Bell Business Insights newsletter

A letter from the executive office

Imagine being able to provision thousands of servers overnight at virtually no capital expense. That's what one Web-based video production company was able to do when they needed to cope with a sudden spike in demand for a popular new Facebook plug-in. Servers were brought online automatically–at one point some 3,500 servers were in action. And it all happened in the cloud, without the company having to do a thing.

This is just one of many stories I've heard about the power of cloud computing. Of course, the cloud can help businesses do much more than scale IT resources on short notice. Some organizations have been harnessing the cloud for years to handle specific functions such as sales force management, HR, and email.

It's only going to grow. New advances in cloud computing are opening up a wealth of opportunities to increase agility and scalability, manage data and storage needs, and build applications while decreasing IT and operating costs.

Cloud computing represents a major shift in how organizations think about IT. But despite its many advantages, how do you decide the best way to harness it for your organization? Where do you start, and how do you select the right service provider?

I get asked these questions quite often these days, so this issue we are featuring some excellent resources about cloud computing to help your organization begin finding answers. First, we have a readiness assessment tool, Getting Ready for the Cloud, that will help you gauge both your organization's state of internal preparedness for using the cloud and how a vendor can meet your needs.

We also have 15 Tips for a Successful Implementation, a tool that will show you ways to get the most out of cloud computing services for your organization, and how to navigate the wide range of cloud offerings available today.

Finally, we check in with Strahan McCarten, director of product management for Hosting and Data Centre Services at Bell, about all the latest trends in cloud computing, and how it will likely evolve in the near future. One thing seems clear: the cloud computing revolution is just getting started.

As always, we hope this edition of Bell Business Insights offers tremendous value. If your organization is facing challenges with cloud computing or if you have a story you'd like to share with us, please contact us. The feedback you provide helps us create new tools and resources, so please don't hesitate to get on touch with any thoughts you have about cloud computing, or on any other aspect of our services.

Best regards,

Stéphane Boisvert

President, Bell Business Markets