Agreed--we're really just talking about outsourcing here. There are right ways and wrong ways to handle outsourcing. Everyone jumped on the outsourcing bandwagon years ago, and as you say there were horror stories that resulted. But there were also success stories, and the reality is that outsourcing is a great option in certain circumstances.
For what it's worth, we've been studying outsourcing quite a bit in school. I'm wrapping up my Master's in MIS, which falls under Florida State University's College of Business--so the emphasis of the program is strong on the business component and light on the technology component. Outsourcing is covered in a number of classes, and in particular there's a strong focus on determining when it's a good idea and when it's not (and the right and wrong ways to implement it when it's a good idea). This includes case studies of both successful and failed outsourcing projects. My long-winded point being, hopefully outsourcing success will improve in the future as today's executives come to better understand its weaknesses as well as its strengths. John -----Original Message----- From: Carl Houseman [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 2010 7:47 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Cloud Computing (Was: DNS Server service shuts down shortly after the DC boots) Cloud computing is just the next version of "outsourcing". So how did outsourcing work out? Lately I'm hearing of companies insourcing jobs that didn't do so well when outsourced. Learning experience achieved, albeit at great expense. But will this new-found knowledge stick, and will it be applied to similar situations in the future? As I said, over-enthusiastic execs at some companies will see the cloud as a panacea for their problems and jump in before realizing it's not right for them. I don't know that predicting that future here will help to make some think twice, but I feel better for having said it. :) Carl -----Original Message----- From: John Hornbuckle [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 2010 7:37 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Cloud Computing (Was: DNS Server service shuts down shortly after the DC boots) For all its flaws, I don't see cloud computing as a passing fad. It's not likely to go away, so the best we can do is to work to improve it. I can tell you that my own organization is a big fan of it. Why? Well, we're a school district. Our core competency isn't the maintenance of complex IT system. We don't have the staff with the knowledge to maintain such systems, and we don't have the money to hire that staff. Our staffing levels have actually shrunk due to budget cuts, while the number of various systems and applications we're using is continuing to grow. Every new app means more storage space, more backup job complexity, more hardware utilization, more support requirements, more time troubleshooting, more time upgrading--the list goes on and on. So what can we do? Outsource the maintenance of as many systems as possible to companies who specialize in that type of work (so they can almost always do it better than us) and who gain economies of scale (so they can almost always do it cheaper than us). Put the app in the cloud, and let someone else worry about things like backups, upgrades, and support. And having it web-based has the added benefit of there being no client-side software for us to have to worry about. Reliability hasn't been a factor for us with our cloud-based apps. Our Internet connection is pretty reliable. If it goes down, we have alternate means of connecting to our most critical apps. Security? Well, the best we can do there is to have a good contract stipulating our requirements and the consequences of security breaches. I'm the most advanced tech in our organization, but I'm not a security expert--I'm a technology generalist, not a specialist. That means these companies can handle security AT LEAST as well as we can, and often better. It's not right for every organization and every application. But for us, cloud computing offers significant benefits. We're leaning more and more on it all the time. John Hornbuckle MIS Department Taylor County School District www.taylor.k12.fl.us -----Original Message----- From: Kurt Buff [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 2010 11:36 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Re: DNS Server service shuts down shortly after the DC boots Oh, yeah. Somehow, though, it seems to me as if 'the cloud' violates the CIA triangle of security. At the very least, a) availability is compromised (if you don't have Internet connectivity, among other things), b) integrity is compromised (new ways of breaking out of VMs to the underlying host, and you don't know who you're sharing a physical host with, not to mention issues with network traffic from the various VMs on a physical host being sniffed.) Color me deeply skeptical. On Tue, Mar 9, 2010 at 17:34, Carl Houseman <[email protected]> wrote: > Seems the 'cloud' is the new buzzword for how we're going to increase > profits next quarter. The cloud will save us! The cloud will reduce our > expensive fixed costs! Has Dilbert done something on the cloud yet? If > > not, it's just a matter of time. > > > > From: David Lum [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 2010 5:00 PM > To: NT System Admin Issues > Subject: RE: DNS Server service shuts down shortly after the DC boots > > > > True, but I’ll use OpenDNS way before using Google or MS DNS servers… > > > > The cloud the cloud…everything is cloud around my office with exec’s > …“SharePoint’s broke and we have no expertise here…move it to the cloud! > Exchange, Live Communications Server, ship –‘em all out!” > > > > From: Carl Houseman [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 2010 1:26 PM > To: NT System Admin Issues > Subject: RE: DNS Server service shuts down shortly after the DC boots > > > > Not everyone wants to depend on DNS services 'in the cloud' even if they're > free... NOTICE: Florida has a broad public records law. Most written communications to or from this entity are public records that will be disclosed to the public and the media upon request. E-mail communications may be subject to public disclosure. ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ NOTICE: Florida has a broad public records law. Most written communications to or from this entity are public records that will be disclosed to the public and the media upon request. E-mail communications may be subject to public disclosure. ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
