We’ve said it before and we will again. Cloud computing is a saviour of sorts—and for more than just your bottom line and overtaxed systems. No, cloud computing has a larger calling than that. One might even say that cloud computing is poised to deliver the world to a finer place, one in which waste and excess are recalled as sins of a more reckless age. With this communal data-storage marvel, the carbon emissions that would otherwise be sent heavenward from a churning-away corporate entity can be slashed meaningfully, and the world thus scores a significant reduction to its reliance on carbon. 

This news comes by way of the Carbon Disclosure Project, an AT&T-funded European study whose just-released results suggest that large companies in the UK and France who migrate their data to shared data networks in the cloud could cut their emissions by a full 50% by 2020.

The savings, quite simply, are a result of the decreased call for energy consumption of the new over the old. The cloud’s responsive flexibility means customers only use what they need, sidestepping the wastefulness and redundancy of yesteryear.

Money Savings, Carbon Savings

The study, which focused its attention on large IT companies in Great Britain and France, found that big UK organizations that move to cloud computing could enjoy carbon reductions that are equivalent to the annual emissions of over four million passenger vehicles. Oh, and they’ll also save in energy costs, to the tune of about £1.2 billion—findings that underscore a recent announcement by a British cabinet minister that the UK government’s cloud strategy could save British taxpayers as much as £460 million a year—so it’s not all selfless stuff on offer here.

The figures were understandably somewhat lower in France, where nuclear power reigns supreme in the business of electricity delivery, but blue-chip French companies are also poised to exploit some pretty noteworthy savings, too. And, say the study’s authors, the exploitation will be on a grand scale, as almost 70% of these organizations’ IT resources will reside in the cloud by 2020. That’s up markedly from the 10% at which the services are currently used.

Closer to Home

Closer to home, the report concludes that a large North American company that made the switch to the cloud now could be sitting on top of $12.3 billion in yearly savings, and annual carbon reductions that are equivalent to 200 million barrels of oil, by 2020.

Considering that neither of these diminutions—energy or cost—serve as the most persuasive reason to switch over to the cloud (that distinction remains a function of speed, and the accelerated pace at which all corporate activities can take place in the cloud), the argument is more compelling still. Where developers used to take 45 days to get new servers, one pundit remarked, the much more responsive-to-demand internal cloud has shrunk that lag to just a couple of minutes.

Send your stuff up into the cloud, it seems, and you just might save the world.

10 Things you need to know about PSOs

1. The global PSA software market will hit a staggering $7.63 billion by the year 2017, according to new research from Global Industry Analysts, Inc. The news is surprising, considering the hit this market took during the recent global economic dip, as those companies purchasing such products opted to hold back their purse in infrastructure-enhancing purchases.

2. The tide is turning on this front in a significant way. Indeed, PSA software suites are increasingly emerging as bona-fide recession-proofers for corporate IT department principals inside professional services organizations anxious not to suffer the same shortfalls again.

3. Professional Service Automation is enterprise software that’s particularly designed for companies engaged in the delivery of accounting, management consulting, engineering, and agency and PR services, among others. With it, companies enjoy increased productivity and efficiencies across their operations, along with a much-enhanced view of what’s actually going on within them.

4. Up until fairly recently, PSA was regarded in terms of its individual components only. But its usefulness increases manifold with recent developments that link the software’s various disparate modules in a way that reveals the full breadth of available integrated solutions.

5. Not surprisingly, the omnipresent Cloud hovers above this aspect of operational efficiency, too. As more and more companies adopt the off-site approach to their data-management efforts, the opportunity to bundle all of their corporate activities—from sales to service to finance—under a single umbrella is too appealing to pass by. It’s why a muscular movement is afoot to blend the worlds of CRM and PSA.

6. A recent study conducted by consulting firm Service Performance Insight demonstrates that Salesforce CRM users who shift their interests to the Cloud are rewarded for the choice with higher bid-to-win ratios, greater average revenues per project and deal pipelines that are vastly superior to those of their less forward-thinking counterparts

7. The Service Performance Insight research also shows that PSOs simply cannot realize all the powers of their CRM systems unless they’re well integrated with their PSAs.

