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Get Ahead In The CloudPart 1.Lessons from cloud adopters.
Executive SummaryA brief introduction to Part 1 of our cloud report.
Get Ahead of Your ITThe advances of cloud computing and itsstrategic advantages.
Why do SMEs Choose Cloud?An infographic on the reasons why SMEs adopt the cloud.
Applications of the CloudAn infographic on the uses of the cloud and itsbusiness benefits.
Business & Cloud ComputingAn infographic on key cloud statistics and its application usage.
Case Studies:Real life examples of how the cloud has been usedto deliver a competitive advantage.
Fathom SonStream Building Blocks
Take the Next StepAs a recognised business tool, how can the cloud add value to your organisation?
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Contents
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98% of SMBs think that IT is important to success4
The cloud has given companies the
chance to adapt and compete more
successfully in a changing market.
Several industry estimates suggest
that businesses can save around
25 per cent of their IT outgoings by
utilising cloud computing5.
So what is the greatest benefit?
Flexibility rather than cost savings
alone was cited as the primary driver
by those responding to the Cloud
industry Forum’s research questions.
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Executive Summary
In 2011 the popularity of the cloud grew phenomenally. 2012 will see even more growth
as the cloud is now being recognised as a viable business tool.
The cloud offers a multitude of advantages, which help to align IT capabilities to
business strategy. Businesses have quickly embraced cloud computing, as it gives them
the ability to adapt rather than react, allowing them to take advantage of its numerous
benefits.
Its highly scalable, flexible and cost effective architecture has helped organisations
experience enormous growth. Cloud computing has dramatically changed the way we
access computer services and the way that businesses operate.
To ensure continued growth and increasing profitability in 2012, it is essential to understand the applications of the cloud and how it
can be used to deliver a competitive advantage.
In previous reports; Cloud vs Dedicated Hosting, Cloud Confusion Reigns and Can You Trust The Cloud?, we have focussed on pros
and cons of different cloud technologies. Get Ahead In The Cloud, however, looks at the different ways businesses are employing
this technology to give themselves a competitive advantage, supported by real life case studies.
Part 1 of this report aims to convey the applications of the cloud and how you can use them to add real value to an organisation.
Read on and find out why SMEs have adopted it and how the cloud is being used to improve business processes and efficiency.
Learn more about the different types of cloud and their applications in Part 2. This report will be available soon and aims to help you
to determine which cloud hosting solution offers the greatest advantages to your business, again supported by real life examples.
If you would like to discover if the cloud can provide your business with a competitive advantage this year, call one of our friendly,
helpful hosting experts today on 0208 045 4945.
Sign up now to be the first to receive part 2Call our cloud specialists today on 0208 045 4945
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2011 has been described as the year of
the cloud. Growing in popularity, cloud
computing has proved to be a bona fide
hosting solution for both small and large
organisations.
Offering enhanced productivity,
decreased IT costs, and increased
ROI, it’s no surprise that companies are
embracing cloud computing models. Not
only is it more affordable and efficient, it
can also lessen your business’ impact on
the environment.
The cloud is simply a utility, delivering
computing as a service, rather
than a product. This means the
applications that you use are
now stored in and served from
the cloud; instead of them
running on your computer they are
running on a server on the
internet and can be accessed
using your browser.
Its flexible infrastructure and ability to
enhance your competitive edge allow
you to use IT to shape your business
processes.
A recent study conducted for Microsoft
found that 29% of small businesses
expect cloud services to make IT more
strategic. Executives are now seriously
considering the cloud’s financial and
productivity benefits versus continuing to
perform all IT functions in-house1.
The chairman of the Cloud Industry
Forum said: “It’s clear that cloud is on
the increase and is part of a coherent IT
strategy2.”
Get Ahead of Your IT
Numerous organisations have adopted
the cloud to support their business
objectives. Its tangible benefits have
transformed businesses and given
them the chance to utilise enterprise
infrastructure, at a fraction of the cost.
As the workforce becomes more
mobile and more global, executives
must find ways to adapt their systems
and processes to evolve with the
changing realities of the workplace. It
is no longer required to be at a fixed
location; teams need to be able to
work seamlessly, whether they are in
Starbucks or the boardroom.
Forrester has found that business
technologies are increasingly being
managed outside of IT’s direct control.
The best way to plan for the future
and mitigate risk is to allow IT to fully
respond to the business strategy and
implement flexible and adaptable
business technologies, such as the
cloud3.
Its applications range from scalability
to consolidation, giving businesses the
flexibility to utilise the cloud to form part
of their growth plan.
Getting ahead of your IT is tough, as
the rate of technological change is fast.
However, these strategic choices will
be a key differentiator between you and
your competitors.
Get ahead in the cloudCall our experts today on 0208 045 4945
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98% of SMEs think that IT is important to success4
The cloud has given companies the
chance to adapt and compete more
successfully in a changing market.
Several industry estimates suggest
that businesses can save around
25% of their IT outgoings by utilising
cloud computing5.
So what is the greatest benefit?
