Are you confused about Cloud, Mobile, SaaS? Join the club! And how about Private Cloud, Public Cloud, Hybrid Cloud?

We will define these terms in this article.

But first, let's walk through the movement of technology that gave rise to these terms and the impact of that movement on enterprise data and applications. Buckle up!

At the core of this movement of technology are two trends:

1. Increased Accessibility
2. Decreased Local (in house) Infrastructure

Although increased accessibility and decreased local infrastructure are related they are not necessarily interdependent. In other words, decreased local infrastructure does not automatically result in increased accessibility and increased accessibility does not strictly depend on decreased local infrastructure.

First, let’s explore decreased infrastructure.

Decreased Local (in-house) Infrastructure. In one way decreased local infrastructure brings to mind the way enterprise data and applications were managed before more than half of the readers of this article were born. In those days companies “rented” capacity and time on large mainframe computers to store data and run applications. Todays’ trend toward decreased local infrastructure is moving data and applications to “rented” capacity and time in either discrete offsite facilities or into the cloud. I use this illustration not to suggest that technology is going backwards; but to give a reference point for those born before 1980. In reality the differences in renting infrastructure in the era of the mainframe and now are vastly different. This is true for both discrete facilities and the cloud in terms of accessibility. Unlike in the days of the mainframe when access to applications and data was severely limited (particularly to smaller companies), today's offsite infrastructure provides access comparable to (if not better than) in-house infrastructure. Cloud infrastructure has the added advantage of tremendous scalability. In the cloud you don’t have to reserve extra capacity to cover peak periods; but rather you pay for the capacity as it is needed. What is even more exciting is that the move to offsite infrastructure, particularly cloud, is leading to increased opportunities for collaboration, intelligent data mining, and other benefits yet to be discovered. Of course most businesses can’t and shouldn’t instantly move all their business applications and data to the cloud. However, I do recommend looking to the future while maintaining a focus on the present by asking yourself: Can my company start moving infrastructure from in-house to offsite and what will be the benefits, both immediate and long term?

Increased accessibility in the enterprise is led by a similar trend already well established culturally. In our lives outside the enterprise we enjoy instant communication with friends, family and even strangers, anytime and anywhere. Our entertainment, our bank balance and the ability to transact from and to our account, and pictures of the latest addition to our families and our cousin’s vacation are all instantly available at our fingertips. The “Global Village” predicted by the Technology Prophet Marshall McLuhan is here to stay. It is only natural in this “Global Village” that we also want information about our business and the ability to interact with our business systems at our fingertips. This technology trend of today which is moving us toward an exciting future. I would suggest calling it the “Global Enterprise”; but there is already a consulting firm by that name. So much for my ambition to become a Technology Prophet.

Ok, now we're ready to get into the implications of the above trends, namely the rise of the Cloud (including Public, Private and Hybrid Cloud), Mobile and SaaS.  

Key Enterprise Data Terms

Cloud is Internet based computing, using on-demand network access to shared infrastructure. This is in contrast to an onsite hard drive, server or other infrastructure. (Remember decreased local infrastructure we talked about last month). Internet based computing is more accessible, and potentially less secure.

Mobile is simple, really. It only seems like a tricky term, because it can be used to refer to:

• Mobile Computing: using computing technology on the go
• Mobile Hardware: smartphones, tablets and other connected devices
• Mobile Software: think mobile apps
• The Mobile Web: browser-based Internet services

SaaS in its purest form meets two criteria:

  (1) It is computing delivered as a service
  (2) It is delivered to users through the cloud (infrastructure accessed through the Internet).

Examples of SaaS in its purest form include Avalara to calculate sales tax and Gmail for email and organization. These are (1) computing services (2) delivered via the cloud.

Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft Office Online are examples of software as a product versus software as a service, respectively, even though both make use of cloud computing. Consider CRM, accounting, ERP and HRM can all be offered as both services and as products.

Now, to differentiate between Public Cloud, Private Cloud and Hybrid Cloud: 

Hybrid Cloud makes use of both private and public cloud. Here are two examples (though many more exist):  

• Private cloud that “bursts” into public cloud when demand for computing exceeds your current private cloud capacity.
• Public cloud used for non-sensitive computing, syncing to private cloud when sensitive information requires extra security.

Keep in mind these technologies and their applications are constantly evolving.