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A new report from Tata Communications offers a warning for service providers; their solutions do not always meet the expectations of enterprises.

The research, which was conducted by IDC among enterprises and service providers across 32 countries, saw enterprises rank security, cited by 52% of respondents, cloud (43%) and mobility (32%) as their primary technology priorities.

But there may be a gap between what enterprises want and what service providers can give. Enterprises see service providers’ main roles as increasing their network capacity or reach, cited by almost three quarters (73%) of those polled. Delivering hybrid networking services was cited by 66%, while meeting cloud needs was key to almost half (48%) of respondents.

Enterprises evidently still see their providers primarily as network suppliers, but the research sounds a note of caution over how service providers need to up their capabilities in cloud as well as think further about partnerships. “Through the right partnerships, service providers are able to open up new revenue streams in growth areas such as cloud and unified communication and collaboration, without having to invest in developing their own solutions from scratch,” said James Parker, president of global sales at Tata.

“Our research indicates that many service providers haven’t kept up with the rapid pace of digital disruption in enterprises, which is jeopardising their ability to win business in this segment,” said James Eibisch, research director at IDC. “In order for service providers to be able to meet enterprises’ changing IT needs, they should explore partnering with other like-minded players, complementing their own solutions portfolio.

“The right cloud ecosystem, for example, makes it quicker and more cost-effective for service providers to grow their revenues from the cloud,” Eibisch added.

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It’s no secret that businesses are excited about the possibilities they can gain from big data; large corporations have been tapping big data analytics for years as a way to increase revenue and improve efficiency.

Small businesses, on the other hand, may feel a bit left out of the trend. Big data, after all, sounds like a complex strategy using the latest technology to discover important insights. In other words, it’s something that feels like is out of reach. But that would be a mistake. Small businesses now have access to big data solutions thanks to decreasing costs and greater understanding of its uses.

The big questions small businesses have is how best they can use it. With so many possibilities ripe for the taking, what strategy can they pursue to ensure their big data projects are successful? While no strategy is fool proof, there are a number of guidelines small businesses can adopt to increase their chances for success.

Adopting a big data strategy will certainly be a change of pace for a small business. Big data has the potential to completely change how a company operates and what they focus on. Due to this factor, it’s important that small businesses trying out big data for the first time don’t aim too big. Keep expectations manageable. Big data can be collected from a vast array of sources, but if a small business narrows its focus, it will be able to pinpoint specific ways in which it can use big data.

One good place to start is through augmenting the knowledge and data that a small business already has. There’s no need to install Internet of Things sensors to collect data for a company to analyse. Any small business should already have lots of data to examine, from sales data to social media interactions. Mining that information for helpful insights is a good first step before growing a big data strategy.

Specificity is something that applies to all big data projects. Small businesses need to be able to clearly define their goals while also specifying the results they want to achieve. Without clear direction, companies will spend a lot of time collecting and analysing data with no real purpose. Organisations must declare the business cases they’re going after with their big data projects. With this in mind, they’ll be able to proceed with confidence.

Even with these guidelines, small businesses may still struggle implementing big data solutions. In many cases, they’ll have little knowledge of the tools available at their disposal, let alone how to use them in the right way. The answer may be found in the cloud. Just as with many other services, big data analytics is something offered by many cloud service providers. Some of the options are free, while others can be purchased through modest monthly fees, but they all can grant small businesses certain capabilities they’ve never had before.

With big data available through the cloud, small businesses don’t have to worry about investing large sums of money into new software and hardware. Cloud services with a modular data centre can also help smaller companies digitise their existing data, essentially putting them in a form where they can finally be analysed for big data insights.

It all comes down to finding and adopting the right tools. There are a lot of tools available out there, so small businesses need to find one that is user friendly and features a short learning curve. Chances are a small business doesn’t have much in the way of big data experts, so picking an easy-to-use analytics dashboard goes a long way toward promoting a successful big data project. The right tool will help small businesses unify their sources, aiding them in getting the most out of the data already in their hands.

With something as complex as big data, no single solution will provide the pathway to immediate success, but big data projects can be more effective with the above tips in mind. Every small business will have different goals and objectives, but the one unifying aspect is that big data can help them all. Small businesses don’t have to feel like big data is out of reach. If anything, there has been no better time to give it a shot than right now.

