Software as a service SAAS
We have all heard of SAAS, although you may not acknowledge that you are aware of it. My Grandmother has Ntlworld email account, now better known as Virgin Media. It generally works well although Nan probably doesn't understand that she is not working with-in the PC (Oh ! sorry Nan I mean Personal Computer ).Using the capability provided to the consumer with Hotmail, Gmail, Linked-in, Twitter, Facebook and the plethora of "On-Line services"
Applications such as hosted email, website hosting, Unified Comms, CRM is to use service provider's applications running on a cloud infrastructure".
As with any new or emerging technology, though, the uninformed are letting the cloud attract hype. The potential of cloud computing is phenomenal but has to be tempered with some caution.
Businesses might not have applications that are "cloud ready", be prepared to hand over control of critical data, be comfortable with data security arrangements or even have the bandwidth to run large parts of their business remotely. These are some of the issues that we will be assessing over the next weeks and probably years. We will be looking as to the financial opportunities for the channel.