Dewey implement Cloud Computing or Not?

At our accounting firm, we emphasize the quality of our professional service through knowledge sharing, which can be enhanced through cloud computing and its ability to store large amounts of data leaving key information readily available for our employees.

More importantly, each employee would not necessarily need their own computer, or have to have the various required software applications installed on their computers by technology personnel; or have to have their computers updated as often, saving thousands of dollars in cost as all one would need is an internet connection and a browser. There is the option of using computers at the client’s site if available (without having to impose any costs on the client). In cases where our employees’ laptops cannot access the internet at the client’s site, the usage of a client’s computer and internet would solve the problem.

Seeing as in the benefits of cloud computing would save Dewey Wright Itoff Howe thousands of dollars in information technology costs in relation to personnel and maintenance, the risk of our client information being exposed to outsiders takes too high of a priority for immediate implementation. Nevertheless, it is a valid long-term goal when the risks of hackers are eliminated and the technology is indeed more advanced. However, it is still advisable to use cloud computing in accessing our knowledge sharing applications that do not involve client data as a first step towards implementation.

Risky business

Although cloud computing seems to be the latest buzzword for IT solutions, there are many associated risks that companies need to consider before revamping their IT infrastructure. Since this technology is internet-based, users are obviously subject to risks inherent to the internet. Accounting firms work with large amounts of confidential data, so the security of client information would be one of the top priorities of any information system. Using the internet to store data leaves the firm vulnerable to the following security breaches:

• Hackers
• Identity theft
• Denial of service

Access is also a potential problem of using cloud computing. We must keep in mind that we are depending on the ability of the software provider to maintain a reliable system that can handle many users simultaneously. If the system were to go down, we need to be able to assess how long it will be for it to come back online and to quantify the effect on the business.

What if the service provider loses our data? Recovery of data can be a complicated undertaking because of data scatterings. If we must keep backups of our online data in house, then is there really value in using cloud computing?

Any of the above threats, among many others, can cause our firm’s data to end up in the wrong hands or in the case of data loss, no one's hands at all, which can have costly legal implications. Is our firm ready to trust the clouds and assume all the associated risks?

Benefits of Cloud Computing

The primary reason many organizations are adopting cloud computing services is for potential cost reduction and amortization. With a cloud computing solution the customer doesn’t have a big upfront capital expenditure for hardware, software licenses and implementation services. In addition they don’t have the ongoing expense of administering the hardware and infrastructure software. Most cloud computing solutions offer a pay as you go model or subscription so customers pay an operating expense based on what they use which includes hardware, software, and administration. To businesses, that translates to hard dollars: servers the company won't have to buy and maintain, databases for which the company won't have to buy licenses, free storage, backup, and disaster-recovery services—all of which mean IT personnel that the company doesn't have to hire and pay salaries and health care for.

Another huge benefit offered through cloud computing is solving an organizations data center capacity constraints and costs. In large corporations such as accounting firms there can be extreme data center capacity limitations. The data centers are so full that they need to remove a server for any server they add. Because these cloud vendors are optimized for large-scale hosts, they can serve corporate customers. Also with cloud computing there are many security benefits which are really important for accounting firms to prevent data theft, as mentioned in Craig Balding's blog which are:

(1) Centralized Data
(2) Incident Response/Forensics
(3) Password assurance testing
(4) Logging
(5) Improve the state of security software (performance)
(6) Secure builds
(7) Security Testing

Cloud computing as proven above gives firms time and value at reduced risk compared to an in-house implementation. Accounting firms want fast solutions so they can see the value of their investments. The time, expense and risk in developing and implementing an internal solution can be very expensive and adds no value until installed. The risk is significantly reduced with cloud computing because the vendor already has the solution running. Also if customers do not see the value in cloud computing they can cancel their subscription so this motivates vendors to provide the best service possible.

Where do you agree/disagree? Why?

Kloud kkuh m-pyoo-ting?

Wow, I have no idea what cloud computing is. Let's find out!

Cloud computing starts with the premise that data services and architecture should be on servers and refers specifically to the use of the internet as a computing platform. In other words, data, software, and applications no longer need to be installed or held on servers within businesses or home PCs where they will actually be used, but rather hosted on and accessed through the internet, otherwise known as 'the cloud'.

Cloud computing is closely associated with Web 2.0, and a key element of both trends is the emergence of online applications known as Software as a Service (SaaS). Commercial software including project management tools, customer relationship management, and human resources applications are now offered as services on the Web. Also found as services online are office applications, like Google Docs, where users can create or upload documents and work on them online using any computing device with a connection to the internet. By offering software as a service, the need to install and/or upgrade software on users' PCs is reduced. In addition to SaaS, Cloud Computing also includes the development of Hardware as a Service (HaaS), where additional computing power is purchased online. For example, Google App Engine permits developers to run web applications on Google infrastructure.

Cloud computing certainly has the potential to change the face of the computing industry as both individual users and organizations are switching from self-owned and company-owned software and hardware asset to per-use service-based models. Maybe we should shift to cloud computing in our operations too. I wonder what the pros and cons of using this platform are.