8. An integrated CRM-PSA application offers users the ability to track the gamut of their business activity—from fingers-crossed leads through in-the-bag deals—on a single platform, with a single interface, employing a single data repository.

9. By amalgamating their CRM and PSA platforms into one, goes the news, professional services firms benefit from larger project backlogs, improved executive visibility, better success with winning bids, higher billable utilization, an enhanced percentage of billable employees, more revenue from new clients and a greater proportion of projects that are completed on time.

10. Just the same, another burst of research from the same organization, this exploring the challenges of Salesforce CRM customers in the professional services industry, reveals that precious few of them have taken the steps to see through such a profitable integration. The news, still in the pipeline, is clearly yet to be fully put into profitable play.

Are a new set of cloud standards starting to form?

So it is with the developing shape of cloud computing. Definition is starting to emerge in the skies with the establishment of a set of standards seeking to best facilitate its adoption. Will they eliminate the confusion that currently shrouds the stuff? It’s a subject that’s scored a whack of attention from folks anxious to corral usability within manageable parameters. We take a look at some of the organizations trying to set the tone for this game changer.

Cloud Standards Customer Council.

This end-user advocacy group claims ownership of more than 100 members. It exists to complement existing cloud standards efforts. It seeks the production of a core set of client-driven requirements that lower the barriers for widespread cloud adoption by prioritizing key interoperability issues, including cloud management, reference architecture and hybrid clouds. It also hopes, with its existence, to facilitate the exchange of real-world stories that might provide illumination and insight into the practical application of this complicated new beast. A “resource hub” on the council’s website offers case studies in which users might find a useful reflection of themselves. The site also provides a compilation of industry news stories on the cloud, and cloud-based webcasts and podcasts can be accessed here. Notable members: Citigroup, Deere & Co., Costco Wholesale, North Carolina State University.

Open Data Center Alliance.

This Intel-backed standards organization was formed last year. Principles claim the membership represents more than $100 billion in annual IT spending power. This organization is behind the recent development of eight discreet “usage models,” designed to help IT managers in negotiations with cloud providers through the provision of various standardized templates. Indeed, this independent IT consortium is dedicated to having these usage models in widespread application in order to best help newcomers comprehensively appreciate the expected delivery of identified customer requirements based on open, industry-standard and multivendor solutions. Notable members: BMW, Marriott International, Shell and Deutsche Bank.

Cloud Security Alliance.

This not-for-profit, member-driven organization is committed to promoting the best practices for security assurance provision within cloud computing. Led by a broad coalition of industry practitioners, corporations and associations, the alliance is also keen to provide education on this subject for new users struggling with its dimensions. Its site helpfully lists upcoming events, such as the Cloud Security Alliance Conference 2011 (in Orlando, November 16 and 17). A blog features entries with such titles as, “Pass the Buck: Who’s Responsible for Security in the Cloud?” and “Understanding Best-in-Class Cloud Security Measures and How to Evaluate Providers.” It also provides a highly useful forum for the dissemination of the latest news, research developments and educational opportunities. Notable members: Coca-Cola, eBay, Reed Elsevier.

So as we move into the new paradigm keep an eye out for these cloud players; who knows, they may set the standards your organization has to meet.

Cloud computing - know your business

No sooner have you draped yourself with the very latest in technological bling then the calendar pages catch the breeze and you’re out of step once more. Bellyache all you want, but this constant condition of obsolescence is par for the course in today’s ever-evolving technical landscape.

It would be a tyranny to imagine keeping every last corner of your corporate house in technological currency. Still, it behooves all corporate citizens to take regular stock of the place, and to work to update at least the most outdated of their systems, regarding them particularly in light of how they support the shifting tasks and styles of the people who use them.

Survey Results: Sounding a Warning

It was on the strength of this premise that American telecommunications solutions provider Teo recently asked: Is your communications technology keeping up with the way you work? The survey, undertaken with more than 500 professionals across 13 industries to discover how technology is enabling them to work efficiently outside of the office, uncovered trouble.

