There is a lot to like and learn from the Cloud Communications Book 2010, which was just published last week, especially for followers of this portal. First, some background, and then I’ll explain further. This eBook is a project undertaken by colleague Thomas Howe, who is well known in Web 2.0 circles, especially for creating enterprise and SMB voice mashups. The eBook was created to complement Thomas’ Cloud Communications Summit that ran in January during the ITExpo.
His vision was to compile a collection of essays from a wide spectrum of cloud communications thought leaders, and they are presented in this eBook. True to the spirit of Web 2.0, this was a collaborative process that worked very well, and can be downloaded free of charge at their website. With cloud communications being an early stage trend, this eBook is a valuable resource, not just to show what’s coming, but to educate the broader market about what’s possible.
Aside from being free, I would urge you to get this book and read it, as there are several positive takeaways for UC. The book includes two contributions from the UC Strategies team – Don Van Doren and myself – but many other perspectives are worth noting for what cloud communications means for both end users as well as service providers.
The first thing to note is how much attention this topic is getting relative to actual market adoption. As with all new technologies – especially disruptive ones – the hype can create unrealistic expectations that ensure failure. Sometimes the hype simply sets the bar a bit too high, and success takes a lot longer. VoIP is a great example of that. I can’t think of another recent technology with so many near-death experiences, but is clearly here to stay at this point. Other technologies live up to the hype and gain rapid adoption, such as Skype or Twitter. Of course it helps that these particular examples are essentially free, but they have quickly become part of our everyday toolkit, and I don’t see anything coming to displace them.
It’s fair to say that UC has not taken over the world as quickly as we’d like, but we know the trend is positive. My point here is that the message from these essays is similar for the cloud. Both the cloud and UC are big steps forward in their respective spaces, and in time, they will carry the day. Too many forces are aligned now for the cloud not to succeed, and it would be shortsighted to view these essays as hype. Some fundamental changes are coming with cloud communications, and for UC to ride this wave, you need to take in this broader set of perspectives.
To prime you for reading these essays, I’ll touch on two core themes that impact UC – one for service providers and one for end users. For service providers, the cloud represents both threat and opportunity. On the plus side, it now becomes easier to offer hosted services, with enough flexibility to customize UC solutions for specific verticals. Instead of having a generic UC offer, carriers can tailor a set of applications for each type of customer set. For example, retail customers may need UC features that support e-commerce and high volumes of customer interactions. Healthcare customers may need solutions that support large file transfers and compliance with privacy regulations. The key to making all this work is having an underlying ecosystem of developers who can create cloud-based applications quickly and cost-effectively. This is what creates the agility that service providers will need to compete in Web 2.0 world.
Conversely, the threat arises from the fact that anyone with sufficient data center capacity can become a cloud-based service provider. Within the communications world, Google is the ultimate example of this, but as noted in the eBook, outsiders like Amazon are equally capable of getting into the game. I don’t envision Amazon competing directly with Verizon to offer hosted UC, but they represent what will be possible as cloud communications matures. The value proposition of a service provider will become based less on connectivity and more on the applications and end users experiences they can enable. I would argue that Amazon knows a lot more about delivering a great customer experience than any service provider, and when it comes to business applications, UC is the best vehicle available for doing this with enterprises and SMBs.
In terms of end users, there is a growing acceptance for outsourcing IT, and the cloud takes this to a new level of possibilities. Businesses have long had their share of good reasons not to do this, but the pace of change has become too much for all but the most leading-edge IT teams. The Internet has a lot to do with this, as we have more tools than ever to communicate, and the volume of information is increasing exponentially. IT departments simply face an endless treadmill of upgrading their network, as well as maintaining and managing all the data. The onus falls on them for end users to not drown in information, at which point IT becomes more of a liability than an asset.
Nobody wants that scenario, and as businesses come around to the notion that communications is a strategic activity, the rationale for embracing the cloud gets stronger. This takes us to CEBP, which is cited in the eBook. The strategic value of communications really comes with CEBP, and that plays to UC’s sweet spot. For businesses that connect these dots and understand how it impacts the end user experience and overall productivity, the storyline is pretty strong.
In short, by hosting UC in the cloud, businesses can better allocate IT resources to integrate UC with CEBP. This allows them to get the best return on their IT investment, and shifts the burden of managing the exploding need for data to the cloud. Some people call this removing friction, and I would agree. After reviewing the eBook, it’s hard not to conclude that cloud communications is going to drive innovation, and that most businesses are at risk by continuing to manage all IT functions themselves. UC has already been adapted in the cloud, but the eBook provides many reasons to believe that we’ve only seen the beginning for what is possible.