With all of the hype about new tech devices, iPhone, iPad, Android, Kindle, etc; cloud computing hype; social media sites; and the liberal sprinkling of new tech sounding terms, i.e., bandwidth, html, “Are you Tweeting?”-we all wonder where we really fit into the grand scheme of things. As a business person we know that technology is our future and if you don’t have a website you’re not even in the game. On the most simple level, with a computer and high speed internet, and as long as we have email, word processing software (no, they don’t make word processors any more), and maybe a spread sheet, we can compete.

Too often, businesses will make the change to browser-based applications to save money and as an infrastructure focused business we will always support saving our clients’ money. Low costs should not be the guiding principle for making the change to cloud-based solutions if the result is an increased staff learning curve or loss of functionality.

Recently I had a conversation with a colleague about our respective client making decisions about moving to the cloud. Although my colleague views the movement to online services as “faddish”, we agreed that before making the move to any level of cloud services businesses should review why they are making the move and make their expectations clear. The assumption that all problems will be solved with movement to the cloud is absurd but often when displeased with spam, changing backup tapes, or server replacement many business owners make snap decisions.

From my point of view there are two approaches for businesses reviewing whether you are ready for assessing cloud readiness:

1. Are you an early adopter?
2. What questions should you ask before you consider a cloud solution?

When we talk to companies about online solutions for collaboration, quite often we meet with resistance because of the unknown.

1. Fear money and time will be lost trying new solutions that may not work.
2. Fear of time lost trying to learn new software.
3. Fear of trying something different.

The resistance to change is natural; and besides “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. I understand this attitude but it is also important to realize that technology is not stagnant, nor is your business. When I first start talking to clients about their computer networks, my initial focus is fixing problems, stabilizing and securing the network, and documenting the network physical infrastructure. My next question is “do you need a server?” or “do you need to upgrade your server?” The question is not about technology but about how to solve network, collaboration, or communication problems; how to become more efficient; and how to accommodate business growth. With the current glitter/glimmer about cloud/browser based computing this issue becomes opaque and the choice is not just whether it’s Google or Microsoft Business Productivity Suite (BPOS).

“Do you need a server”? Over the last five years, I’ve provided periodic support to a small consulting company which has grown from the two principles to a staff of 4 with periodic additional consultancy and clerical support. Last November, they called thinking that it was time that they added a server to centralize document sharing, backup, calendar sharing, and increase security. During my network analysis I discovered that they were running several different versions of Microsoft workstation operating systems which would have to be replaced to facilitate a server/client network. The Dell server they were contemplating, when optimized to meet their needs, would cost closer to $2500 rather than the $400 base price advertised on the website plus the cost of my services to set up and configure the new network. After some discussion, they began to explore Microsoft Business Productivity Suite (BPOS) which included hosted Exchange for email and calendar sharing, hosted SharePoint for document storage and versioning, and Office Live Meeting, a bonus for a consulting company, to produce online seminars (Webinars) without staff leaving their office.

“Do you need to upgrade your server? A non-profit client which has numerous sites with 5-10 staff persons at each site was set up with an ill-conceived centralized server to manage their network, antivirus, time keeping software, organizational documents, and three databases. The centralized server was never an adequate solution because of the need for all network traffic to access the centralized server (latency/network traffic slowness). After exploring numerous options and an aborted technology plan, today they are testing Google apps as a solution for email and shared documents. In addition, we began talking about online time keeping; hosted SharePoint or Google for document management, and a hosted SQL (Structured Query Language) database. Although, this process isn’t complete, my client realized that they are in an untenable situation, made more difficult as the warranty is running out for their server and they also have to contemplating replacing 30 workstations. To date their solution has been to move all clients to Google Apps for email which solved their email inconsistency problem. They’ve switched to QuickBooks online to solve the latency (slow) response time for the accounting staff. They are still using the time keeping system on the server although the option to move to an online version is still an option. They still need to resolve the client database issue, but reducing most of the staff issues to web based applications not only allows staff to access email from any computer but reduces the need to currently consider replacing 30 workstations. My suggestion will be to extend the warranty until they resolve the database issue.

“I don’t have time to test new stuff” or “I’ll wait until ‘so and so’ tries it then I’ll see if it will work for me”. Time is an issue for all of us but the question is not if you are going to learn to use new tools but when. If you are moving from Office 2000/2003 to 2007/2010 you will have to consider whether your current computers are compatible as well as needing to learn new ways of working with the software. Business productivity software quite often has the same functions but new ways of implementing or presenting such a function. Learning new tools could be driven by your desire to be “up to date” but better yet consider staff training before any new software is implemented.

These examples were not designed to assuage your fears about change but to suggest that you begin reviewing your business needs and identify pain points which you know you will need to change in the future to be more efficient and reduce costs. It is imperative that you define your specific business needs in terms of your business process, not in the terms of technology. So far we have been talking about online services as an infrastructure solution. There are other considerations, such as, operating expenses must be compared to capital expenses, i.e., customization of specific off the self-applications or databases to meet your specific needs. Online computing may not be for everyone but the changes are coming; where you are in the process?