The document discusses the transformative impact of cloud computing and Software as a Service (SaaS) on business operations. Key benefits of SaaS include cost efficiency, ease of collaboration, and reduced management burdens, allowing IT teams to focus on strategic value. The text emphasizes the growing adoption of cloud services across enterprises and highlights essential characteristics and competencies to look for in cloud vendors.

1. Online – Forget the
technology
Ben Kepes
Diversity Limited
May 2010

2. Online services are
changing how we do
business. They let us
focus on what we need to
do without being slowed
down by technology

3. Agenda
• Who am I?
• Why even talk about cloud?
• Understanding SaaS – What is it?
• Benefits of SaaS
• Key competencies to look for
• Summary

4. Ben Kepes
• Editor - CloudAve
• Diversity Analysis
• Evangelist
•Adviser

5. Why Talk About Cloud Computing?
“A recent IDC survey of IT executives, CIOs, “The bottom line: Early adopters are finding
and their line of business (LOB) colleagues serious benefits, meaning that
shows that cloud services cloud computing is real and warrants
are ‘crossing the chasm’ and entering a your scrutiny as a new set of
period of platforms for business
widespread applications.”
adoption.” Forrester, August 2009
IDC, October 2008
“... among large enterprises, “...most enterprises
cloud computing is gaining will eventually exploit
critical mass, with more cloud-based services for a
than 80 percent of significant portion of their
respondents at least in trial stages for information services over time and, in
public and private cloud computing the long run, a majority of these
deployments.” implementations will be hybrids.”
F5, August 2009 Gartner, December 2008

6. Cloud is…
Cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing
resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with
minimal management effort or service provider interaction. This cloud model promotes availability and is composed of five
essential characteristics, three service models, and four deployment models.
Essential Characteristics:
On-demand self-service. A consumer can unilaterally provision computing capabilities, such as server time and network storage,
as needed automatically without requiring human interaction with each service’s provider.
Broad network access. Capabilities are available over the network and accessed through standard mechanisms that promote use
by heterogeneous thin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones, laptops, and PDAs).
Resource pooling. The provider’s computing resources are pooled to serve multiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with
different physical and virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according to consumer demand. There is a
sense of location independence in that the customer generally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of the
provided resources but may be able to specify location at a higher level of abstraction (e.g., country, state, or datacenter).
Examples of resources include storage, processing, memory, network bandwidth, and virtual machines.
Rapid elasticity. Capabilities can be rapidly and elastically provisioned, in some cases automatically, to quickly scale out and rapidly
released to quickly scale in. To the consumer, the capabilities available for provisioning often appear to be unlimited and can
be purchased in any quantity at any time.
Measured Service. Cloud systems automatically control and optimize resource use by leveraging a metering capability at some
level of abstraction appropriate to the type of service (e.g., storage, processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts).
Resource usage can be monitored, controlled, and reported providing transparency for both the provider and consumer of
the utilized service.
US National Institute of Standards and Technology

7. Cloud is…
Connected
Location independent
Online
Utility
On-Demand

8. Understanding SaaS...

9. Understanding SaaS

10. “ Software as a Ser vice ( SaaS) is a model of
Software Delivery where the software
company provides maintenance, daily
technical operation, and support for the
software.
”
- Wikipedia

11. “ SaaS is about service, not about software
- Rod Drury, CEO Xero
”

12. Understanding SaaS...
• Software that lives “in the clouds”
• Software you “rent”
• Software you DON’T maintain
• Inherently collaborative
• Anywhere/Anytime

13. Understanding SaaS...

14. Benefits of SaaS...
• Manages risks of acquisition of software
• Minimises roll-out requirements
• Keeps IT strategically focussed
• Scales (almost) effortlessly
• Enables collaboration
• Generally reduces cost
• Gives agility to teams
• Eases pain of managing on-premise apps

15. Anywhere Access without VPN!
 Trial and Buy  Single Sign On
 User Management IT Pro End User  Application Access
 Settings  SharePoint Links
 Support  Downloads
 Tools  Password Reset
Subscription Service Rich Client
Web Access
and Trial Administration Access

16. E-mail
Instant Messaging Web Conferencing
Document Sharing Presence
Calendaring Work Flow Mobility Offline Access Archiving

17. Financial Benefits...
• Makes your costs even and predictable
• Reduces both capex and opex
• Priced simply: includes both software and hardware

18. Process Benefits...
• Business class availability backed by SLAs
• Highly secure operations
• Assurance of world class operational standards

19. Technology Benefits...
• Faster deployment
• Better productivity through ‘anywhere access’
• Simplified management

20. People Benefits...
• Enables IT staff to focus on adding business value
• Helps meet the challenges of workforce reduction
• Helps IT adapt to mergers and acquisitions quickly

21. Strategic Focus...
IT Is a More IT Is a IT Is a
IT Is a Cost
Efficient Cost Business Strategic
Center
Center Center Asset
Software + Services Accelerate the Journey
+ Services Accelerate
Basic Standardized Rationalized Dynamic

22. Benefits of SaaS...
Source - 007 SaaS Index, ACA research/salesforce.com

23. Benefits of SaaS...
Source - 2007 SaaS Index, ACA researc/salesforce.com

24. Benefits of SaaS...
Source - 2007 SaaS Index, ACA research/salesforce.com

25. Key benefits...
Source - 2007 SaaS Index, ACA research/salesforce.com

26. “ Services designed to scale to tens or
hundreds or millions of users will
dramatically change the nature and cost
of solutions deliverable to enterprise..
”
- Bill Gates
Microsoft Internal memo

27. “ I believe, over time, more and more
software will be delivered as a service.
I totally believe that... We have to be
good at this, or we have a problem.
”
- Larry Ellison CEO Oracle

28. We’ve Been Doing This For Years...
• Hotmail
• Google/Bing
• Flickr
• YouTube
• Amazon Web Services
• Salesforce.com

29. Key competencies to look for
• A vendor with a credibility
• Pre-existing SLAs
• Proactive approach towards security agreements
• A deep understanding of the domain

30. Summary

32. Resources
• Diversity blog www.diversity.net.nz
• Choosing your cloud vendor whitepaper http://diversity.net.nz/wp-
content/uploads/2010/03/Questions_To_Ask_Your_Cloud_Vendor3.pdf
• Hosted email whitepaper http://diversity.net.nz/wp-
content/uploads/2010/03/Top_10_Questions_to_Ask_Before_Moving_Your_Email-
formatted2.pdf
• Microsoft online services site http://www.microsoft.com/online/en-nz/default.mspx
• Microsoft New Zealand cloud site: www.microsoft.co.nz/cloud