Flexibility rather than cost savings
alone was cited as the primary driver
by those responding to the Cloud
Industry Forum’s research questions2.
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Disaster RecoverySimply download and restore your data
from the cloud quickly. Off-site cloud
servers offer a practical disaster recovery
plan. Backing up in the cloud allows you
to save your data simultaneously across
numerous servers.
BackupBacking up in the cloud allows you
to save your data remotely across
numerous servers simultaneously.
ScalabilityExtra bandwidth can instantly be
made available to provide a
fully scalable and flexible solution
without any major investment.
Source - Ref 6
StorageThe volume of data is set to soar
in 2012. CRM and intelligent data
systems will work to centralise and
manage your data.
Collaboration Collaborate and share knowledge
with your teams across offices in real
time.
Mobility & Accessibility Increase productivity for users, as data
and applications can be accessed from
just about anywhere via multiple
devices and virtual desktops.
ConsolidationReduce IT infrastructure and
hardware costs by consolidating your
servers to utilise your cloud space more
efficiently with virtualisation technology.
Resource Utilisation Create prototypes and demos on
cloud servers to take advantage of
instant capacity, global accessibility
and no commitment.
IaaS, SaaS & RDS Use Infrastructure as a Service, Software
as a Service and Remote Desktop Services
to enhance your competitive advantages
by utilising a high productivity
environment accessible from
anywhere.
Applications of the Cloud
The cloud can be applied in many ways, all of which can add massive value to an organisation. Over the last two years, the cloud
has developed into an important business tool, used to enhance competitive advantages and achieve business objectives.
By 2020, organisations will own fewer IT assets and experience greater device independence.
Typical uses: - Managing seasonal peaks- Testing & development- Film editing.
5% of SMEs backup their datato the cloud.
60% of SMEs view improving IT collaboration as critically important to their organisation.
Performance & SpeedAccess the latest enterprise level
infrastructure for increased
efficiency, speed and accelerated
web performance.
Web pages will require reduced load times as dynamic content increases.
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Industry:Web services
Application of the Cloud:Consolidation
FathomFathom’s merger with fellow web
design and hosting company,
Ampheon, highlighted the potential
benefits that a virtualised solution could
offer in terms of consolidation, reduced
costs and improved services for clients
– allowing the firm to grow and become
more competitive within a flexible
hosting environment. Fathom has been
disappointed by other hosting providers
and chose UKFast because of the
team’s crucial technical expertise.
Malcolm Wright, commercial director
at Fathom and founder of partner
company Ampheon explains: “Before
the merger I was investigating the
option of cloud technology because I
saw it as the next logical place to go for
our business. Our servers were three
and four years old so nearing their
end of life anyway and we needed a
different way to manage them.”
“As a bigger business, we had
economies of scale which meant
merging environments in a virtualised
hosting platform could bring our cost
base down and improve on areas such
as single points of failure.”
Solution
UKFast delivered a cloud hosting
solution that allowed Fathom to
consolidate 15 servers previously
hosted across four data centres into
one virtualised environment.
“The changeover has had no negative
impact on our clients at all. It should
mean that their hosting is more reliable
and more responsive. It also means we
can offer them a better range of server-
based options.”
Benefits
Fathom’s virtualised environment is
living up to their hopes, giving the firm’s
bosses peace of mind that their clients’
hosting will be more reliable than ever
with a significantly reduced risk of
downtime from hardware and software
failures.
Fathom’s new environment will also
allow the firm to introduce a number
of new services to its clients over the
coming months including a web hosting
control panel so clients can manage
their own websites as well as detailed
management and monitoring of sites.
Fathom has invested in cloud
hosting technology to become more
competitive and to allow for fast
growth.
Wright says: “The cloud environment
is consolidating servers, giving us
flexibility on the resources on a server
so we can increase them or reduce
them as and when we need to. And it’s
much quicker, which allows us to offer
more services to our clients. It also
gives us a much more stable platform
because it’s not hardware-dependent.
If we lose a disc in the server it doesn’t
mean we have to down the server and
rebuild it or anything like that – it just
doesn’t happen.”
Fathom chose UKFast because of the team’s crucial technical expertise.“ “
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Industry:Internet music
Application of the Cloud:Storage
SonStreamSonStream was incorporated in
mid-2010 as a sister business to
the founders’ already-established
record label, Sons Records. Having
secured private equity backing and
bank funding, SonStream intends to
revolutionise the way people consume
music online. In order to do that
successfully, it needs the capacity that
cloud storage allows as well as the
flexibility and scalability to reduce the
burden on a fragile start-up.
Through the management of record
label, Sons Records, Tom Lovett and
his two business partners, ex-TV
producer Seb Clarke and Columbia
business student Mike Thomas, gained
a valuable insight into how the masses
consume music.
Their experiences influenced their
plans to set up SonStream – a website
that offers free music streaming with no
advertising or subscriptions but profits
from additional ‘micro services’ offered
through one convenient, slick and
efficient online area.