Keeping a Grip on Technology: Some Key Results from the Survey

Many companies endure the chaos of operating multiple communications systems—including everything from instant messaging to land-line telephony. Because the individual systems were never integrated with one another, they exist as silos. Updating them to communicate with one another in a cost-effective way is vital.

Topping the list of respondents’ most-valued technology capability? The ability to connect with coworkers and clients via mobile devices. A solid 64% of respondents call the concept of using UC to work more efficiently outside the office “appealing.”

37% of respondents are not satisfied with the technology currently on offer to facilitate their remote working. Three-quarters of respondents spend more than half their time at their desks—likely because they haven’t the tools that will allow them to be productive beyond it. It’s a problem that needs to be solved. One 2010 survey indicated that businesses that let 100 employees telecommute half the time can save more than $1 million a year.

Making Sense of the Survey: Some Suggestions for Integration

The current crop of advanced mobile capabilities means today’s information workers can be every bit as productive as their deskbound contemporaries. Companies with unified communications (UC) enjoy increased employee productivity and efficiency thanks to remote and distributed staffers who are fully integrated with their office-based counterparts.

Critical to today’s telecommunications wishlist is the ability to access all communication tools through a single interface and advanced routing functionality. With UC, employees have a single phone number and IP extension, no matter their physical whereabouts, eliminating the multi-device, multi-ID, multi-application mess that so often hampers productivity.

So if UC is the future it’s important for principals to communicate the benefits throughout their organization; increasing the likelihood that it’ll be exploited to best effect. More than two-thirds of respondents confessed that they are not even aware whether their organization uses UC.

The appeal of unified communications (UC) has long been acknowledged. A growing business with far-flung staffers beavering in isolation has much to gain from this concept, which brings together disparate enterprise business communication applications and integrates them into a single interface.

Here, everything from voice calls to videoconferencing, instant messaging to e-mail, faxing to voicemail find productive lodging under a common roof. Enhanced team collaboration thrives with this approach, which unifies human resources efficiently, regardless of their various physical geographies.

And an installed UC platform also means customers are better served, thanks to a single-number system and precise routing functionality that directs incoming calls swiftly to their most appropriate destinations.

UC’s Earthbound Limitations Surpassed in the Cloud

It’s a clean, clever, efficient plan whose widespread adoption by businesses big and small makes perfect sense. But for all of its inherently marvelous characteristics, the UC concept is limited in its earthbound state.

Elevate it to the cloud, however, and discover just how useful this tool can be. Consider:

1. Improved ROI

UC marries the cloud in a ceremony that offers participants a range of cost, operational and performance benefits. This approach delivers every telephony feature customers desire — without the imperative of an associated capital investment in PBX infrastructure, to say nothing of deployment fees or ongoing management costs. Newly flush in both IT resources and cash, companies can more productively deploy their staff and dollars along business-building avenues.

2. Flexible Ease

UC that’s integrated in a cloud format relieves managers of the burden and expense of maintaining their own UC server. With cloud-based UC solutions, users enjoy increased flexibility (they only pay according to engaged users) and easy adoption (that requires no additional hardware considerations).

3. Supplier Support

That cloud-based communications are rapidly gaining traction is a reality helped along by massive buy-in from manufacturers and suppliers alike. All of the big guys offer cloud versions of their UC platforms these days, including Microsoft, Siemens and Cisco. Their efforts are well-supported by prescient telecomm providers who themselves have added UC to their service offerings.

4. Identifying Lost Time

Webtorial’s 2011 Sourcebook of Hosted and Cloud-Based VoIP and UC Services study reports that bringing UC to the cloud will cut capital costs. Further, it will divert IT support staff from babysitting phone calls to more productive business-growing pursuits. Indeed, it pegs an annual recovered time-value for a theoretical company with 50 “knowledge workers” or employees who rely substantially on telecommunications at $942,500.

It’s an impressive claim that’s based on an assumption that SMB knowledge workers spend an average of 50% of their time on such mundane stay-in-touch tasks as: trying to contact people, scheduling meetings and navigating a constant flow of uninvited communications.

