1. Six Questions Every Executive Should
Ask about Cloud Computing
Jeanne G. Harris and Allan E. Alter
January 2010
Research Note

2. Six Questions Every Executive Should Ask about Cloud Computing
Business leaders need to evaluate what cloud For businesspeople, cloud computing
can seem almost magical: plenty
computing can do for their business, and how of computing power; no expensive
it can affect competition in their industry. IT infrastructure. Cloud computing lets
companies bypass the expense and
Asking the right questions is the place to start. bother of buying, installing, operating,
maintaining and upgrading the networks
and computers found in data centers.
No business executive today can evaluate its potential, costs and risks. Instead of licensing software, users
ignore cloud computing.1 Many global With so many issues to explore, decision tap into a service when it’s needed
organizations—including Citigroup, makers can easily succumb to “analysis for as long as it’s needed. All that is
Eli Lilly, and Starbucks—are already paralysis” or the temptation to abandon required is a broadband Internet
using it to analyze data, provide their inquiry to the IT department. connection, and a phone or personal
applications to employees and run But cloud computing is too important computer with a browser. As with
special projects.2 Media giants Time for such missteps. cable TV or a phone service, organiza-
Warner and Disney are using cloud tions pay by the kind and amount of
computing to reengineer their processes How can senior executives come services used, plus any additional
for distributing digital content.3 And to a timely, focused and productive fees. (Some cloud services like social
more cloud services will soon be avail- evaluation of cloud computing? networks and Web mail are available
able, as established IT and telecom Accenture has identified six key at no cost, but these are intended for
providers such as Microsoft, IBM, questions business decision makers individuals instead of organizations.)
Accenture, Fujitsu, KDDI, China Mobile should ask about this still-new
and SingTel join cloud pioneers like phenomenon. By focusing on these But the absence of a data center on-
Google, Amazon and Salesforce.com.4 questions, executives can narrow site doesn’t mean cloud computing is
their inquiry without succumbing to a matter of hocus-pocus. At the other
But along with promise, cloud com- superficiality, and start to identify end of the Internet connection are
puting generates difficult questions. opportunities and risks for their own computing clouds—supersized data
While it promises to deliver a wide organization. centers containing tens of thousands
and powerful range of capabilities, of servers hosting web applications.
its potential uses are exceptionally Some cloud providers even house
broad and difficult to foretell. Further, What is it, and how does them in cargo ship containers.6 Clouds
it will affect how computing is done it work? are designed so that processing power
and managed, how information is can be added simply by attaching
controlled and the economics of At its most basic level, cloud computing more servers; software can be run
business technology. The technology’s allows users, wherever they are, to on any available server with excess
novelty and the hype found in some obtain computing capabilities through
media stories make it even harder to the Internet from a remote network
of servers. (Back to IT 101 briefly:
A server is a computer that provides
applications to other computers.)5
(See Figure 1 for a summary of different
kinds of clouds.)
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3. Six Questions Every Executive Should Ask about Cloud Computing
Figure 1. A guide to cloud terminology
The term “cloud computing” originated as a twist on “computing cloud,” an easy-to-draw way to portray a group of computers
or the Internet itself in a diagram. Today, cloud computing has come to encompass several kinds of services, and is often
confused with other technologies.
Synonyms • Internet computing: seen by some as more fitting than “cloud” or “utility” computing
• On-demand computing: popularized by IBM
• Utility computing: popularized by author Nicholas Carr
Cloud services • Software as a service: cloud-based applications
• Infrastructure as a service: processing and storing data
• Process as a service: business processes built upon cloud applications
• Platform as a service: developing, testing, and running applications on clouds or for clouds
Cloud providers • Public cloud: a cloud made available to the public by a company
• Private cloud: a cloud maintained for a single organization
• Community cloud: a cloud shared by groups of businesses or organizations
• Government cloud: a cloud maintained by a government agency for public use
Foundation technologies • Virtualization: a way to run more applications or store more data on fewer computers
• Grid computing: divides processing among computers; enables speed and scalability
• Broadband Internet: enables vast amounts of data to quickly travel over the Internet
• Web 2.0: applications and technologies that make the Web a vehicle for collaboration
• Service-oriented architecture: designs systems to act like interconnected services
Antecedents • Time sharing: how companies shared mainframes in the early days of computing
• Application service providers: the first software services accessed via the Web
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4. Six Questions Every Executive Should Ask about Cloud Computing
capacity. The basic technologies can What specific benefits Clouds offer extraordinarily flexible
be duplicated by any company. That can clouds bring to my resources too. They are scalable
makes it possible for organizations organization? because of their technical design.
