The sky’s the limit

According to Claranet's third annual cloud adoption survey, released in October, more than two thirds (69%) of IT decision makers believe that cloud computing is as secure as, or more secure than, on premises IT. What's more, that viewpoint is a groundswell of opinion that is rapidly gathering pace. In last year's survey, for instance, just over half (54%) of respondents believed this to be the case, demonstrating that confidence and trust in cloud-based services have sharply increased over the past year. Which is no surprise to Martin Saunders, product director at Claranet. Increasingly, he points out, manufacturers are putting to one side their earlier doubts about the cloud, and are seeing that a move away from on-premise deployment actually presents them with an opportunity. "Businesses understand that they definitely need what IT can give them – enterprise applications, e-mail, Internet, EDI and web services," he points out. "But owning and operating it themselves is a distraction, and a distraction that is expensive and time-consuming at that." In short, he argues, that expense and time and effort can be better deployed elsewhere within the business – funding capital expenditure to boost key manufacturing capabilities, for instance, and in developing new products, new applications, and new markets. Better still, he adds, while expenditure on on-premise IT capability tends to come in large, expensive 'lumps' in the shape of new servers and bundles of software licences, IT applications and infrastructure hosted in the cloud can often be sourced on a 'pay as you go' basis, thereby smoothing cash flow. But if the arguments in favour of the cloud are clear, says Saunders, what is much less clear is how to go about accessing the cloud in the best, safest, most secure and cost-effective manner. The problem? Seemingly overnight, he points out, an industry has sprung up, offering various assorted cloud capabilities. And, he stresses, the simple fact of the matter is that a set of cloud-based services that might be appropriate for a small retailer or office are certainly not appropriate for a manufacturer. "Industrial users need cloud providers to up their game and provide industrial standards of service – and often that doesn't happen," he explains. "For a manufacturer, the bar is much higher, and they're wanting a broader and more robust set of capabilities." Consider, he says, a manufacturer wanting to outsource as much as possible to the cloud – a reasonable enough requirement, given that the more functionality can be moved to the Cloud, the greater the savings, and the better the business continuity preparedness, uptime, and other associated benefits. "When you look at what that wholesale move to the cloud actually calls for, it's a complex mix of skills and capabilities," he says. "There's a requirement for skills in hosting, managed services provision, networks, and application management. And when you're supplying those skills to a manufacturing business, they must be to mission-critical standards of delivery. It isn't a business for amateurs." Clearly, Claranet itself is no amateur. Founded in 1996, and now one of Europe's leading managed services providers, Claranet has operations in six European countries, supporting over 6,700 business customers through 16 offices and 20 data centres. What's more, adds Saunders, Claranet does indeed offer the required mix of skills and capabilities. Beginning as an internet service provider 17 years ago, the firm now offers a 'full service' integrated network and hosting capability – the cloud, in short. Taken together, it's a service offering that is no stranger to awards for technical innovation, excellence and customer service – awards most recently topped-off by being recognised by analyst house Gartner as being as a leader in its field, and rated in Gartner's 'magic quadrant' (for European Managed Hosting) for combining excellence in execution with completeness of vision. So what exactly is Claranet's vision for the future of managed services and the cloud – especially as it relates to manufacturers? Simply put, says Saunders, it's around not underestimating the art of the possible. The cloud, he repeats, is a game-changer, permitting businesses to punch above their weight, by equipping them with a world-class IT platform, while freeing them from the burden of managing and maintaining that platform. And for proof, he points to the firm's work for its customer BETE, an East Sussex-based distributor of industrial spray nozzles and other fluid handling components, which kits them and combines them into sub-assemblies and spray bars. Back in 2011, the management of BETE's IT infrastructure and applications were spread across two providers: One company managing the firm's servers and network, another company managing the applications – e-mail, CRM, inventory management, and invoicing and accounting. It was a split that had originally made sense, according to BETE's marketing manager, Ivan Zytynski, but one which was proving increasingly unworkable. "Increasingly, it made sense as a business for us to have the applications, the servers and the network connectivity all under a single provider," he says. "We didn't want a 'blame culture', with each provider blaming the other: We wanted a sole provider, tasked with providing us with the IT capabilities that we required." But in talking to potential providers, BETE found a dichotomy in terms of provision. Companies that were strong in networking, in short, were less able when it came to managed hosting. Likewise, companies which were strong in managed hosting typically struggled with the network side of things. Quality of infrastructure "We needed strengths in both – and happily, Claranet offered just that," says Zytynski. "Claranet stood out because of the quality of its infrastructure, including its fully integrated MPLS network, as well as the fact that they obviously understood the imperative of maximum uptime to our business." Initially, Claranet managed BETE's physical servers. But over time, these have largely been replaced by Claranet's own cloud servers, and today there is just one physical server remaining. Shortly, says Zytynski, this too will be replaced, and moved to the cloud. BETE's experiences regarding the robustness of a cloud-based infrastructure certainly corroborate the views expressed in Claranet's annual cloud adoption survey. "It's just incredibly reliable," says Zytynski. "By any realistic standard of measurement, we have had 100% uptime. Frankly, you would not expect that level of reliability with a traditional business model of in house, premises based IT; to get that from a remote working platform is quite astonishing." Back at Claranet, Saunders sees BETE's wholesale departure to the cloud as part of a growing trend. The implementation has been shortlisted for an award for the best private cloud project of the year, he explains, and hopes are high that the submission will win. "Properly executed, a move to the cloud makes sound strategic sense," he sums up. "The challenge lies in those words 'properly executed'. And accepting that challenge means finding a cloud provider capable of delivering that high standard of execution – not just once, at the point of implementation, but 24/7 on an ongoing basis."