Read more: Survey warns about security of small businesses using free cloud storage

In his keynote at 19th Cloud Expo, Sheng Liang, co-founder and CEO of Rancher Labs, discussed the technological advances and new business opportunities created by the rapid adoption of containers. With the success of Amazon Web Services (AWS) and various open source technologies used to build private clouds, cloud computing has become an essential component of IT strategy. However, users continue to face challenges in implementing clouds, as older technologies evolve and newer ones like Docker containers gain prominence. He explored these challenges and how to address them, while considering how containers will influence the direction of cloud computing.

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20th Cloud Expo, taking place June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY, will feature technical sessions from a rock star conference faculty and the leading industry players in the world.
Cloud computing is now being embraced by a majority of enterprises of all sizes. Yesterday’s debate about public vs. private has transformed into the reality of hybrid cloud: a recent survey shows that 74% of enterprises have a hybrid cloud strategy.

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With major technology companies and startups seriously embracing Cloud strategies, now is the perfect time to attend @CloudExpo | @ThingsExpo, June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY and October 31 – November 2, 2017, Santa Clara Convention Center, CA. Learn what is going on, contribute to the discussions, and ensure that your enterprise is on the right path to Digital Transformation.

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Small businesses continue to put security as their main priority when selecting a cloud storage provider, yet many continue to risk their security by choosing free solutions, according to a new survey from analyst firm Clutch.

According to the survey, which polled almost 300 small and medium businesses who use at least one cloud storage platform, 25% of respondents admit they use a free cloud storage product, compared to 71% who said their organisations pay for cloud storage.

More than half (57%) of those who are using free cloud storage say they are putting backup and archived files in those depositories, compared to 66% of all respondents. More than a quarter (28%) are putting company financial records in their free storage, along with medical data (14%) and customer banking information (11%).

The report, which also collated various responses from industry players and experts, came to the conclusion that the weakest link in the cloud storage chain was the user. “My data isn’t suddenly secure just because I put it in the cloud,” said Mark Estes, regional director of sales at Qubole. “There’s a lot of things you do. The cloud enables the security of data as long as you do things correctly.”

Riley Panko, marketing analyst at Clutch, told CloudTech that there is an element of ‘ignorance towards the reality of cloud storage and security’ in businesses. “They feel confident that their data is safe – until it isn’t,” she said. “Thus it’s a matter of making sure that you educate your employees in a realistic manner. Every employee should understand the consequences of a data breach of sensitive information.”

The study, titled ‘Cloud Storage and Security: The Rundown’, focused more in-depth on cloud adoption, security, and regulations compared to the previous year’s edition. Panko added: “It’s clear to see that hesitations towards adopting cloud storage are falling away as faith in its security builds. However, this security is only present if employees act accordingly.”

Elsewhere, 53% of respondents say it is important to follow the ICO regulations, with 30% citing HIPAA and 27% citing PCI. Writing for this publication in July, Frank Krieger, director of compliance at iland, argued organisations need to “care a great deal” about ISO compliance in the cloud.

You can read the full study here.

Financial Technology has become a topic of intense interest throughout the cloud developer and enterprise IT communities.
Accordingly, attendees at the upcoming 20th Cloud Expo at the Javits Center in New York, June 6-8, 2017, will find fresh new content in a new track called FinTech.

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Google has been pushing the message of machine learning as it aims to tempt more customers onto its cloud – and this push continues with the launch of a new group focused on delivering cloud-based machine learning solutions to businesses, as well as a new API.

“Building a centralised team within Google Cloud will accelerate our ability to deliver machine learning products and services to enterprise customers in every industry,” wrote Rob Craft, group lead for Google’s cloud machine learning arm in a blog post. “Today also marks an exciting next step in Google Cloud’s product commitment to make machine learning more accessible for all businesses.”

The new cloud machine learning group will be led by Fei-Fei Li, who had been director of the artificial intelligence lab at Stanford University, and Jia Li, formerly head of research at Snapchat.

One of the new launches involves GPUs (graphics processing units) for Google Cloud Platform, offering more hardware flexibility. In a separate blog post, product manager John Barrus noted the importance of providing GPUs to give more computing power when compared against CPUs. “You’ll be able to strap your ML-powered applications to a rocket engine, resulting in faster and more affordable machine learning models”, as Google puts it.