to build smaller “private clouds” for Clouds can be summoned quickly
their own use, or for a consortium to Many of the potential benefits of when needed, grow by assigning more
build “industry” or “community” clouds cloud computing have already been servers to a job, then shrink or disap-
for its members. Clouds the size of identified. (See Figure 2.) Bargain pear when no longer needed. That
those run by Microsoft, Amazon and prices on cloud services are a big part makes clouds well suited for sporadic,
Google require additional technologies of their allure. For example, Eli Lilly seasonal or temporary work, for fin-
so they can support many millions paid Amazon Web Services only ishing tasks at lightning speed and
of users around the world without $89 to analyze data on a drug under processing vast amounts of data, and
becoming sluggish.7 development. To do the job them- for software development and testing
selves, its researchers would have projects. Clouds can also supplement
This description barely skates on had to buy 25 servers.8 Add the savings conventional systems when demand
the surface of the underlying com- from eliminating the cost of servers, for computing exceeds supply. And
plexities. But for business leaders, it software licenses, maintenance fees, since they are an operational expense,
gets at the crucial point: with cloud data center space, electricity and IT cloud services can often bypass the
computing (except for private clouds), labor, and the benefits of replacing a capital-expense approval process, and
the major burdens and expenses of IT large up-front capital expense with thus be quicker to procure than con-
power become someone else’s problem. a low, pay-for-use operating expense, ventional systems. In Eli Lilly’s case,
and the financial appeal of cloud using clouds shaved three months off
computing is obvious. the IT budget and approval process.
Figure 2. Initial opportunities for using clouds
Accenture has identified many different possible uses for cloud computing.
Business continuity (storage) New business
Easy
• Extensive storage • Provide IT support for
• Backup and recovery new ventures
Software development and testing Batch and data intensive applications
• Software development and • One-off applications that don’t rely
testing environment on real-time response
• Performance testing • Data and high performance intensive
• Non production projects applications (financial risk modeling,
Ease of implementation
Desktop productivity • R&D activities simulation, data compression,
• Web 2.0 applications • Reduced time to market graphics rendering…)
• Workgroup applications • New back-office applications
Geographic expansion
• Office suites • Replicate standard processes in Peak load demands
• Email and calendaring new locations and branches. • New business activities
• Applications with peak-loads
Sensitive applications • Seasonal websites
• Mission critical applications • Applications with
• Regulation-protected data scalability needs
(HIPAA, SOX, PCI…)
Legacy
• Specific existing infrastructure
• Complex legacy systems
Hard
Value to the enterprise High value
Source: Accenture Technology Labs
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5. Six Questions Every Executive Should Ask about Cloud Computing
That represents $1 billion in opportunity Can I depend on clouds to So executives need to look closely
costs avoided, when translated to faster save my organization money? into the costs of cloud computing for
time to market. themselves. They should seek rigorous
CIOs say they are finding real savings ROI case studies based on actual
Clouds, paradoxically, can both decen- from cloud computing. Accenture cloud usage, rather than estimates of
tralize technical innovation and impose estimates its own IT organization could anticipated savings. Hardware, after
centralized control on IT resources. save up to 50 percent of its hosting all, is a relatively small component of
The barrier to entry for providing an costs annually by transferring most of data center costs. They need to uncover
innovative IT service has never been its applications to infrastructure clouds.10 the hidden management, transition,
lower. Any programmer could create Bechtel’s CIO benchmarked the com- and usage costs that reveal themselves
a software service using free or low- pany’s internal data center and storage only when companies start to work
cost development tools, host it on a against those of Google, Amazon and with the technology. They need to
public cloud, and quickly make it Salesforce.com, concluding he could look into the costs of using each kind
available to all. Clouds are also a fast greatly reduce his per unit costs by of cloud service separately, since the
and easy way for organizations to creating an internal cloud.11 pricing and cost involved in using
impose a standard set of applications different kinds of cloud services all
or processes. They only need pay for But executives should not take most vary. And they need to work with the
a cloud service and then require promises and projections of cloud sav- finance department to develop a con-
employees to go online and use it. ings at face value. The articles about sistent and acceptable approach to
companies that have saved money measuring the costs and return from
Clouds are still too new to fully under- rarely explain how these savings were clouds. Only then can they reliably
stand their benefits. Business leaders calculated. Several apparently rigorous estimate the savings.
should begin by looking for specific analyses of cloud savings have been
benefits for their own organization— attacked as unrealistic.12 Furthermore,
ways to reduce costs, improve processes while most organizations that use How will clouds affect
and more. They should also investigate clouds report that they are saving the way my organization
when clouds do not make sense. For money as expected, not all have. In competes?
