Re: The Cloud..
Why do I see this comment every time there is cloud anything. Most companies I ever worked for trust, 3rd parties access their data anyway and probably have a poorer track record on availability done in-house than any cloud company.
Questions for an anonymous coward:
1. Do you use colocation or ISP for internet access? There are someone else's computers are handling critical part of your infra if you are.
2. Security side, do you have better resources & skills against for-profit hackers or DDoS: ers then let's say Amazon, Microsoft, Google or IBM? It's their business to keep hackers away anything else would be marketing disaster.
3. If NSA/CIA/FSB/MI6 etc. wants to get your data do you really have means to secure it? Legally or physically. I mean UK government is not any better than US or Chinese when it comes to data privacy. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-britain-surveillance-idUSKCN0VE2B7
All above does not mean that cloud computing is the answer to all the ills at least not yet. I have a really good reference point from back home Finland. There are a lot of paper companies there. They run a huge amount of electricity on the cellulose process. When Finland started to build national grid there was a huge outcry from people running electric power plants for these paper mills, claiming that grip power is more expensive, it's not reliable, out of your control.
Took 2 decades and paper mills now operate on grid power but have bought a huge share of the business of the major electric companies so they can affect the placement of next nuclear power plant, for example, to make sure that the grid of Northen Finland is not depended on just 1 -2 main lines.
What I want to say is that if you don't want your business side of the company to outsource your IT department completely to the cloud vendor. You need to show why it's not a good idea. Remember you are talking to a business person who knows he is already outsourcing your critical data. Your company's accounting company for example probably has access to almost anything in your company, so does your contracted legal company or that company that consults your upper management with business management. How would cloud vendors be less trustworthy?
You need to show it's not financially viable yet, or there is a type of skill in your department that is a genuine competitive asset to your company. Going back to my example below. There are paper mills that never moved to grid power in Finland.
Why? They had their own water power plants that generate basically free energy they still connected to grid as backup. Maybe most IT departments should look at the cloud the same way.