargon, there are many varied interpretations with terms meaning different things to different people. The labelling of cloud solutions as being either ‘public’ or ‘private’ is one such example of loosely-defined terms that have led to a lot of confusion for many businesses. The general perception is that public cloud is insecure and that businesses should use a private system if they have security and privacy concerns. This is, however, a gross simplification and highlights the need for greater clarity so that firms can make more informed decisions around cloud.

A totally private cloud solution is one in which the infrastructure is situated in-house, and is for the exclusive use of a single organisation. In comparison, a public cloud solution is an outsourced service delivered by a third party to numerous clients that share the cloud infrastructure. The apprehension surrounding public cloud stems from the location of your stored data being unknown and possibly accessible by others – posing a significant security or regulatory concern. It is necessary to bear in mind here that cloud cannot simply be defined as either public or private - there is a whole spectrum of solutions, with all shades in between.

Take for example a typical solution used by a small to mid-sized business. They rent their own virtual servers and their own private network at a cloud provider. This business is sharing the cloud provider's core infrastructure - its storage area network (SAN), backup technology, networking and physical premises. It is this economy of scale that makes cloud services a cost effective option. The key question is whether the cloud services provided to you are secure and contained?

In reality, a good cloud provider will have built their infrastructure to a high standard, and typically the security is more rigorous than that of companies who house and manage their own infrastructure. This is all part of the due diligence process you need to go through when selecting a vendor. You have to be sure that your chosen cloud provider can deliver secure and resilient services that meet your It requirements.

Cloud solutions now offer a range of advantages for businesses of all sizes. You can benefit from greater IT flexibility, increased agility, more effective collaboration, and better control over your expenditure given the financial implications of running your IT as an operational expense rather than a huge up-front capital investment. You may find that your particular cloud solution requires a hybrid arrangement with various levels of private services. For instance, what we have seen from the SME market is that many businesses have chosen to have their core IT running from a private system on premises whilst outsourcing their disaster recovery to a third party. We have also noticed that a growing number of firms are finding some of their everyday functions, such as email, also lend themselves well to the cloud, given the range of secure private/public options available. We expect to see businesses moving more standard office productivity to the cloud as remote working and the virtual desktop becomes the norm.

Deciding on the best fit cloud solution for your IT strategy requires significant understanding from both a business and technical perspective. The ability of a vendor to fully appreciate the particular challenges and opportunities facing your company, and to propose a solution that best leverages its strengths, is fundamental to seeing the benefits of this technology. Cloud is very much a validated service, with the best results being generated by focusing on the aims of your business, rather than being sidetracked by the irrelevant public vs private debate.

Atos UK has recorded high half year profits with growth of 6.7 percent.

The news was released on Friday as the Olympic opening ceremony started, Atos is a key IT partner to the event.

Atos UK appointed Ursula Morgenstern as CEO at the start of the year, and has since enjoyed strong market growth despite the declining revues of many European businesses.

The reports of growth come as Atos receives an extension of five-years with the Welsh Government, as part of a contract valued at £70 million.

Gas and electricity giant National Grid has said that they are on track to invest £3.5 billion into the company.

The announcement comes despite no significant change in the company’s financial position in the last four months and the selling of US based energy distribution units for $309 million. National Grid have invested heavily in the creation of a UK Gas Distribution Front Office systems, which are nearing completion, and are expected to deliver increased cost savings.

Chief Executive Steve Holliday, said: “We are maintaining our positive outlook for 2012/13, reflecting the expected delivery of another year of solid operating and financial performance."

Apple has bought AuthenTec for $356 million, the American company specialises in providing security services and chip creation, including fingerprint scanning software.

The deal will see Apple take ownership of AuthenTec patents and software at a cost of $8 per share.

Apple has been involved in multiple legal battles and lawsuits against various parties including Samsung. The move may come as part of Apples safeguard against further legal action, with past acquisitions fuelled by the need for patent protection.

Samsung currently employs AuthenTec software within its Android devices.

The Metropolitan Police (MPS) have started to employ the national procurement hub (NPPH) to offer tender for services and equipment.

The procurement office is an e-marketplace that is intended to provide cost savings across the police force to 43 services.

The police procuremment hub was created by Procserve and acts as a “Amazon-Style” online procurement service.

Lee Tribe, director of procurement for MPS said: “Users within the MPS have access to a greater variety of products and services, and faster delivery times.”

