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 Cloud computing is a foggy concept these days. As its popularity grows, many misconceptions arise. Let's take a look at the fundamental elements defining the cloud.
There are three main categories of cloud services: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS). These three types make up cloud computing as we know it today. There are many degrees within these and many confusions around how best to categorize certain services. It’s more or less a continuum so it becomes difficult to determine what is truly a “cloud service” and what is foggy smoke and mirrors.
Thankfully, there are key markers across all three categories to provide perspective, which include: 
1. Subscription-based licensing
2. Accessible from anywhere via the internet
3. Multi-tenant architecture
4. On demand (pay for what you use) model
Subscription Licensing: Across all categories, payment for cloud services is handled on a subscription basis, making it incrementally more affordable than traditional licensing or brick and mortar options. For a SaaS example, consider the Webex Meeting Center. I can subscribe to use this solution for a reasonable monthly rate, month-to-month as I need it, or reduce the rate by committing to a longer 12-month term.
Accessibility: A key component of cloud computing is that because the service “lives” on the Internet, it is available from anywhere in the world where the Internet is accessible. Consider Quicken Online, whether I am at home, at work or on the train with my cell phone, I can access accounting information online.
Multi-Tenant Architecture: When we all log into Google’s Gmail service, the private space for our messages is automatically partitioned and provisioned for us, so no-one else can see our messages. The same is true for IaaS services, such as renting server space on Amazon's EC2 service. An application could be on one or several boxes with one or more other applications depending on the demand for storage and bandwidth. This capacity sharing and provisioning is one of the main benefits of the cloud.
On Demand: Cloud-based services tend to scale very well and can be ideal for organizations who wish their IT budgets to grow with the demands of doing business. It’s very similar to a common household utilities model. When you use a little, you pay a little, and when you use more, you pay more. SaaS subscriptions are often priced on features needed and a per-user basis, meaning it can scale nicely with staff growth and the needs of the organization. Same is true with IaaS which scales with the need for space and bandwidth. For you finance junkies out there, this turns what would normally be CAPEX (or capital expenditure – expenses on physical things) into OPEX (or operating expenditure – expenses on operating your business), a definite advantage to the financial model in many organizations.
Turning capital expenditures into operational expenditures is only one of the key benefits for cloud services. They are highly scalable, widely available and a great way to outsource the extraneous so that you may focus on your core business. With new services popping up almost daily, the marketplace for cloud services will soon become both more enriched and better defined. Go forth and follow the key markers to part the fog and find the services that meet your needs.
Tags: SaaS, Cloud, Internet, Software
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Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) has become something of the “solution de jour” for the for-profit sector as companies seek to shave costs further and focus on their core deliverables, which for most businesses is typically not building software.
While the social sector tends to trail for-profit markets by several months when it comes to macro-economic forces and spending, I am beginning to see movement in the direction of SaaS. The question for social businesses and non-profits alike remains, “Is online software right for our organization?”
In the end, I believe its “horses for courses” (as we say in Australia). For some situations, using off-the-shelf software (such as Microsoft Office or Adobe Photoshop) will suffice. This is particularly evident when the software is a leading application, and the product meets the majority of requirements.
For other situations, building an open source and/or “Free Open Source Software” (FOSS) solution makes a lot of sense. If the application needs to be openly shared, developed and built upon over time by a “connected” industry that is sufficiently resourced to create and maintain an appropriate solution, the benefits can be significant. Caution should be taken when considering how “free” such solutions are, as open source tends to be as “free” as puppies are free – indeed, sometimes they are about as “free” as inheriting the whole litter! But in many cases, the benefits far outweigh the risks.
As a SaaS provider, I may come to this topic with a distinct bias – but my background has been equally shared across open source and installed software solutions. I am meeting more and more companies that are simply not interested in being a software developer. These organizations are keenly focused on mother/child healthcare, economic development, safety, and other social missions.
For those organizations, SaaS can be a real opportunity. Some the many benefits these organizations can realize include:
· Lower total cost of ownership (TCO)
· Immediate startup
· Complete development already done (Dev, QA, UAT, Release)
· Maintenance included in the monthly cost
· No IT staff or technical coding required
· Low-cost entry to use the functionality due to monthly subscriptions
Consider how many organizations build their own email programs these days: none. Why? Because there are many effective and affordable alternatives. I believe that we will see more SaaS products introduced within the social sector in 2010.
As I said earlier, its horses for courses, but there are a lot of organizations out there who just need to run effective programs, not be in the business of software creation, release and maintenance.
It all comes back to a single question – what is your core mission?
Tags: SaaS, Cloud, Software
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Running a business is tough work, startups even more so, social business startups more so still. Juggling the various aspects can take you from dark lows to euphoric highs within the same day. As Winston Churchill put it, “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” But startup teams, particularly in the social space, who embody an agile startup mentality have something that keeps them going, a secret sauce…
Several years ago I came across a viral video of comedian/juggler Chris Bliss performing to a live studio audience. He simply walked out and without a word began juggling, to a mashup soundtrack of Beatles' tracks from the eponymous “Abbey Road” Check it out here (note: you may have to click the link within the video to play it on the YouTube site)…
OK, if you aren’t amazed, what I’m about to say in this post won’t make a lot of sense. In fact, you’ll downright disagree, which is exactly what a niche group of hard core jugglers did. After this video went viral, “serious” jugglers around the world scoffed at his performance, picking apart his technique, his approach and his lack of juggling ability.
One such juggler went so far as to copy the routine, but doubled down on the tricks, making it technically perfect and much more complex – demonstrating that he was by far the better juggler. See his video entitled "Chris Bliss Diss Video":
Comedians and jugglers share a common history, that of the jongleur. Think of them as the traveling minstrels, or for those who are familiar with Shakespeare, the Fool who “advises” the King. Their role went way beyond performance – it involved performance art, satire, observation and advice to nobility way above their pay grade.
