Everybody is a Winner Baby that is the Truth !

Everybody is a Winner Baby was a popular song many decades ago and  is true for Cloud Computing.

Everybody wins in the Cloud, the service provider, the application developer, the network provider, the end point device maker and all the innovators who come up with a new idea everyday in the cloud.

Cloud is about Innovation and Excellence with a small investment to get started and if your idea is big enough you are all set to be a Winner.

When you compare the capital invested to the rewards by companies like Twitter and FB the  poster boys of today your realize that no other investment has provided humongous valuation for such a small investment, The valuation hinges on the innovative ideas and excellence of delivery and savvy marketing to the end consumer.

Everyone is a Winner in Cloud Computing ! 

In cloud computing  you signed for Salesforce or Google or Zoho  for free and got hooked and   realized you could be technology illiterate and still  add more value to your business and yourself. 

The winner is the end user of computing who uses cloud for their music, exercise, health monitoring, sharing, pictures, videos , and crowd sourcing, suddenly collaboration is a breeze.

No rigorous training needed for the cloud and bulky manual as passe; the cloud applications are  intuitive & they delight the end user and also allow them to customize the application based on their moods and fancy.

Cloud Computing has made access to the Global Digital Highway easy with almost no barriers, causing a headache for Governments to regulate their citizens.  But the growth of social media goes on unabated and  it is the medium of communication in many countries where other forms of media are controlled. 

The advent of Mobility too has changed the way we live and work and interact as global citizens and it may be difficult to stop this growth.

Cloud has transformed into the new avatar of SMAC - Social Mobile Analytics and Cloud bringing in more power to the digital user.{Read http://cloudbus.blogspot.in/2013/11/smac-and-transformation-of-customer.html}

Every person who is part of the cloud eco-system has benefited, whether it is connecting with old school mates, changing the way government thinks and acts, sharing with family or even inviting your friends for a party and sharing the photos. There is no part of our social fabric which is not touched by cloud including virtual engagements, marriages and separations.

Cloud company valuations are astronomical and we await with bated breath for the next big game changer, and these are not people in pin striped suits but rather school kids, college dropouts and any citizen of the world.

No wonder "Everybody is a Winner Baby that is the Truth" in the world of Cloud Computing !

Business Can Benefit with Cloud Computing

There are many great stories of Information Technology Business on the cloud who have made millions of dollars with a great idea, these are companies who have built solutions on the cloud and benefited by a low cost  launch of their business and almost no entry barrier to succeed in their vision for changing the world with cloud computing.

This article is for another type of Business, those  who can use computing as a business enabler and benefit with automation from conceptualization to execution to sustenance of their start-up business whatever it may be.

Let us consider start-up business in the non technology traditional economy, simple businesses like engineering fabrication, distribution, cash collection, retailing, food and beverages, and any other start-up whose leadership has an idea and the entrepreneurial zeal.

What cloud computing solutions can Business use for their business efficiency? today many Business start their computing journey on the internet with a static website and some great graphics and jazz.

Cloud Computing is like a TAXI, you get in when you want and get out when you are done and only pay for use of the taxi and not for the cost of the taxi or even the salary of the driver !

Here is how they could do it  in a better way with almost zero cost, a Facebook page, a Twitter handle, a LinkedIn company page, an office productivity suite from Google or Zoho or similar, and the start-up is ready for its journey in the cloud.

If the start-up is creative they can also create a blog about what is happening in their company.  Most of these services are free for a small user base with enough functionality and computing power for the business needs.

Subscribe to a project management tool, an accounting/costing package or even specialized packages for the business like CAD/CAM software  and the start up is as well equipped with computing solutions which normally is only available to  Fortune 500 companies. The business could even use a CRM if they wish, though it may not need email campaigns, and they can actually put together a simple CRM with Google or Zoho again for almost nothing and on their own and use the plain out telephone for customer campaigns.

