By: N Shivapriya


The technology world is witnessing its next big shift. A newclass of service providers that did not exist in the past decade is now makingtheir presence felt. These firms are changing how technology is delivered muchin the same way that Indian service providers once did with the concept ofoffshoring.


Cloud Computing is now going mainstream and is seriousbusiness. Cloud application providers such as Salesforce.com and specialistfirms that help implement their technologies such as Appirio, Astadia andBluewolf are pioneering a new form of service delivery that is on-demand andmore cost efficient for enterprises.


The rising stakes has prompted software product giant,Microsoft, to also enter the market with Azure, its Cloud offering thatcompetes with Googles Google App and Salesforce.coms Force.com. CloudComputing refers to software (software-as-a-service), hardware(infrastructure-as-a-service) or technology tools (platform-as-a-service) thatare available for use on demand as opposed to licensed software and tools, orpurchased hard ware. It uses internet technologies and interfaces and can bequickly scaled up to cater to higher demand or ramped down when demand drops.


Indian IT players have been the success stories of the pastdecade. We are exactly in the same breach today, said Vineet Nayar, CEO, HCLTechnologies. The pay-per-use and on-demand software model is driving a hugechange in traditional methods of technology and pricing, said experts. What weare seeing is a fundamental shift similar to shift from mini-computers to PCs(personal computer). PCs made computers more standard, affordable and as aresult, usage went up dramatically, said John McCarthy, principal analyst,with Forrester Research.


Mr. McCarthy, who originally identified offshoring as thenext big trend in the early part of the decade, said Cloud Computing and SaaS(software-as-a-service) are now becoming the dominant platforms. Firms such asWorkday are getting big client wins and will go public soon. It may be on asmall base, but their growth rates are 50%- 100%, added Mr. McCarthy.


It is very important to have an option in this (Cloud)space. You must have an option and you must be ready, said S Gopalakrishnan,CEO and MD, Infosys Technologies. Infosys, which is building a significantpractice around Salesforce.com, expects to eventually get one-third of itsrevenues from cloud-based services.


Appirio, a specialist player who helps enterprises implementcloud-based solutions, was co-founded by Narinder Singh, who quit his positionwith enterprise software leader SAP to start the firm. All our founders camefrom traditional enterprise software backgrounds from companies such asBorland, WebMethods, SAP and Accenture. Four years ago, we saw a shifthappening in the marketplace and felt there was a need for a new type ofpartner to help enterprises move to the Cloud. Thats why we founded Appirio,said Balakrishna Narasimhan, senior director, marketing and strategy, Appirio.


Weve grown at a rate of over 2x during the worst economicconditions in the history of the US, which shows the potential of thisbusiness. There is over $1 trillion of IT spend that will be disrupted by CloudComputing over the next few years, added Mr. Narasimhan.


Historically, these SaaS applications were do-it-yourselfimplementations but as they have become more advanced SaaS deployments requirecustomisation and implementation. Major systems integrators such as IBM,Accenture, Deloitte and Capgemini, as well as offshore-based consultancies likeTCS, Infosys, Wipro, Cognizant and UST are increasingly playing the role of anSaaS integration partner, said Liz Herbert, senior analyst, Forrester, whosauthored a report on SaaS systems integrator options.


Accenture has designated a managing director, James Harris,for Cloud Computing who works across all the industry groups within the companyto enable cloud-based services. Were at the end of the beginning, said Mr.Harris about the evolution of Cloud Computing in the market. There has been asignificant adoption by large enterprises since last year, according to him.


While lower cost initially acted as a catalyst-especiallyduring the recession-for adoption of cloud technologies, it is flexibility andsignificantly lower implementation time, which now driving its adoption, addindustry players.



Originallypublished in The Economic Times, Ahmedabad dated: February 25, 2010