Back to Chris Bliss: Keep in mind that he is a comedian first & foremost, who happens to juggle. He is not a juggler who tells the odd joke.
What Chris did was share an admirable level of skill (lets face it, most of us can’t even juggle three balls, despite all our college drinking game efforts), to a soundtrack that was delightfully familiar, mashed up in a slightly new way, in order to entertain and open our minds to beauty. the secret sauce of this audio-visual-performance mashup?
Creative passion.
Passion is what sets this performance apart. My wonderful old boss at Credit Suisse used to quote Voltaire to me (on a good day), saying: "the perfect is the enemy of the good." this is a wonderful example. Chris Bliss' technical offering is adequate - its "good enough" because frankly, it doesn’t need to be any better to achieve the desired result. It is an honest and passionate approach to his craft. He did not say a word, but I wager that a very low percentage of viewers in that audience were not deeply moved by his creative statement. The viral views on You Tube alone are now over 1.2million – that says a lot.
I’m not going to wax lyrical about how that applies to social businesses, communications or business models that serve the poor. I will say that at Resdida, we work to be effective, not perfect, and we do so with a creative passion that I thoroughly enjoy. I think John, Paul, George & Ringo have expressed this approach far more eloquently at the end of the song…“and in the end… the love you take… is equal to the love you make."
So, how's your juggling?
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If you are in the social benefit entrepreneurship space in the SF Bay Area, you have heard about The Hub. With the original space in the Mission, a second in Berkeley and now the new space in SoMa, the concept is as viral and vibrant as the entrepreneurs that engage them. It was no surprise that the visiting team from the World Bank’s Innovation Practice arrived there Friday (May 14, 2010) to meet with local entrepreneurs to discuss social innovation, design and technology for the base of the pyramid (BOP).
Kevin Braithwaite organized and facilitated the event last Friday hosted at The HUB SoMa, which opens this week (May 17, 2010), and invited me to come down and represent Resdida with a quick presentation on our MOBILIZE platform.
It was a pleasure to be there in the new facility as they were finishing up construction. Even pre-launch there’s a flurry of excitement and a magnetism that’s hard to describe. Eight local social benefit enterprises, including Resdida, were there to share with each other and the representatives from the World Bank some of the great innovations happening here locally. The Bay Area made an excellent showing as an exciting place to "do good" and to "do good work".
The following ventures were represented:
Each entrepreneur took about five minutes to explain their innovation and answer questions from the audience. The representatives from the World Bank were listening, taking notes, asking questions and providing insights. The presentations were divided into key innovation areas, and Resdida was positioned in the Mobile category.
The event was a great confluence of innovation and thought, and it was fascinating to learn more about the great things happening all around us. In terms of key takeaways, the one that struck me the hardest was around one key barrier to success for social benefit enterprises. There was a general consensus among all of us in attendance that while there are so many great innovations, there exists very little seed and early stage capital resources available to nurture and grow them. Many innovations each year fail to reach their potential because of this gap in funding, and that does the billions living at the BOP a great disservice. We are all hoping we will find that the gap is short-lived as new funding sources emerge in this space.
The event ended in time for the Wine Down reception and networking at The Hub. All-in-all, an inspiring afternoon! So glad to have been there and honored to be invited!
Tags: ICT, Mobilize, Announcements
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The GSMA reports that there are well over 4 billion cell phone subscriptions worldwide. Over 50% of the world's population has a cell phone now. Think for a moment about your cell phone: what it means and how you use it. Would you miss it if it were lost? I rely on my cell phone which I use as a phone, calculator, alarm clock, weather person, calendar, and research tool. I write notes to myself, notes to others, track my finances, schedule meetings and organize my time. I program my phone which, in return, programs my life.
Of course, being so connected can be a mixed blessing, particularly when one is over-connected. But traveling to the wilderness without it or any other means of communication can feel equally bad after a while. Striking a balance is so important.
Turning to the developing world, there are approximately 4 billion people living at the Base of the Pyramid (BOP), earning less than $5 per day. Many struggle to get the information we thrive on. Technology is often scarce and the rural poor often need to travel great distances for news, banking, etc. The Internet may be available for a fee at a village kiosk. Computers are shared in village centers.
For many years cell phones were shared as well. It was not uncommon to find a "village cell phone" where a village would share a single phone and a local entrepreneur would charge a fee per use. Through time that has changed, and now, there are fewer instances of village phones because the perceived value of the cell phone among the poor has led to an increased desire to have personal cell phones. Desire increased, handsets became more affordable and carriers developed prepaid plans for the poor. For the poor, it remains a lifeline to family, the global economy and even a means to earn more money.
Cell phones are quite the wonder. A basic handset, not even a smart phone, has at least as much if not more memory and greater processor speed than the computer I owned in the 80's. When we think about bridging the technical divide to the developing world by creating low cost computers, why not work with something that is already reaching more hands in more households every day in the developing world? I say this not only because the cell phones are already there, but also because it can be easier for a low cost handset to survive in a harsh, hot, dusty, environment. It all seems to add up.
So when developing tools for the poor, especially in he most rural locations, mobile makes a lot of sense. In the palm of their hands, what they hold is much more than a phone. It is a phone, a calculator, a market research tool, emergency warning device, news resource, and most importantly, it is a lifeline to the global economy. It's a way for them to be both aware and connected, and also to discover many of the benefits, knowledge and information that we can often take for granted. If we are looking for ways to connect with billions of people living in emerging economies, we can start by unleashing the potential of the mobile phone.
Tags: Mobilize, Awareness, Mobile, Internet
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