SigmaWay Blog

It is often difficult for CIOs to determine the most appropriate strategy. Hardware vendors who are at the core of the cloud debate safeguard their own interests by hindering the transformation of their customers. This delay by the vendors has generated significant strategic problem for CIOs. However, organizations have started to realize that the actual problem is not with the cloud but the various non-programmatic inefficient devices that employ on it. Various companies have emanated that increases scalability, reduce cost and also improve performance. It is necessary for CIOs to look at the comprehensive strategy while handling these strategic issues. Strategies and tactics are coiled together therefore the tactics used must be in line with the strategies knowledgeable to the companies.

Read more at: https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/it-s-time-for-cios-to-separate-strategies-tactics

Many experts believe the model for Internet of Things (IoT) will be smart sensors communicating directly into machine clouds. Edge computing is a critical element needed for the advancement of the IoT. Here is 7 reasons why: 1. The edge is the muffler for data exhaust
2. Time can matter as edge processing reduces time spent.
3. Configurability is an important clause in shaping the future of IoT.
4. Implementing a secure IoT.
5. Governance will become more important.
6. The proper architecture will be needed to accommodate the market demands.
7. Cost as edge processing will be costlier in most cases.
To know more: http://www.thoughtsoncloud.com/2015/07/7-reasons-edge-computing-is-critical-to-iot/

Mobile computing has changed the consumers as well as enterprise landscapes. Due to this, businesses are being forced to develop mobile-based strategies, Business Process Management (BPM) software being one of them. BPM software allows companies to gain faster and better insights into the operations taken by it. It offers a bouquet of possibilities, the major ones being business model analysis, mobile features, social interactions and cloud technology.  This software is also useful for company workers having a mobile workforce. The software can be used to operate all aspects of the business. The adoption of this platform allows companies to achieve increased efficiency, productivity and future integration of business entities to the system. In order to fully utilize the benefits of this platform, it is suggested to focus on processes that are essentially important to the business. Read more at: https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/7922-why-companies-are-adopting-mobile-bpm

A company’s success depends largely on its staff. So, hiring the best talent and motivating them is a challenge being faced by the HR professionals. A data-driven HR department can make use of analytics to accomplish several tasks like identifying the factors that influence performance of employees, retention rates and using statistics to understand how salary is related to performance. When compared to other departments in an organization, the HR department lags behind when it comes to using analytics due to lack of analytical skills required to convert data into insights. With the advent of cloud technology analytics solution can be generated at a fester rate. Several cloud based companies are now providing in-built analytics solution in their software. Read more at: https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/hr-analytics-in-2015

With the ever-increasing number of mobile phone users, banks should adopt a mobile-first strategy. Traditional banks are facing a threat from tech giants who are now focusing on developing mobile-based financial services. To achieve a successful mobile-first strategy, banks should resort to agile methodology. With the help of agile methodology banks can solve many challenges that they are facing today. With mobile technology, data on customer needs and preferences will be generated which can be leveraged to gain insight on customers. Lean start-up techniques can be devised for creation of new services in uncertain situations. Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), a cloud technology solution can be used to develop mobile apps. Thus, a successful mobile-first strategy requires an IT infrastructure enabled to adopt agile methodology and can leverage data and analytics on a big scale with PaaS. Read more at: https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/7609-how-can-banks-achieve-a-successful-mobile-first-strategy

With the advent of Internet of Things (IoT), businesses can now avail additional ways of communicating with their customers. Sensors can be embedded in household appliances allowing consumers to control those which simplify household chores. Doctors nowadays can use apps to link patient statistics and provide personalized advice. Thus healthcare market makes ample use of IoT to provide better services. Security concern should be kept in mind as organizations are now deploying IoT in their enterprise. Organizations should also encourage application developers to maintain a certain standard to prevent poor codes from being deployed. Cloud technology, big data and analytics, mobile computing and social networking along with IoT makes a complete package. Read more at: https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/deploying-iot-in-the-enterprise

A global provider of SaaS based mobile life sciences customer relationship management solutions brings in new enhancement to its product StayinFront Touch RX(R) which can run both on iPad and Windows 8 tablet devices. This is very helpful since it provides better access to critical information and data resources which makes the work simpler and maximizes the impact while working with reps in field. It also enables access of sales territories, analytics and reports, track call activities streamline Time off Territory requests and execute field coaching reports. Viewing and tracking information and progress has become easier. They have more access to detailed information with better targeting and enhanced calendar which improves reps’ ability to more effectively manage and sell in their territories and eliminates the need to toggle between systems to see all scheduled appointments.