Regarding APIs, the Cloud Natural Language API is now generally available, which also includes expanded entity recognition, granular sentiment analysis with expanded language support, as well as improved syntax analysis. Similarly, the Google Cloud Jobs API also utilises machine learning to provide businesses with ‘Google strength’ candidates for recommended jobs.

Plenty of research has taken place on how cloud is enabling greater power in machine learning; not least due to the economic impact of digital storage and cloud computing making machine learning more affordable for all businesses. “Enterprises looking to become competitive leaders are going after the insights in these unstructured data sources and turning them into a competitive advantage with machine learning,” wrote Louis Columbus in this publication back in June.

You can find out more here.

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In today’s fast-paced and highly competitive business world innovation is not just a differentiator – it’s fast becoming the new normal. Businesses are looking to disrupt the markets they operate in before they find themselves on the receiving end of disruption and so have made innovation a top priority.  

Equally, innovation on its own is no guarantee of success, it must be done quickly.  Each company is in a race against its competitors to come up with – and launch – the product, service or idea that rewrites the rules of their industry and leads to market dominance.

Digital battlegrounds

Examples are all around us. From taxis to banks, digital newcomers are redefining the expectations of customers and are attracting them in their millions from established, slow-moving analogue competitors.  

As we find ourselves talking to our phones, tablets and desktop computers, artificial intelligence and machine learning is finding its way into everyday life. It’s no surprise then that 56% of businesses we surveyed see the use of an integrated cloud platform as an opportunity to capitalise on AI’s potential.

Announcements from Oracle OpenWorld around the launch of Intelligent Applications and Cloud Platforms with built-in machine learning capabilities will stand to make it easier and faster for forward thinking companies to start exploring these exciting new avenues in a range of operational and customer-facing functions.

However, not all businesses are set up to take advantage of the opportunities presented by these breakthroughs.  Some that have the desire to innovate are finding themselves stifled – locked in by traditional, inflexible, IT infrastructures. This is making them slow to react at a time when they need to be nimble and respond almost immediately to customer needs.

What’s the hold up?

Recent research by Oracle found that 60% of businesses were held back by rigid IT infrastructure, and almost as many said that while their business had implemented new technologies, a fragmented approach was hampering innovation efforts. The solution is moving from traditional IT to the cloud, but this cannot be done in a slapdash and ad-hoc manner. Rather, cloud capabilities should be fully integrated.

In fact, Oracle found that 60% of businesses see an integrated approach to cloud as a way to unlock the potential of disruptive technologies.

A company’s developers can be likened to painters, and the cloud, or specifically a cloud platform (platform as a service), is the canvas on which they paint. The canvas needs a solid backing however, and compute services (infrastructure as a service) is the foundation on which the cloud platform can reliably rest.

Integrate for success

Using cloud platform tools, combined with compute services, businesses have the opportunity to innovate at speed and take an entrepreneurial approach to testing and development.

Developer tools that sit on a cloud platform can also be enhanced and updated without the time and expense of proprietary applications.

Thanks to the tight integration with compute services, workloads can be efficiently moved between environments, such as on-premise and the cloud, depending on business needs. If greater resources are needed for development, or to support an on-rush of demand for a successful product, these can be brought online instantly thanks to the elastic ‘hyperscaling’ capabilities of compute services.

The flexible nature of compute services and cloud platforms means that smaller companies can take on larger enterprises. They can exploit the power of an integrated cloud as and when they need, and scale back as necessary, without having to take on the huge investments of purchasing and managing a large IT infrastructure. Indeed, the lack of legacy IT means they are able to innovate more quickly and effectively than their larger rivals.

An integrated cloud platform then can level the playing field between large enterprises and SMEs. With such powerful tools at their disposal, the only differentiator is the willingness of the company to innovate.

If a company is moving forwards without an integrated cloud strategy, the reality is that it will be moving backwards as companies ready to embrace the power and flexibility provided by integrated cloud services are placing themselves firmly in the innovation fast lane.

Read more: “Rigid, confused and complex” infrastructure leads to employee collaboration issues