5. Becoming Future Ready

Organizations who transfer their telecommunications functions to the cloud capably prepare themselves for a future transformation. Given that they’re untethered from restrictive physical technology, these free-agent firms are well positioned to benefit from whatever productivity-enhancing communications capabilities float up in the days to come.

Go for it. Sharpening your pencil and calculating exactly what an investment in an Internet Protocol (Internet Protocol) PBX (private branch exchange) telephony system—a highly sophisticated business telephone system designed to deliver voice and/or video over a data network—amounts to, is an eminently worthwhile exercise.

To start, the savings you’ll enjoy on equipment purchases and ongoing telecom costs will be apparent from your next bill. Less obvious are those fuzzy benefits a sharp new telecom system lends a firm, such as the breathless decline in frustration experienced by those customers charged with navigating your particular telephony path.

Working that pencil is worth the effort.

Herewith, five hard-number reasons a new phone system is a sound investment.

1. Establishing a corporate IP network and running all your lines through it will translate into immediate savings on your phone bill, particularly if your folks journey back and forth a lot between branches, or engage in any kind of long distance. Also, if your employees are on the road at all, working their mobile phone keypads and racking up charges on hotel bills, this kind of investment will bear fruit right away.
2. You’ll appreciate a material cost cut in equipment purchases, too, if you choose wisely. A country-hick phone system can actually have a steeper price tag than its IP city-slicker cousin. It certainly has fewer features. What’s more, once you’ve got the IP system in place, you can ditch those old-fashioned phone contraptions altogether and install company-wide software that will transform your corporate computers into high-functioning tools of telephony.
3. Bypass the infrastructure costs for this new arrival by doubling up on your preexisting data network. Doing so represents a cost-savings that could amount to more than $100 per desktop. And if you ever add another user, or move office, you can enjoy the ease of self-administered setup (versus calling in an expensive “expert”) that this more sophisticated system offers.
4. One of the neatest features a snazzy new IP system brings to bear is how it, married to a broadband Internet connection, means anyone can get on the line from anywhere. Remote and telecommuting employees are suddenly a real possibility for a company so equipped.

In the very first minute after the earthquake, 106 people filed status updates with the word “earth” in them. In the first three minutes, that number jumped to over 700. Since then, updates with the word “Haiti” have been coming at the rate of 1,500 a minute, according to the Mobile Giving Foundation.

But not only are texting, Tweeting survivors alerting the world to their plight, many of us on the receiving end are responding with our keypads, too. Springing from text-giving inroads dug after the South Asian tsunami in 2004, the cellphone is rapidly becoming the most popular means of pledging financial help to charitable initiatives.

Texting Your Donation

The Mobile Giving Foundation, the company that pioneered the technology behind “text-to-give” campaigns, reported this week that Haitian donations are arriving at a rate of US$50,000 an hour.

On January 20, the Canadian Red Cross set up a text-messaging campaign that lets cellphone users donate $5 to the Haiti Earthquake Fund by texting “redcross” to 30333. After users respond to a confirmation message, a $5 charge is tacked on their phone bill.

In the U.S., the American Red Cross has raised more than US$22 million in cellphone-administered donations since the January 12 quake.
But there’s more in store for this modest instrument of interaction.

The phone is gaining new prominence as the unwitting central character in an unfolding drama that will ultimately send up an across-the-board revised definition for this critical instrument of modern life.

Unified Communications Infrastructure

It’s why, more than ever, managers need to be mindful of the communications infrastructure inside which they organize their companies, and with the corporate partners with whom they align themselves in pursuit of same.

But there are limitations to these sharp new methods of communication, especially when messages are too wordy or complex for such bite-sized dissemination. It’s why attaching voice integration to data-based devices is more important than ever.

Indeed, this concept of “unified communication” is gaining ground for its usefulness in corporate environments where workers increasingly recognize the value of the marriage between computer and phone, and its promise of speedy and reliable communication.

Devices that can accommodate the dual demands of voice and data, business and personal, media consumption and individual interaction, are the current darlings of the buzzing telecommunications world.

Managers considering a commitment to a new communications system in 2010 need to select one that addresses all of their requirements—old school and new age alike.