Do you find cloud email confusing?

Guest blog by Andrew Gradwell

Further to my very simplistic view of the cloud in my previous post I thought it would be worth elaborating on what the concept of ‘the cloud’ would mean to small (non IT) business. I went to the world cloud forum in Kensington Olympia this week and also took part in ‘Cloud Camp’. The introductory speech was from Simon Wardley and it was excellent – something that anyone who doesn’t really know about the cloud should try and catch. There are versions of his introduction on youtube and I would suggest it is worth checking out if you want a good basic idea of what ‘the cloud’ is.

The only negative was that one of his first definitions included the word ‘paradigm’ which I signalled in my previous blog as off putting language for the man on the street (in my defence I did say it was better than most definitions). Simon basically drew an IT parallel between Cloud Computing and the industrial revolution and made reference to the fact that the concept of cloud computing was first talked about by John McCarthy (American Computer Scientist) in 1968 as ‘Utility Computing’. This is basically the concept I spoke about in my last post but the important thing that it adds is the fact that, just like the industrial revolution, it cannot be prevented, it is here. The reason for this is that the technical advantage that certain IT systems grant companies, has reduced. Company choice is now either moving their systems to the cloud or paying over the odds for (at least) their basic systems – thus creating an operational disadvantage as companies would be losing money through maintaining in-house email and document management.

One of the most interesting things that became very obvious in the speeches that followed is how long many multinationals have been using the likes of Google Apps as the base for their IT infrastructure. Workers in these companies make great use of the live editing features in Google Docs although they still seem to run Microsoft Office for desktop work. This is very interesting as it seems to me that Google got a massive drop on Microsoft by providing the cloud suite a long time before Microsoft, who have now responded with Exchange Online and BPOS. However, these companies are running Google on Microsoft Windows and using Microsoft Office as their main set of office applications (and probably trawling the net in Internet Explorer, where their main search engine is Google). As things heat up, both providers seem to be making moves to compete on the home ground of the other as Google is planning on releasing an Operating System whilst Microsoft hammers us with a massive marketing campaign for their Bing search engine.

The important thing for small businesses and non-IT folk to get their head around however is branding and the ways companies brand their cloud offerings. They position themselves very differently and maintain an aura of mystery around their products. Any of your important questions are nearly impossible to get answers to as products all pretend to be something completely different focussing on their positives and ignoring any areas where they may fall short. BPOS and Google Apps Premier are comparative products – as is ZOHO Business which is coming to Cloud Hypermarket in the next couple of days. They all provide email with large mailboxes as well as their own collaboration systems and are excellent starting points for your first foray into the cloud. You can find a lot of information from the cloud comparison search result page on the Cloud Hypermarket site, videos are immediately available and through the ‘more info’ button you will find a lot of product information.

The background of these companies gives us some clues to how the companies have arrived at their products. Google has always been web based so its move into the cloud wasn’t a move, it was just where it was. They have spent a lot of time providing free software for consumers. They have added to it and bundled it into their premier suite to sell to business. The main worry here is that nothing is truly free – there is always a reason that people give you free things and Google is not a charity. On the positive side, Google approaches each user as having an equal value, it doesn’t discriminate between the owner of a multinational and the office junior of a small office setup.

Microsoft are the true giant of the computer industry. They have been around for a long time – it would be hard to envisage a world where most average users pc’s didn’t run Microsoft windows and use Microsoft office. Things are changing quickly and unlike Google, Microsoft have had to respond to get into the cloud and steering a company of that size into a whole new direction is a big operation. But they are ‘All In’ and they have the familiar work interface. Almost all companies run MS Outlook and MS Office. A huge amount of office workers are familiar with Exchange Online, and sales of SharePoint have done nothing but increase. Microsoft understand and are the market leaders in the business market.

Zoho have started from scratch, in the cloud market and aimed at business. This means that on one hand they have the business positioning of Microsoft and the cloud base of Google and whilst this would appear to put them in a better position that the other two, they are not as well established. Zoho have done extremely well considering when they started out they were David against Goliath and his bigger mate. A stone to the head of one giant would just leave them exposed to be crushed by the other – Zoho’s best bet is to be stealthy and hope the two Giants are fighting each other so hard that they don’t notice as they emerge as a serious contender.

Cleared anything up? Maybe a little? Use the compare email and document management search on Cloud Hypermarket and I hope it all makes a little more sense, or get in touch and we’ll help you find the best fit for your company. Or please feel free to contact us and we’ll help you find the best product for your company.

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