example, migrating a complex legacy one study of software-as-a-service
system would require a costly redesign (SaaS) users, only about half of the Companies that have built massive
to operate on a cloud, and projects respondents reported a positive return clouds are already transforming
requiring a guaranteed response time on investment from SaaS, while a the nature of competition. Google’s
should be avoided, since guarantees quarter found the cost was greater advertising-supported search engine
are risky when data has to run over the than they had budgeted.13 And while and tools and Amazon’s online retail
Internet.9 Executives are likely to find Accenture’s internal IT organization operations are all made possible
the greatest benefit by envisioning new has moved several internal applica- by the computing clouds created by
processes, applications, services and tions to the cloud, it has not done so those companies. Cloud-based con-
offerings that had been too difficult or in several cases because the cost of sumer applications like Facebook and
expensive for the organization. hosting the system internally, on an iPhone applets are driving innovation
optimized U.S.-based data center or in in unpredictable ways.
one of its Indian facilities, was less
than that of an external cloud service.
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6. Six Questions Every Executive Should Ask about Cloud Computing
Not every company will be able to develop more lucrative pricing plans.16 Finally, executives should remember
use clouds to become the next Google, Low-fare airlines around the world are that clouds can promote cooperation
but other opportunities abound. Some using reservation and other business- as well as competition. Think of how
companies are using clouds to create process services run on a private cloud an industry cloud, by providing a
new products and services. For example, operated by Navitaire (an Accenture common back-office platform, could
Nasdaq is offering investors new subsidiary). Genentech and Rentokil enable information to be shared
cloud-based tools to analyze trades, Initial, which offers a variety of build- between hospitals, doctors, nursing
capitalizing on its database of stock ing-maintenance and courier services, homes, insurers, regulators and
transaction data. Best Buy is preparing are among the organizations that are patients in the US health care system.
for the day DVDs are obsolete by reducing IT costs via cloud-based
launching a new online movie-stream- office applications.17 In time, low-cost As with benefits, the ways clouds
ing service that works through a cloud providers in other industries may be will change competition are not yet
managed by a third party.14 especially keen to find ways to use fully understood. Strategists will need
clouds to further reduce the cost of to perform a thorough assessment
Organizations can also use clouds doing business. to understand how clouds can help
to quickly engage with customers. them compete or threaten existing
Starbucks used clouds to develop a Clouds will not only enable strategy, businesses. CIOs will have to track the
web site promoting volunteerism in but change competitive environments. evolution of the technology to ensure
just four weeks, timed to Barack Organizations will have to learn to that strategic ambitions do not outrun
Obama’s inauguration. Designed to thrive in a world of Internet giants cloud computing’s capabilities.
scale easily, it handled three million with extraordinarily large computing
hits on its first day alone.15 By using capacities. The Google cloud processes
the speed, power and easy access 20 petabtyes of data a day—the equiv- What risks must my
of cloud applications, start-ups and alent of 400,000 PCs with 50 gigabyte organization manage?
established companies alike can hard drives.18 Few companies will
attempt to seize first mover advantage choose to build the massive clouds Technologists and agencies have
in a new market, enter an adjacent that run these services, but many must already identified many data protec-
market or new region, and displace compete with or rely on organizations tion and privacy risks connected with
slower-moving, less innovative rivals. that do. Failure to do so, as many cloud computing.19 CIOs are concerned
Every strategist will need to under- media, music and conventional retailers that their data could be stolen by
stand when clouds can provide a com- are finding, can devastate profits. hackers, mixed with data from their
petitive advantage, and when their cloud providers’ other customers, or
current IT infrastructure becomes a Executives also need to consider released by mistake. Any of the above
competitive disadvantage. cloud computing in a global context. would expose organizations to public
Enterprises in developing nations may embarrassment and lawsuits as well
Clouds can also help companies use cloud computing to compensate as the time and expense of cleaning
improve their efficiency and decision for immature or incomplete IT infra- data and undoing other damage.20
making, and make them more compet- structure, much as they used mobile Less-well understood is how local
itive and profitable. BT Group is using telephony to offset a lack of land laws and regulations apply to cloud
cloud-based analytics for revenue lines. Developing nations may also computing, especially among multi-
optimization, by analyzing hundreds promote clouds as a low cost way to national companies.
of millions of call-center records to provide IT services to small or start-up
businesses. Tomorrow’s global com-
petitor or partner could well be built
on clouds.
