In a number of companies, employees can not only handle work tasks such as production management, process management, materials management and in-house ERP within the office, but also in factories and outside the office by using mobile cloud.
In short, enterprises can enjoy increased productivity by concentrating on their core business as they can simply borrow and use needed amount of resources instead of having to purchase IT equipments and investing time and labor for their operation.
Other than your company’s, what do you see as the most impressive cloud solution or product or deployment found in the market in 2011?
Han: Apple’s iCloud. iCloud is a service that allows users to share various contents including music, photos, applications, e-books and documents which are strong competitiveness of Apple among multiple Apple devices.
We think iCloud is very impressive in that it further develops its existing business models of selling Apple devices and applications by connecting all Apple devices of a user and allowing the user to share all the contents. It is a very customer-centric idea that values the customer experience of Apple users.
What were your three most important lessons learned about cloud computing in 2011?
Han: 1. To experience actual benefits, a ‘select and concentrate’ approach is required when adopting a cloud-based technology. Otherwise, the input costs could outweigh the savings from using the technology due to excessive license cost and initial cost for building the infrastructure.
2. To provide an external hosting service, not only a quality solution but also a dedicated organization must be formed and operated to satisfy diverse needs of SMB customers. Also, active marketing activities are required as well as a strong security policy that can eliminate users' concerns about information security.
3. Since cloud is an enabler of innovation throughout the IT industry, it is very difficult for a single company to internally develop and accumulate the technology. This is why there should be more open sources in use and various technical exchanges, through connection with the government, industrial and academic sectors as well as through active cooperation with other companies.