Lovett says: “Our approach was
essentially to put all of the services
offered by Spotify, iTunes, Google and
all of the others in the market in one
place so customers can go on and get
their music in whichever way is easiest
for them. Whether they want to stream
it, download and buy it or upload and
play list it, it’s streamlined so those
different transactions feel like the same
one – it’s just getting hold of music.”
SonStream’s founders predict that
10,000 unique users will visit the
site on its launch date in March and
estimate a growth rate of 4.29%.
Solution
For Lovett’s predictions to come to
fruition, it’s crucial that the SonStream
service performs well and is capable of
meeting customers’ demands. Lovett
tells us a cloud solution was therefore
the only option.
“For us the bottom line was that
we knew we needed an awful lot of
storage, a lot of flexibility and an awful
lot of scalability because we don’t know
exactly how it will work out. We don’t
know how people will interact with
it. What’s more, we have this crucial
cloud storage service on the site and
we had to make sure that worked.”
Benefits
Lovett says the flexibility and scalability
that a cloud solution allows is ideal for
a start-up.
“In order to attempt to be competitive
in the market that we’re in, using the
cloud gives us our only chance of doing
that. For a start-up that can’t afford to
buy racks and racks of servers before
we’ve established the demand and
what we need, this solution is perfect.”
We needed a lot of storage, flexibility and
scalability.
“ “
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Industry:Web consultancy
Application of the Cloud:Scalability
Building BlocksBuilding Blocks is expanding its
portfolio of clients, working with them to
improve their online presence. Many of
those clients come to Building Blocks
unaware of how big an impact the
agency’s expertise will have on web
traffic, and are reluctant to commit to
a large spend on equipment before
seeing evidence of the business need.
Building Blocks boasts a strong
relationship with its clients; staying
informed of their changing needs.
Jonathan Whiteside, co-founder
of Building Blocks identified an
increasingly common need amongst
his clients for scalability and performance
of their web solutions to cope with
potential future growth.
Whiteside explains: “What they wanted
was a strategy that allowed them to very
easily grow and cost-effectively grow to
cope with that demand.”
Solution
With his clients’ needs of flexibility and
scalability in mind, Whiteside looked to
a cloud-based solution that he could
recommend with confidence.
“We wanted the ability to provide more
power and scale solutions quickly when
we needed to.”
“UKFast has a very good understanding
of what a private cloud is. Additionally,
we standardise on the Microsoft Stack
at Building Blocks and the knowledge
that UKFast has of Microsoft cloud-
based solutions – particularly the
newer ones – was unrivalled. We
couldn’t find that with any other hosting
provider. Their unique insight swayed
it for us.”
Benefits
The benefits of a private cloud solution
have been highlighted when clients
have demanded more disc space
or capacity, and when clients have
experienced high peaks in traffic.
“We’ve been able to scale up much
more quickly and much more cost-
effectively,” says Whiteside.
“We have been able to provision
more space or more capacity quicker
by going through a normal support
procedure rather than having to
justify a business case and how the
new equipment is going to fit into the
architecture and discuss where we are
going to put the servers.”
It’s also proven its worth for clients
launching campaign-driven marketing
that is susceptible to traffic spikes.
“Instead of having to outlay for the
provision of new equipment and new
servers when they know the campaign
is only running for three months, they
can scale up, pay for that particular
amount of time, then scale back to their
normal amounts.”
We wanted the ability to provide more power and scale solutions quickly when we needed to.“ “
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Take the Next Step
The cloud has been recognised as a versatile business tool, which can help align IT capabilities to business strategy. Flexibility
and cost savings remain the key motivations for the cloud according to the Cloud Industry Forum, indicating that organisations are
becoming more dynamic, collaborative and cost-efficient.
The cloud offers tremendous savings in user connectivity, data storage, application usage and more. Many of our clients have seen
noticeable differences in their business processes and bottom lines. AT&T predicts that by 2020, large companies in the UK that
use cloud computing could garner £1.2 billion of savings10. However, it is essential to understand there are different types of cloud
hosting solutions available and the varying levels of security, flexibility and capacity that accompany them.
Download part 2 of this report to gain crucial insight into applications of each platform and find out which cloud would best suit
your business and align to your business objectives. Also gain access to more of our client case studies.
Page 10
CERTIFIED
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Copyright 2012 UKFast.net Ltd.
Your Future is Our Business
References
1. http://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2011/12/01/the-cloud-in-2012-maturing-but-with-growing-pains/
2. http://www.cloudindustryforum.org/
3. http://vorsite.com/blog/?p=575
4. http://jess3.com/small-business-infographic/
5. http://www.itpro.co.uk/638092/the-it-pro-report-cloud-computing-in-2012
6. http://dotnet.sys-con.com/node/2095135
7. http://winfographics.com/tagged/cloud
8. http://www.thecloudinfographic.com/2012/01/07/cloud-computing-trends-in-europe.html
9. http://www.thecloudinfographic.com/2011/12/12/ahead-in-the-cloud.html
10. http://www.centerbeam.com/news/Cloud-Computing/BBC-host-said-cloud-isnt-a-passing-fancy---CBOID89591568-
GRPOID50590013/View.aspx
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