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7. Six Questions Every Executive Should Ask about Cloud Computing
Organizations need to know how and back up their services with stronger Executives should discover which
laws that restrict the storage of guaranteed service level agreements, risks apply to their organizations and
customer and employee data, or that it is unlikely that enterprises will use how to ameliorate them. They should
open their data to government sub- them to replace their financial systems find out which cloud service providers
poenas and searches, affect cloud or to process orders during the holiday they can trust, and whether their
computing. For example, European shopping season. own organizations’ data management
companies needs to understand how practices expose them to risk.24 And
they could violate EU regulations, or IT managers will uncover other they should not forget that clouds
come under the jurisdiction of the challenges. For example, how many can provide security benefits as well
USA Patriot Act, if they use American sources of data can a cloud-based as risks. (For more on security risks—
cloud service providers or European application draw upon from before it and benefits—see Figure 3.)
providers that move data to a server becomes sluggish? Will it be more
in the United States.21 challenging to integrate data when
it must be shared between cloud
Problems with reliability, performance services or with their complex conven-
and other technical issues present tional systems? How do they make
IT-related risks. Clouds do fail: even sure they can easily reclaim the data
prominent cloud service providers have held for them by one cloud provider,
suffered service outages or slowdowns.22 so they can easily switch to another?23
Unless cloud providers can match the IT organizations must find answers
uptime performance of large organiza- to questions like these if they are to
tions with mature IT infrastructures, deploy clouds more broadly.
Figure 3. Cloud security risks and benefits
Executives have focused on the possible risks of cloud computing, but the technology also offers potential security benefits.
Top security risks Top security benefits
• Loss of governance: loss of control on issues affecting • Scale: advanced security measures are more affordable
security to cloud provider when done on a large scale, allowing cloud providers
• Lock-in: lack of tools, procedures, data formats or to invest more in security
interfaces to guarantee portability • Market differentiation: security concerns motivate
• Isolation failure: failure of mechanisms that separate providers to improve security practices
data of organizations sharing a cloud • Standardized interfaces: large cloud providers can offer
• Compliance risks: providers unable to prove compliance, a standardized, open interface to managed security
or permit auditing services providers
• Management interface compromise: exploitation of • Resilience: ability of clouds to reallocate resources for
browser and remote access vulnerabilities to gain access authentication, encryption, etc.
to protected data • Audit and evidence-gathering: clouds can readily
• Data protection: data handled in an insecure or unlawful analyze possible breaches and generate logs
way by provider • Updates: timely patches, updates and security settings
• Insecure or incomplete data deletion: data not fully can be rapidly rolled out or adjusted
wiped out when requested • Resource concentration: cheaper and easier to control
• Malicious insider: damage by renegade cloud system access to one large facility than many smaller ones
administrators and security providers
Source: “Cloud Computing: Benefits, risks and recommendations for information security,” the European Network and Information Security Agency,
November 2009
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8. Six Questions Every Executive Should Ask about Cloud Computing
What are my next steps? Keep cloud efforts on track. Make Buy cautiously, appraise frequently.
sure cloud computing receives the It’s too early to predict who the major
Cloud computing is too important a focused thinking, planning and follow- cloud providers will be in a few years,
technology to leave entirely to tech- up it requires. Use the answers to what capabilities they will deliver,
nologists. While the work of migrating these six questions to identify and when they will deliver them, and
from conventional to cloud computing address immediate business needs that how well. So when selecting cloud
is likely to fall on the shoulders of lend themselves to cloud computing providers, carefully consider whether
the CIO, other senior executives have and longer-term opportunities for they have the potential to be a desirable
important roles to play. To make sure clouds, to develop a plan for using partner in the future. Even after they
an organization maximizes benefits public and private clouds, and to gain are chosen, evaluate your partners
and minimizes risks, executives must the capabilities the plan requires. on their financial stability, as well as
do the following: Make sure the organization senses and their ability to improve functionality
responds appropriately to the impact and service levels, to integrate data
Ask hard questions and demand clouds are having on their industry across different technology platforms
data-based analyses regarding and competitive environment. and cloud services, and to deliver on
cost savings. Don’t assume automatic their promises.
and substantive cost savings. Do Set the standards for success.
an ROI analysis. Consider conversion Provide the necessary oversight to the It will take time for organizations
and ongoing costs as well as savings. IT organization. Make sure goals and to transition to cloud computing.
