This year at Accountex the TVision seminar theme was all about assessing the benefits of cloud. Microsoft tells us to be “in and on” and “more mobile, more cloud” but what does that mean and why should we?
The hype is misleading; which is a worry as traditionally where things are confusing and / or misleading we tend to see bad buying decisions that lead to challenged projects and negative business value. This is partially the fault of technology companies, eager to sell features that wow prospects and add to the profitability of the tech company; and partially the customer buying features and worrying about price more than value. Either way, the risk of making it all work falls to the customer.
“Cloud” or more accurately, Software as a Service, spreads the investment and therefore moves towards sharing the risk / stake in successful delivery. However, it will only do so if customers force tech companies. At TVision we are dismayed that despite the lessons learnt and changes in technology, buyers still approach evaluation the same way as ten, twenty years ago.
Consider what we know about tech now:
1. You’re never going to eliminate Excel so embrace it!
2. Simple solutions give the biggest return.
3. There’s no magic answer or next generation of workers who will solve this, if you can’t get a piece of software working for your business, no one can!
“Cloud” deployment is a mechanism for enabling users and devices to become better connected and therefore work collaboratively and efficiently. Office 365 promotes latest versions which often benefit from the simple improvements (see below screenshot from Outlook 2013; how many hours a year are saved by this simple feature!). These are features of Cloud that may make sense with your IT strategy.
Paying for Cloud is another matter. Renting rather than buying remains a long term expensive option. Where this is off-set by flexibility that makes sense for you, go for it. If the rental agreement insists on 12 months + rental in advance or locks in with prohibitive contracts (remember the “I want to quit the gym” phenomena?!) then don’t sign; push back until we see true sharing of risk. Work with tech companies that embrace mutually beneficial partnerships. “Win / win” is possible if we all work together!