Stayin Front is a provider of full suite of mobile, cloud based field force effectiveness and CRM for consumer goods and life science organizations. Vast number of countries use it to make their work easier and to improve their business. Read more at: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/newest-release-of-stayinfront-crm-for-life-sciences-delivers-a-single-mobile-device-system-for-reps-and-managers-2014-07-14 

In the modern era a device which is not connected to the cloud just cannot complete the scenario. Today’s consumers seek a more optimized experience across their phone, tablet and PC and the combined power of Microsoft devices and services provides the best experience they can have today across all these.

To gather more insight read the article by James Bourne, Technology journalist, follow http://www.cloudcomputing-news.net/news/2014/may/08/cloud-computing-india-are-we-verge-explosion/  

If you are an IT Service Provider, then cloud technology is a potential area where you can look upon to increase your top line. ‘2014 IT Service Provider Benchmarking Survey’ by IT Business Management Software provider Autotask reports that cloud technology is the key driver for ITSPs. For the second year in row, cloud based apps were cited as the number one technology that’s changing clients’ expectations.

Keeping in tune with technological changes, as the demand for cloud services is increasing from clients, ITSPs can see cloud technology as an opportunity to grow their business. Compared to 2013, when increase in revenues was just five to fifteen percent, in 2014 this increase was reported between fifteen to twenty percent by service providers. This growing demand required extra workforce and ninety eight percent of the survey respondents reported increased hiring also.

Though cloud technology is proving advantageous, but security is a main concern and remains top priority for service providers’ clients. ITSPs can overcome this shortcoming by providing security support to their customers, thereby making it an area to grow their business.

To know more, please follow the link http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/cloud-technologies-drive-demand-service-providers-report

An article by Nick Razey, Co-founder and CEO of Next Generation Data, talks about the value in the IT chain that will migrate to the cloud providers leaving data centers to earn meagre commodity margins. A good data center service also needs well trained staff and embedded policies and procedures.  These parameters directly affect both the quality of the product and its price. For customers, the cost of transition from one data center to another is so high that they will not move their IT overnight if a new, better and cheaper option comes along. Instead they will wait for a natural break such as a technology refresh (and/or the end of a contract) before moving. As a result there are already hundreds (maybe thousands) of cloud service providers and more are emerging every day. Ironically it may be that cloud services are the next commodity and cloud providers will see their margins competed away while data centers remain relatively unaffected by the new IT world.

To know more visit http://www.cloudcomputing-news.net/news/2014/may/07/could-we-have-data-centres-commodity/ 

An article by Aimee Chanthadavong, tech journalist with ZDNet, talks about how businesses have focused aggressively on virtualization and automating private clouds so that information can be shared. She also mentioned about the transition from the mainframe which happened over a decade and thus moving to the third platform of IT is going to take a while because there's so much invested in the existing infrastructure. Businesses redefine their infrastructures and look at ways to free up their existing budget to fund new projects, such as creating new apps; it's also an opportunity for IT to be innovative again.

To know more visit http://www.zdnet.com/mobile-future-will-force-business-into-the-cloud-emc-7000029095/

The concept of transferring an existing platform to the cloud appears to have many businesses stumped, including those in the insurance industry. Cloud service providers like Microsoft, Oracle and VMware are not going to wait for the insurance company to make up their mind about it. So by the time they do, they could be restricted to having their data still on old hardware systems. But if the insurance industries do not move soon in enough into the cloud - whether that's adopting a private, public or hybrid model, there could be repercussions in the future as everybody could be worse off and face higher costs and risks of running old systems, and being noncompetitive.

 To gather more information about this aspect, follow Aimee Chanthadavong, tech journalist with ZDNet's, article link http://www.zdnet.com/insurance-industry-under-pressure-to-plug-into-the-cloud-7000026920/

Cloud computing enables companies to get agile, leverage infrastructure on demand, and run it like a utility. The cloud environment provides flexibility, scalability and continuous availability with expert services. Rapid prototyping and to solve business process through analysis can be easily done by having access to a cloud environment. While the benefits are many but, the public cloud does not fulfill the needs of individual organizations which need better privacy and data security. In public cloud, many clients can access virtualized services from the same pool of servers and resources, but in private cloud clients mainly access services from a distinct pool of physical computers. Nowadays many organizations opt for a middle way i.e. hybrid cloud solution to avoid disadvantages of private cloud. Please go through the link for more details: http://www.daywatcher.com/what-is-a-private-cloud/

easyJet, UK's largest and Europe's fourth largest airline, plans to enhance talent management practices, modernize reporting and analytics capabilities with the help of Workday Human Capital Management, a provider of enterprise cloud applications for human resources and finance. With Workday's unified application for human resources (HR) in the cloud, easyJet plans to enhance talent management practices and modernize reporting and analytics capabilities. In addition, since Workday analytics are built into the core of the application, easyJet will gain access to meaningful insights around key indicators such as cost, capacity, and capability of its workforce, helping to drive hiring and sourcing decisions throughout the organization.

