What's the right cloud service for your business?

More specifically, for the first time organisations no longer need to make investments based on predictions - with the right-fit platform they can make ongoing scale decisions based directly on results and facts.

TRP: How much more work is there left to be done with developing good cloud services?

DM: The building blocks are definitely in place, but what's outstanding is how the cloud is packaged and made more accessible to existing organisations, not just start-ups.

The uptake rate of cloud computing seen with the general public can be attributed to the lack of legacy components and the simplicity of the task - the migration extends solely to transferring contacts, photos and maybe a handful of electronic documents.

For businesses, an analysis of risk must be clearly outlined and the journey mapped - it is here where the work needs to be done. Service providers maintain an arsenal of expertise and this is where organisations should look for support - engage and build a partnership with providers that lasts not only during the initial cloud migration but through its evolution.

TRP: What's the future of cloud computing?

DM: As virtualisation (the essence of cloud computing) extends further down the stack to storage, networking and the data centre as a whole, the reach of cloud computing will continue to extend up to end-user computing.

Already we've seen the cloud ray-gun pointed at desktops through the success of DaaS, however some apps are still tied to a specific technology platform.

The growing maturity of cloud standards and protocols will blur the lines between platforms and we'll see accelerated growth of cloud integrator, allowing all clouds to be delivered on a commodity basis. With this predicted uptake I would expect to see less of a reliance on the capabilities of end-user hardware and instead devices becoming visual conduits to centralised applications.

TRP: What are the advantages of multi-sourcing?

DM: Multi-sourcing in any industry favours the consumer and therefore drives competition, forces suppliers to rethink their strategy and ultimately breathes innovation. This led us from the mainframe to client/ server to the cloud – so it's definitely a good thing.

From a customer perspective the difficulty is in comparing service providers that claim to offer the same services – like comparing apples with apples! The overhead exists in ensuring the left hand integrates with the right – do organisations manage the multiple sources themselves or partner with an integrator who can act as the trusted advisor on their behalf?

In addition, it is likely that cloud integrators will drive more competitive rewards both around services and cost.

Irrespective of ownership through a third party integrator or in-house, in order for a business to leverage the full benefits, they must source a service which meets the needs of the specific task. One cloud, be it public, private or hybrid does not fit one business, so it's about taking advantage of the choices available and combining them to work for your business.