You’ve no doubt heard a lot about cloud computing (or the cloud). What you may not have learned is how this misty concept can help with the real problems of operating your business, especially in hard times.
In short, cloud computing offers attractive options for small and midsize businesses that need critical IT upgrades, but may lack the cash for a large capital investment.
Through the cloud, you can add new, vital applications or you can supplement the capacity of an existing infrastructure. Because cloud services are delivered via the Internet (often the Web) you only pay for the features and functionality you use and don’t pay for extra hardware, software, staff and maintenance. As a result, your business can grow its IT capabilities, often at a lower cost than doing everything itself. And you can pull the cost from your operating budget rather than your capital budget.
So what is cloud computing exactly, and why is it significant to small and midsize businesses?
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The cloud can deliver software-as-a-service (SaaS) or supplemental infrastructure capacity, such as data storage space or processing power, all on-demand via the Internet, usually the Web. Cloud services don’t require that you purchase dedicated hardware and software or manage those particular applications. You simply pay for the functionality, sometimes as a flat monthly fee and sometimes by metered use.
For example, a small greeting card company might sign up for a cloud order-fulfillment system. The application would be hosted and managed by the provider, and it would be accessible to users through a Web browser. The company could sign up for the service instantly, without having to undergo a complicated implementation to house the application on its own servers.
Salespeople across the country could then access the fulfillment system from any Internet connection, no need to go through their employer’s network or install software on their own computers. Multiple users can be quickly added or removed, as well.
It’s clear how attractive SaaS is to smaller businesses when you look at its growth in the last few years. Forty percent of midsize businesses worldwide use SaaS in some form, according to a study from industry analyst firm AMI-Partners. The firm projects that number will reach 57 percent by the end of November 2009.
Now let’s say that the greeting card company allows customers to create and print their own cards and needs extra server capacity during peak workloads around the holidays. The company could add processing power to its existing servers or it could increase its network bandwidth by purchasing a new server. But the cloud adds another option. Renting server space or processing power from a service provider would allow the company to augment its in-house servers, without having to purchase and maintain new hardware that might sit idle the rest of the year. |
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HP Provides the Cloud Value Chain |
HP is currently working with USA.net to enable channel partners to offer private-label hosted services, such as hosted Microsoft© Exchange Server, hosted Microsoft© Sharepoint Server and e-mail archiving. HP partners are now in the process of receiving products, training and tools they will need to offer cloud services. USA.net, is now rolling out private-label hosted services in the United States to HP channel partners.
This process will continue to roll out to HP’s ecosystem of partners. Soon, value-added resellers—who serve millions of customers worldwide—will have the ability to offer critical applications via the cloud. Customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), accounting and e-commerce will all finally be within reach of small and midsize businesses for a fraction of the cost they would pay to purchase, deploy and host such applications on their own.
By working with the same VARs they have in the past, small and midsize businesses can have peace of mind of knowing that they are still supported by trusted channel partners, an HP hardware infrastructure, and HP integration services.
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