SaaS And The Migration To Cloud As A Resource.
News that the well-known Sage business software company has just launched a cloud-based SaaS accounting product for both individuals and small business – as part of an “emerging web strategy” – is yet another significant step in the shift away from software installed on physical computers and the growing acceptance of a cloud-based marketplace.
Secured using 128-bit encryption and available only in the UK, the Software as a Service, entitled ‘SageOne’, offers three different versions, the ‘Cashbook’ basic package and an ‘Accounts’ edition featuring invoice creation tools on a monthly rate and an ‘Accountant’ version, payable per annum or free to existing Sage accountants’ club members.
Over the last fifteen years, the continuous IT services development of cloud computing to industrialise data information storage and access as a resource, as exemplified by a thin client platform, such as DesktopLive, is a result of the ongoing standardisation of core technologies like virtualisation, service-oriented architecture (SOA), and Web 2.0.
Formerly, the underpinning of a business service was limited to IT resources, which were wholly owned by the provider of that service and ultimately, meant a silo-based-approach to the management of system, network security, and IT support. Cloud computing allows the business service architecture to cross the organisational boundary and become a composition of various attributes, which are separately managed within different domains.
The drive by business towards reducing cost and increasing availability, yet exercising agility in the face of unprecedented growth of data generation and processing has been inexorably leading towards recognition of the need to undergo a proactive IT approach to assimilating cloud as a dynamically scalable resource solution.
Yet despite the obvious attractions of the reduced costs of running and maintaining internal IT infrastructure, IT managers have been traditionally reluctant to relinquish control by outsourcing IT and company applications to a cloud service provider. Companies have even been hesitant to push mission critical applications and data, such as ERP and even email to an external enterprise over which they have much less control.
Notwithstanding, the deep anxiety over transitioning production environment, either in part or whole, to the cloud, a fear of becoming too dependent upon even large and stable cloud service providers has often proved to be a far greater barrier to adopting new technologies than technological feasibility.
Migration to a cloud, which is invisible to users, as a reliable and efficient process without sacrificing the governance, management, and security essentials that enterprises have grown to depend upon, must include:
• Capturing both the state and data for applications and servers
• Storage and retention of this information to enable recovery if necessary
• The actual movement of applications and servers, potentially in real time
• Recovery and reconstitution of state and data for applications and servers, to both physical and virtual environments
As the launch of SageOne demonstrates, the growing use of SaaS applications for both strategic and non-strategic business use, such as email, project and portfolio management, etc. provide ample proof of the gradual maturing of attitude towards off-premise data access.