Imagine a specialized take-away  dishing out food based on dietary and religious restrictions, The business  can use a free CRM in the cloud which can track customers and their days of fasting and festive days and dietary preferences and even foods that they are allergic to.

The Facebook page posting with its LIKE button can spread the good word around about their wonderful add on services and the quality of their food.

Imagine putting together a simple supply chain management solution to optimize purchasing from a free solution in the cloud.  Throw in a tracking solution of the food delivery by use of mobile phones and you have an optimized routing.  Hey can the paper man improve his paper delivery in  your area, can the milkman too do that.. maybe.... There is always an opportunity for new people with better delivery and quality to move into traditional businesses. One step further use a mobile phone credit card payment or mobile money solutions and you are all set to optimize your cash collection without the headache of handling paper money.

So if you are in a business get started on using application in the cloud to improve your business productivity and efficiency and eager to enjoy the profits start using the solutions offered in the cloud.  The future of computing is the cloud and every Business can be a winner by use of cloud computing solutions.

Cloud Computing and Business School Academics

Cloud Computing has been changing the global business landscape and the Academics in Business Schools find it a challenge to keep pace.
Today most of the successful businesses are in the cloud, be it Amazon, Facebook, Twitter , Google, blogs, Rackspace,  the list is endless. These companies have created more wealth in less then a decade compared to the stalwarts in the old economy.
Mobility strategy changes every quarter and yesterday's icons have to jump-start all over with a leap of   faith that their solutions will be adopted by the consumer.
Social media has flattened the world and the distances have just shrunk, solutions like YouTube has changed the way we can learn, Wikipedia has become the world's largest and best knowledge portal.
The challenge for Business School academia is how to prepare their students in this fast changing world .
The students have access to knowledge in their finger tips which challenges their professor  and yesterdays business paradigms are no longer valid in today's digital economy.

Academia will be challenged by the pace of  Cloud Computing Economics!

A long time ago HBR case studies used to be the staple diet, but today the world is moving faster and Business schools offer their students real case studies of business which are failing or growing, most of them using cloud as the vehicle.
In the new digital economy the business school courses will need to be made shorter with more digital teaching, mastering topics like Big Data, Analytics, Cloud Computing Economics, Algorithmic trading strategy , digital business strategy, social media  plus more digital economy concepts for business is  the need of the hour.
As I look around I see many business schools losing the plot and falling on the wayside.
cloud computing is truly the catalyst of the Digital revolution in Business but in a time frame of weeks rather then decades.
We need to rethink the Business School Academics and  start working on curriculum that can keep pace with economic changes brought about by the new digital economy.
Business schools need to ride the clouds objectively in grooming future digital business leaders in their business schools who will add value to the global economy.

Arranged Marriages in the Cloud

India is a nation which is progressive and has a large middle class population who enjoy the benefits of this fast growing economy. But when it comes to marriage most of India relies on Arranged Marriages which binds communities together with similar traditions, language, dietary preferences, dressing , attitudes and more.
In the old days when communities were more local and not widespread Indians had the Matchmaker who would bring families together through marriages.
A good description of the matchmaker is the song from the movie Fiddler on the Roof :

Matchmaker, Matchmaker,
Make me a match,
Find me a find,
catch me a catch
Matchmaker, Matchmaker
Look through your book,
And make me a perfect match
(courtesy : http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/fiddlerontheroof/matchmaker.htm)

Indian arranged marriages Wikepedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arranged_marriage_in_the_Indian_subcontinent

With an Indian diaspora with global dispersion the Indian arranged marriage has become a challege to deliver.

The finalization of the Indian arranged marriage is  the engagement ceremony  followed by the lavish wedding a few months later, a cooling period between the two  partners to make sure it is all going to work out.

Harmony is essential for Indian Marriages. 