Global giant General Electric has gained over $1billion in sales since it associated itself with the London Olympics.

GE became associated with the Olympics in 2006 as a partner and provided medical scanners and charging stations for electric cars.

Chief executive of GE, Jeff Immelt, said: “We are so global, it is a great global brand and it takes us to places that are important for the company: China, London, Brazil and Russia. These are all places where the company has a big footprint so the sponsorship has made a lot of sense for us."

The outsourcing market is booming. According to the ISG Global TPI Index, 2011 was a record-breaking year with 870 contracts awarded across the outsourcing market worldwide, well above the average for the past five years.

Look closely at this expansion, and you’ll notice an interesting but subtle shift taking place. The TPI Index also highlights that small to mid-size contracts valued at £63 million or less have more than tripled and are playing an important role in the outsourcing market, which is expected to grow overall by three to four per cent in this year.

Two key reasons seem to explain the move to smaller deals.

In our experience at Xerox, the first reason is the increased adoption of outsourcing by small to medium businesses (SMBs); signifying a broader acceptance of the benefits of outsourcing and leading to a significant increase in smaller, specialised agreements in this market.

The second reason is historical. Ten years ago outsourcing represented an exciting, new opportunity for customers to overhaul business functions through leveraging partners’ expertise and finance. We saw a spate of huge projects being outsourced to one provider as an act of faith. Many a CIO, as those who lived through the days of the multi-million dollar single-provider deals will remember, had their fingers burnt when deals didn’t live up to expectations.

Outsourcing deals become less complex for customers

Businesses have become savvier in the way they approach outsourcing. Executives and managers think carefully about what they outsource and why, and are building stronger outsourcing models based on historical lessons in achieving ROI. As a result, businesses today take a more segmented approach to outsourcing investments, breaking them down into bite-sized chunks. Today we’re seeing towers of outsourcing – Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Human Resource Outsourcing (HRO), and Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO).

We’ve also seen more standardised offerings, for example Business process as a Service (BpaaS). With BpaaS the focus changes to the end service, with businesses basing their agreements on Service Level Agreements of deliverables. This enables providers to offer a standardised process to customers which keeps the cost down as the service provider is working the same way for all its customers. For this reason we believe BpaaS offerings are great for small to medium businesses (SMBs).

A few years ago we saw a gap in the market for a standardised managed print services offering, which could be scaled to meet the requirements of different sized businesses, especially SMBs. So we established Xerox Print Services (XPS) which applies the same MPS tools and techniques Xerox uses to save millions for large corporations to companies with a less complex print infrastructure so they can reap the benefits of MPS.

Newport City Council (NCC) is a Xerox customer that has benefitted from XPS. NCC has cut its print-related costs by more than 25 per cent, resulting in nearly £90,000 savings. More than 3,000 NCC staff can now print and collect documents, scan to email, or network to any device across the council’s 50 sites, helping improve efficiency and security, and reducing waste.

The take-up of outsourcing amongst SMBs, coupled with the growth in supplier expertise is driving innovation and bringing new standardised offerings to market. We’d advise that when considering this type of solution, organisations work with providers that are experts in their field. In a time when organisations are continuously scrutinising the bottom line, we believe standardised solutions will increasingly prove a popular choice for executives and managers seeking a quick return on investment driving a fast payback whilst supporting the business with dependable service delivery.

Thirty borough and city UK councils are to take part in the government funded ‘Future Cities’ project, designed to establish integrated systems across cities.

The councils will receive funding of £50,000 through the Technology Strategy Board, which will be used to create a feasibility study, surrounding integrated functions surrounding infrastructure including transportation and communications.

The project is designed to improve efficiency and local economies, with the funding going to such councils as Birmingham, Belfast, Cambridge, London, Manchester, Glasgow and Sheffield.

David Cameron has announced his intention in a press conference that he intends to use the London Olympics to push business investment.

The conference comes a day after it was announced that the UK’s GDP had dropped by an unexpected 0.7 percent.

The Prime Minister said: “The legacy of the Olympics can be about many more things than great sport, the legacy should be about great business too,"

Amazon has announced increased quarterly profits of 1.6 percent, with shares reaching a total of $223.59.

Amazon’s second-quarter profits totalled $12.83 billion with expectations of third quarter operating profits reaching as high as $388 million according to Analysts Caris & Co

Scott Tilghman, an analyst at Caris & Co, said “There was tremendous growth in Amazon's higher-margin services".