To know more, visit the following link: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/easyjet-takes-off-with-workday-human-capital-management-2014-04-08

How can we rethink the ways we protect our changing IT world? We do IT differently these days, with users bringing their own devices into networks, with apps in the cloud and users are wirelessly connected - from anywhere at any time. But we still do security the same old ways, with firewalls the mediaeval fortresses guarding the gates around our walled city data centers. Detecting malware is complex. New malware that's never been analyzed won't be blocked by conventional tools. The risk may be small, but it's still a risk. Changing the way we think about protecting our networks from malware changes the game. It lets us focus on understanding the software engineering implications of malware. It's a new world out there and it's good to see that the security industry is thinking about how it needs to react, taking advantage of the same new tools and techniques we're using in private, hybrid, and public clouds. Now it's up to us to think about how we can prevent attacks on our infrastructure and keep that vital data right where it belongs.

To know more, read the article by Simon Bisson, Freelance technology journalist, follow http://www.zdnet.com/it-security-its-time-to-change-the-game-and-heres-how-7000029246/ 

An article by Ryang Huang, Editor at ZDNet's Asia/Singapore, conveys that there will be both practical and commercial risks when choosing a cloud service which can be mitigated by focusing on the service contract. He also mentioned that the service contract must enable organizations to comply with their own obligations. Also, the service contract should include a plan detailing the steps to be taken on exit and how data will be extracted from the vendor. As cloud services may involve the use of software and other intellectual property rights under a license, organizations could be dragged into a legal dispute in the event of third party claims of infringement against the cloud service provider.

To gather better insights in this aspect follow http://www.zdnet.com/how-to-manage-contractual-risks-in-cloud-computing-7000027568/ 

It is true that cloud computing is rapidly changing the nature of businesses. Now, it is spanning across various industries. Even, the legal industry has adopted the cloud technology in recent years.

Though, it is a fact that cloud has brought in numerous benefits, but security and privacy are main concerns. Particularly, these are very much important in legal issues as they deal with clients which are privileged information. But does that mean that lawyers will stop adopting cloud technology? Definitely not. They have to use the technology in such a way so that they can realize maximum benefits of using it.

At a panel discussion titled “Privacy and Your Practice: Data Sovereignty for Lawyers,” held at CUNY Law School, experts discussed how lawyers can cope with the technology maintaining privacy and security simultaneously. To know the discussions, read them at http://venturebeat.com/2014/05/06/practicing-law-in-the-age-of-cloud-computing/ .

The rapid rate of cloud adoption has given rise to the natural necessity to have some data generated live on cloud-based platforms. One of the biggest mistakes a company can make is assuming that once you are managed by a hosting provider or other cloud-based platform company, the inbuilt security features will provide everything you need from a data safety perspective. Depending on the cloud service provider or managed service provider you use, you can expect scalability and flexibility to be built into the system so that you don't miss out on the cloud's ability to quickly respond to changes in demand. Having the technical skills in-house is just as important as finding the outsourced technical expertise that will enable a greater degree of secure infrastructure planning.

To know more visit the article at http://www.cloudcomputing-news.net/blog-hub/2013/nov/19/the-reality-of-data-security-in-the-cloud/

Implementing cloud data encryption and maintaining control over encryption keys is an important way for the enterprise to verify how information can be shared and unlocked. Cloud data encryption transforms data so that it is undecipherable without the key that can be used to change the data back to its original form. But several enterprises are now realizing that when they cede control of their encryption keys to their cloud providers, their sensitive data may not be as private as they had hoped. They need to look for peer reviewed security proofs and understand implications on end users of cloud applications if there are strong encryption techniques. Recommendation from Gartner and the security and compliance needs to control sensitive data and it becomes clear that having vast amounts of sensitive data dispersed to multiple cloud application providers and relying on those providers to keep the encryption keys safe creates a security paradox for the enterprise.

To gather more insights visit the article by Gerry Grealish, Chief Marketing Officer of PerspecSys, follow http://www.cloudcomputing-news.net/blog-hub/2014/mar/20/when-deploying-cloud-data-encryption-protecting-encryption-keys-is-critical-to-keeping-cloud-data-private/

An article by Ryan Huang, editor at ZDNet's Asia/Singapore office, talks about recognizing vulnerabilities in existing facilities before embarking on a cloud computing deployment for potential adopters to fortify critical systems. The implementation of high-density configuration increases both the compute capacity and energy efficiency of an existing facility. When evaluating external cloud providers, the vendor's data center power infrastructure and availability strategy should also be examined and understood. To create an optimal cloud computing environment, data centers need to bridge the gap between the physical layer of the data center infrastructure and the IT infrastructure.

To know more visit http://www.zdnet.com/optimizing-existing-facilities-for-cloud-computing-7000028083/