The Malta Independent on Sunday
How trust helped Maltese business embrace cloud computing
A few weeks ago, Microsoft reported encouraging growth in what is becoming its most important business: cloud computing. “It all boils down to trust,” says CEO of Databyte as he recalls how five years ago in Malta, trust was the main barrier to cloud comp
Microsoft’s achievement says a lot about how the company which has focused on the cloud to lead it into the post-PC era. In fact, it was this growth in its cloud business which drove the bulk of Microsoft’s success over the latest quarter, solidifying its second-place position in the market. The unit containing its Azure cloud computing division made $7.8 billion in the company’s latest quarter. And Microsoft’s Office 365 product, which takes its signature Office software into the cloud, saw a 41 per cent increase in revenue.
“Following Microsoft’s philosophy, Databyte looks at trust as a key differentiator in its business relationships with clients,” said Frederick Micallef, CEO of DataByte.
“At a time when rapid business transformation is being driven by digital technology, customers will always look for a trusted partner, someone with a business model that is aligned with their long-term interests, a partner who can deliver deep technical innovation and who holds an understanding of the responsibility that goes along with this innovation.”
“I look at cloud technology as a huge opportunity for us to provide a stronger and more defining service to our customers. Up to a few years ago, people in our business were very diffident of this new technology at which they looked suspiciously. They were more concerned and deluded that the potential associated risks and dangers could outweigh the benefits. We read through all these fears with optimism and foresight.”
“We believed in the cloud and in its enormous potential so much so that it was five years ago when we decided that all new software to be developed and sold by DataByte would be cloud-based, by default. Looking back, it was a very bold decision because we were taking our service offer to a totally new level at a point in time when out there in the market, just the term ‘cloud computing’ would immediately put people on the defensive – because they lacked knowledge of what cloud was really all about. We coupled all this with a workforce of our own that eagerly embraced with us this decision and who were prepared to set the pace for embracing these new technology toolkits.”
“The biggest barrier to cloud computing was trust. And this was naturally understandable because one cannot trust something one knows very little about. People therefore, were wary of putting their data in a system or dimension that was relatively unknown. However, the interesting thing that happened was that several local operators started setting up co-location infrastructure sites to offer large network setups so that business data could be decentralised from organisations and transferred to their datacentres by literally renting space and resources in their server environments. The result was that people started learning how to trust remote infrastructure.”
“It was a learning process that gradually led to a change in attitude. Businesses started understanding how the cloud was nothing but a giant server in a global jurisdiction. Once people understood this, their mistrust not only decreased dramatically but their reasoning was inversed. Businesses started to ask themselves ‘what is more secure? My server room with a small team of engineers or a configuration governed by hundreds of qualified experts?’ When we spoke to the same clients three to four years down the line, we found out how their outlook on cloud computing had changed completely. Today after this shift they seem to want nothing else. They just want cloud by default.”
Today, most businesses who have migrated to the cloud know the advantages they have been reaping. The cloud entails no installation of hardware and its laborious configuration and tuning, cloud allows access to your data from anywhere through an internet connection, it keeps its own backup, it is a system that is managed by large teams of engineers, involves no initial outlay or investment in physical servers and saving on a lot of expense related to power consumption while eliminating the need of having your own people to manage your servers, with all the risks involved.
Another important aspect is scalability. Cloud service providers ensured that as your demand increases, your infrastructure can be scaled up accordingly so that it will cater for your business’ increasing demand for more storage space and pro- cessing power. In fact, cloud enables rapid delivery of new infrastructure while ensuring that users only pay for what they use. Indeed, one of the strengths of cloud is the consumption model – where you only pay for what you are running without the need to worry about running out of capacity.
Cloud-based systems allow business to consider growing further through the introduction of new products backed by the knowledge that increased business can be supported with bigger cloudbased infrastructures. A case in point is DataByte’s imminent introduction of a new HR document management and HR calendar system that will be launched soon and which forms part of their successful workforce cloud HR suite. This service is heavily dependent on a robust, secure and scalable cloud platform.
Cloud computing is rapidly changing the dynamics of how and where people organise their IT infrastructures. Businesses need to consider the cloud as part of a sensible and risk-managed approach. Because businesses remain responsible of their own data and the measures they take to protect it. Experience and our close work with clients have been an opportunity to put fears surrounding the cloud to rest and we have been sharing our experiences of making the move to cloud computing with all our clients.
Five years ago, certain serious concerns surrounding the cloud prevailed but today, the situation is reversed. People resisting cloud are those that do not yet permit a migration to the cloud because of restrictive policies or due to recently upgrades of their physical Data Centres. Within a span of time, we will already be looking at the next level through which cloud is made even more secure. Who knows perhaps through blockchain? Some food for thought.