I was in an engagement last week of an Indian arranged marriage and the girl and boy were in fine spirits. They discovered each other on a matrimonial website (maybe hosted on the cloud) and it matched all the criteria set out by them and their families for their future life partners  This was the first step of identification of prospective life partners.
Then it was the Facebook connection, the chatting  and the sharing of the photographs. The girl and boy met only about a week before the engagement. The boy was in the Silicon valley  and the girl was in Mumbai.
But  they  spent hours chatting with each other to make sure they were meant for each other and  their marriage would work for them, the outcome  of weeks of online socializing and online commitment was the engagement ceremony.
The boy sang a song  which was the clincher for the acceptance from the girl, wow how did he do that with 10000 miles of separation. When I asked the couple about how they could sing to each other, hey gave me a quizzical look, have you not used Skype.
The Indian arranged marriage has all its tools for its trade in the internet, the matrimonial website, Facebook, Google for discovery and Skype, everything that is needed for two hearts to meet and culminate in matrimony.

Thank you cloud computing for keeping the Indian Matrimonial process effective in a digital world.

Cloud Computing Transformation in 2013

As we ring out 2012 which had its share of success and tribulation in cloud computing.
We can ring in 2013 as the year Cloud Computing will  transform into an everyday utility like electricity.
The Cloud will cease to be a novelty or a laboratory, it is for real and it has proved it can deliver reliably in 2012 despite the pessimists who  kept picking on every cloud disruption rather then seeing the totality of the benefits.
2013 will be the year when the cloud will be the utility that transform and drives the economy in a tough and recessionary year.
There will be large cloud utilities formed by merger and acquisition of fragmented cloud server providers and we we will have companies like Microsoft, HP, Dell, IBM, Cisco, EMC  embracing the cloud for their survival and relevance in the technology landscape.
More then 250 companies in the Fortune 500 can move to the cloud today based on their nature of their business and focus on growing their business in a recessionary 2013  rather then burn capital on their in-house computing infrastructure.
There will be companies that will emerge similar to EDS  who will sign contracts to take care of the computing needs of the business by acquiring their technology assets and people and migrate computing to the cloud. Both will benefit and grow with this synergistic relationship the allow them to  focus on their core competence in a recessionary economy.
The CEO & CFO aided by the CTO will lead the journey to cloud with the help of  the legal pundits who will be needed to legally mitigate the  cloud computing risks before the transition into the  cloud.
We will see a Ma Bell  emerge in cloud computing services, one possibility could be the merger of the year (if it every happens) when AWS merges with Microsoft, the technology and marketing synergies will be a Winner for all stake holders including end users.

Just like Thomas Edison's innovations saw the light of the day through GE and delivery of electricity and appliances to the common man.
WE will see a similar dynamo emerging in 2013 in the world of cloud computing which will transform the way we consume computing and disrupt the very way we compute.
FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google were the teasers, the main course in cloud computing will be in 2013.
Let us prepare ourselves and to enjoy the new order of computing in 2013 and beyond lead by the cloud.
Happy New Year.

Footnote : 
Thomas Edison  http://www.ge.com/company/history/thomas-edison
 http://www.ge.com/company/history/1878-1904
Ma Bell 
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_System 

Cloud Computing at SPJIMR Business School

Today  I had the honor to speak on Cloud Computing to the MBA Students  at India's premier Business School SP Jain (www.spjimr.org).
With an average work experience of more then six years in the IT industry these students are here on a sabbatical to hone their management skills.

S.P.Jain Institute of Management & Research Mumbai 

The students already use Google Services and they are already mature end users of cloud computing.
Many of the students had done great technology projects and were concerned about the fact that the Cloud was a disruptive technology and a game changer.
They  were keen to know what would be the future of the IT services industry in India. I suggested they follow the stock prices of the Indian IT companies :-) to get a better insight on the future of these companies.
At the end of the session the students were  keen to explore a career in Cloud Computing and they will add value to the organizations' that hire them.
It was great interacting with the students and I applaud the faculty of the Business School for introducing Cloud computing in the students academic curriculum.