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Don't Lose Your Head in the 'Cloud' [Transport Topics](Transport Topics Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Consider These Issues Before Entrusting Your Fleet's Data to Off-Site Servers Webology 101 The technology industry is abuzz with the promise of cloud computing - a new approach to information technology in which critical business applications and data are moved to the Web - but industry insiders warn that the strategy is fraught with peril. Some of the technology industry's biggest guns are ready to help you navigate your way through the cloud. IBM, Microsoft, Google, Salesforce.com, Amazon.com, Intuit, Hewlett Packard, and Cisco Systems are all getting involved. "Cloud is an important new consumption and delivery model for IT and business services," said Erich Clementi, a general manager at IBM. However, skeptics say relying on remote, Web-based solutions providers to ensure critical data are safe, computer applications run efficiently and all other computing needs are easily met is simply asking for trouble. "As a security guy, I tend to look at the idea of cloud computing from a risk perspective," said Kai Axford, a senior security strategist at Microsoft. "I have to tell you, I don't see a lot of companies agreeing to become liable if your data get breached on their network." With cloud computing, in-house IT departments are replaced by off-site servers managed by an outside company. All of a company's computing needs are handled by a Web-based system where data, software, etc., are stored, "on the cloud." The pitch: Employees can access online apps and data using a wide array of Internet devices - desktops, laptops, PDAs, smart phones. Moreover, service fees often are based on a metered plan. Companies pay a little for a smidgeon of computing time, more if they need more time. Fair, and often cheaper than maintaining an in-house network. "Our customers can better control costs and accelerate their time to market, enabling them to take on more business," said Mark Hebden, chief operating officer of myFreightWorld, describing the company's recently released cloud product, Clear Visibility. Tom Petrogiannis, CEO of Silanis Technology, a cloud service provider that offers trucking insurance sign-up and processing, also is among the converted. "Signing up independent truck operators for an insurance product is a time-consuming, costly and error-prone process," Petrogiannis said. "Now that Internet access is pervasive, truckers can electronically sign up to a carrier's insurance policy within minutes. By keeping the process electronic from start to finish, it also eliminates all of the inefficiencies and risks of getting motor carriers' signatures in the applications." Despite the promised benefits and industry involvement, questions about security and flexibility of cloud systems persist. "There are plenty of positive things that cloud computing provides, but at what cost?" said Microsoft's Axford. "I'll take the extra time to patch my enterprise's servers if it means keeping my data close." Bottom line: Before launching your business into a questionable new stratosphere, industry insiders recommend you ask yourself - and your potential cloud-solutions provider - these tough questions: Is the cloud really less expensive? While reduced costs is one of the most often cited reasons for moving to the cloud, a McKinsey and Co. study released last year found that for large organizations, cloud computing actually costs more. In fact, McKinsey said in its report, "Clearing the Air on Cloud Computing," that cloud computing costs more than twice that of an in-house solution - although they did add that organizations with $500 million in revenue or less could reap significant savings. Can I afford service outages or apps that don't work? Anyone who has had to endure endless downtime with a Web host provider or other online services vendor ("Sorry, please hold") knows that service hiccups can be infuriating. With apps and data on-site, you can pay, cajole or order your ITtogo into maximum overdrive to fix a snafu. When your apps are in the cloud, priorities on system fixes are decided by someone who is not on your payroll and who may have other plans for the evening. How vulnerable am I to "Vista syndrome?" During the past few years, most trucking companies wisely avoided upgrading to Windows Vista, due to its reputation as an often incompatible resource hog. En masse, most businesses voted "No" to the OS, one IT director at a time. But with cloud computing, your vote, and the votes of hundreds and even thousands of businesses, will count no longer. Instead, all those votes will be usurped by a smaller population of IT directors, working at cloud-computing service providers. Does your trucking business really want to relinquish its vote about which apps fly, and which apps rightly die, toa handful of future, all-powerful, Gatekeepers of the Cloud? Will I become trapped in the cloud? Another great risk in entrusting all your apps and data to a remote third party is that once you're locked into their service, It may be very difficult to migrate to another provider, or migrate back to an in-house solution. Happy smiles, warm handshakes: All those may vanish the day you tell your cloud provider, 'We've decided to move on.' How secure are my data? The nature of cloud computing - generally distributing data and apps on many servers across the Web - lends itself to lapses in security. Your cloud-solutions provider agreement may include all sorts of reassuring verbiage about painstaking safeguards. But in the end, what's stopping your cloud provider from storing your critical business data on a server in Afghanistan? Who's liable if my data are stolen? As IT security pros know, stolen data too often affect many businesses besides your own. If there's a security breach on your cloud provider's server, is that ultimately the cloud provider's responsibility, or does your business take the hit? Put another way, whose name and signature at your fleet is going to be at the end of the Breach of Security letter you'll need to send customers if your cloud provider missteps on security, Microsoft's Axford asked. How safe are my trade secrets? Another spin on data security, this concern warrants separate consideration. The best intentions of cloud-solutions providers don't prevent competitors from placing hackers inside their businesses, freely cherry-picking your business' best marketing ideas, studying your future strategies, collecting key contacts from your database, and the like. Who calls the shots if the government comes calling? In-house counsel at trucking companies can be energized and beefed-up to fend off government perusal of your business and your data, for years if necessary. But how motivated will a cloud-solutions provider be to defend just one business from the government, when it can simply kiss off your company and go back to servicing hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of other clients? "Don't fall for the marketing hype," said David Navetta, co-founding partner of Information Law Group, a firm that advises businesses on the legal implications of operating in the cloud. "Yes, there may be cost savings and scalability benefits," but businesses are potentially trading away a very Important component: control, he said. "The costs and benefits of the cloud may be outweighed by the loss of control and access." What happens if your cloud provider goes bankrupt? Not a pretty thought, but it happens. Will your cloud provider have a contingency plan in place to keep your business running and your data accessible if it suddenly goes bankrupt? Will the contingency plan really matter when there are locks and chains on its doors and its servers and other computer equipment have been sold off to liquidators? Cloud computing is shot-through with all sorts of potential efficiencies, flexibility and access to potent computing power that is simply beyond the reach of many trucking business. But without a careful, point-by-point examination, your leap into the cloud may leave you with absolutely no footing. If the Idea still looks good to you, choose your provider very carefully, Navetta said. "Cloud providers come in many shapes and sizes," he said. "Some pay attention to security issues more than others. Moreover, some are more willing than others to contractually address the issues around security." A good strategy, he said, is to let cloud providers know you're shopping around. When there is more than one potential cloud provider in the mix, businesses "can leverage the providers against each other and make them compete not only on price but on issues of data confidentiality, integrity and availability," Navetta said. Without a careful point-by-point examination, your leap into the cloud may leave you with absolutely no footing. Joe Dysart is an Internet speaker and business consultant based in Manhattan. Dysart can be reached at (646) 233-4089, by e-mail at [email protected] or on the Web at www.joedysart.com. (c) 2011 Transport Topics Publishing Group (TTPG) |