The Cloud - It's NOT a Box of Chocolates

No more guessing what you're really gonna get.  The definition of Cloud Computing is actually simpler than you may realize.  We spend a lot of time explaining what the cloud is and what it means to organizations.  As often occurs with disruptive technologies, people tend to be skeptical that it can deliver on the promises that have been made.  

"Will it really save us money and, more importantly, how?"
"Is it SECURE?"  
"Will I have to lay off my IT staff?"  
"Is this just another rebranding exercise of existing technology?"

All of these are valid questions and are simply answered.  If you use Facebook for personal or organizational use, then you already leverage the Cloud.  Simply put, any multi-tenant software that is developed and maintained entirely by the vendor is a Cloud technology.  Multi-tenant means that every user leverages the same software for their individual needs while still maintaining a sense of individuality.  Software that is hosted or co-located at a data center but is licensed for a singly entity is NOT Cloud.  That is just the act of outsourcing infrastructure requirements. 

A true Cloud solution like NetSuite means that all organizations are on the identical set of basic code, identical version, and identical infrastructure.  You will still have all of the flexibility of a custom look and feel, uniquely configured transactions, and personal setup options.  Much like you can make Facebook your own center of the universe, your enterprise system can, and will, provide all of the business functions you need without the extra expense of maintaining operating systems, databases, and servers.

Don't take our word for it - let a respected, third-party like Gartner tell you the story (Five Cloud Computing Trends for 2015).

Joel