Cloud Computing’s Skittish Early Adopters
Posted on May 14, 2009 |
As the computer industry moves toward software delivered as a service over the Web, one of the big, unresolved issues is how to handle sensitive company data. Concerns about keeping business information safe are at the crux of General Electric’s go-slow approach to cloud computing, as I wrote about in a May 14 story about Google’s planned expansion in enterprise software.
GE has been testing Google’s email and productivity software for a couple of years as a possible replacement for Microsoft’s Office suite. But the conglomerate is hedging its bet now by testing online applications from upstart Zoho, which lets GE store data on its own servers. Google Apps store data on Google's servers. “That's probably our biggest stumbling block to going bigger with Google," says GE Chief Technology Officer Greg Simpson.
GE still isn’t comfortable with the legal and computer security implications of storing email attachments and data from business applications that users pull into spreadsheets on another company’s servers, Simpson says.
Google and other companies proffering software in the cloud will need to make CIOs more comfortable with that proposition, and GE’s skittishness isn’t a hopeful sign. GE was an early marquee account for Google Apps, and potential customers pay attention to big, brand-name early adopters to assure themselves it’s safe to follow suit. “That’s something we need to prove” to CIOs, says Dave Girouard, president of Google’s enterprise business.
It's one reason Google has struck a partnership with online customer management software vendor Salesforce.com, whose CEO, Marc Benioff, has been an evangelist for moving software out of companies' data centers and into Salesforce's cloud. "A PR challenge of cloud computing is trust, and Marc helps with that," says Google engineering director Sam Schillace.
What’s your company’s comfort level with cloud computing software? And what have your executives and IT department done to address security and compliance concerns? Drop me a line, or post a comment here and let us know.
