When the Open Cloud Manifesto was unveiled recently by IBM et al I wrote "The (Cloud) Bastards say, Welcome"
And I invited several cloud pioneers who have been at it - delivering cloud based products and services or helping evaluate and nurture them for several years - to discuss the manifesto and what they have learned in Cloud Computing over the last few years.
This time it is Laef Olson, CIO at RightNow. Before that he was Group VP of technology operations at Travelport and Orbitz Worldwide and CTO for cars.com. Here he tackles the issue of security around cloud computing.
"I’m always amused by vendors’ attempts to co-opt terminology or industry buzz to suit particular ends. It isn’t surprising given the collective incentive for profit and market growth, and we all do it to some extent. Now we don’t just have the ‘Cloud.’ We have the ‘Open Cloud.’ It is hard to disagree with much in the Open Cloud Manifesto; thoughts on the importance of security, monitoring, and data interoperability are like advocating things like baseball, motherhood, and apple pie. But there also isn’t much there that is particularly relevant or interesting to me. At RightNow, we aren’t dedicated to making sure the cloud is open, we are dedicated to making sure the cloud is effective.
I am both a purveyor and buyer of cloud based services. Over the past several years, I’ve seen objection after objection to cloud-based computing crumble in the face of determined innovation. In fact, one of the really great things about working in the cloud space is that it isn’t just figuring out how to deliver the building blocks outlined in IBM’s Open Cloud Manifesto, it is about moving on to real innovation that is transforming how our model provides value to our customers.
For years I’ve heard that SaaS is only for the private sector, that public sector certification and security demands forced them into an expensive on-premise model. This is a classic example of what we do to make the cloud more effective for our growing customer base. RightNow has been doing business with the US government for more than ten years and has over 155 public sector clients, including nearly every US cabinet level agency, Army, Marines, and Air Force. Last week we took the lead across the SaaS/on-demand/cloud computing space in delivering a full SaaS solution for our government clients, meeting stringent security and compliance standards within Federal Agencies and the DoD. Sure, state and local governments have gotten pretty familiar with the on demand model over the years. What’s different here though is our solution has achieved the certification required on a Federal level – really and truly bringing the highest levels of government into the cloud for the first time ever. If we can do this for the US Census and the US Army, we can do it for your company. It may be new, it may be different…but it can be done. As is usually the case when you are out there innovating, being the first is never a small undertaking. We have worked on this project for over a year, plowing our own ground.
So why did we do it? It is a good product and service given our existing client base. But we are also rabid advocates of the SaaS / Cloud Computing model, and it is exciting knocking down these barriers; the public sector marketplace is no exception. In an era where terms like efficiency, transparency, and collaboration are not just goals, but mandates under the Obama administration, DoD and civilian agencies can now support huge numbers of constituents or war-fighters, while taking advantage of SaaS benefits like rapid speed of deployment, scalability, efficiency, lower cost of ownership and our reputation for operational excellence. The fact that we can help our defense and civilian agency clients show amazing ROI and improved citizen experience is not only good news for them as they work to fulfill their mission, it is good for you and I as taxpayers as well.
RightNow isn’t the only company out there innovating in the cloud computing space. I see plenty of my colleagues providing examples here as well. As another one of those cloud "bastards", I also say “Welcome…but please stay out of my way. I’m busy delivering value.”