Don’t be intimidated by the jargon. deliverables are well understood, and Executives are still grappling with
Experiment or pilot on low-hanging projects are well aligned with business its risks and possibilities, and the cost
fruit such as workgroup applications, needs. Clarify how the value from of writing off current IT investments.
or on a non-mission critical, non- cloud computing is to be determined: Still, a transition to a hybrid of cloud
integrated application. Then be ready which quantitative and qualitative and conventional computing is under
to scale once you’ve proven the benefits benefits are sought? And consider what way. The capabilities and potential
are worth it. else constitutes success besides value savings from clouds are too great to
achieved and projects completed: skills ignore. In addition, software developers
Establish a clear governance structure developed, partnerships established, and venture capitalists will be drawn
for cloud computing. Many organiza- and risks addressed. to this new market. The low develop-
tions have rules and structures in ment cost, short development cycle,
place that govern how IT decisions are Provide the necessary support. and quick return on cloud services are
shared between line and IT executives. Besides financial resources and tech- irresistible. This means future IT
Use them (and if they don’t exist, cre- nical talent, support other activities advances and innovations are much
ate them) to decide who inside and that will underpin the success of cloud more likely to be based on clouds
outside the IT organization should be initiatives. For example, organizations than conventional computing. The
engaged in decisions on cloud com- may benefit from a community of critical issue isn’t whether cloud com-
puting, and what decision-making practice or a cloud program office puting will become a fundamental
rights and responsibilities they have. to develop the skills and share the technology in the next decade. It is
experiences of people engaged in how companies will make money from
cloud projects. the capabilities it offers.
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9. Six Questions Every Executive Should Ask about Cloud Computing
Notes 5 Accenture formally defines cloud computing 18 Jeffrey Dean and Sanjay Ghemawat,
1 “What the Enterprise Needs to Know About as “the dynamic provisioning of IT capabilities “MapReduce: Simplified Data Processing on
Cloud Computing,” Accenture Technology from third parties over a network.” See “What Large Clusters,” Communications of the ACM,
Labs, October 2009; “Gartner Identifies the the Enterprise Needs to Know about Cloud January 2008; Peter Vajgel, “Needle in a Haystack:
Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2010,” Computing,” Accenture Technology Labs. Efficient Storage of Billions of Photos,”
Gartner, Inc. press release, October 20, 2009; 6 David Katz, “Tech Titans Building Boom,” Facebook Engineering’s notes, April 30, 2009;
“2009年云 算中国 题 道” IEEE Spectrum, February 2009; Maija Palmer, “Zoinks! 20 hours of Video Uploaded Every
(“Cloud Computing in 2009 Forum dossier”), “Where the Internet Lives,” Financial Times, Minute!” Broadcasting Ourselves: The Official
Chinese Institute of Electronics Cloud Computing November 17, 2009. YouTube Blog, May 20, 2009; “Y,000,000,000u
Experts Association, http://server.it168.com; 7 Luiz André Barroso and Urs Hölzle, The Tube,” October 9, 2009, http://youtube-
“The Cloud Wars: $100+ billion at stake,” Datacenter as a Computer: An Introduction global.blogspot.com.
Merrill Lynch, May 7, 2008; Avenade 2009 to the Design of Warehouse-Scale Machines 19 “Having Confidence in Cloud Computing:
Global Survey of Cloud Computing, (Morgan & Claypool Publishers, 2009). Addressing Enterprise Security Concerns,”
http://www.avanade.com; Laurianne McLaughlin, 8 Condon, ibid. Accenture Technology Labs, 2009; “Cloud
“Cloud Computing Survey: IT Leaders See 9 Accenture Technolocy Labs, ibid. Computing: Benefits, Risks and Recommendations
Big Promise, Have Big Security Questions,” 10 “Pressure Performance: 2009 IT Report,” for Information Security,” European Network
CIO Magazine, October 21, 2008. Accenture CIO Organization, November 2009. and Information Security Agency, November
2 Eric Auchard, “Salesforce.com Signs Citigroup 11 “CTO Roundtable: Cloud Computing,” 2009; “Above the Clouds: A Berkeley View
Deal,” Reuters.com, November 15, 2007; Communications of the ACM, Volume 52, of Cloud Computing,” UC Berkeley Reliable
“Salesforce.com Powers Starbucks Campaign Number 8 (2009), http://queue.acm.org; Adaptive Distributed Systems Laboratory,
to Mobilize Americans in National Service,” Gray Hall, “Bechtel Harnesses the Cloud: February 10, 2009; Robert Gellman, Privacy
Salesforce.com press release, January 21, 2009, Case Study of an Enterprise Cloud,” in the Clouds: Risks to Privacy and Confidentiality
http://www.salesforce.com; Ron Condon, Cloudstoragestrategy.com. from Cloud Computing (World Privacy
“The Opportunities and Risks of Cloud 12 “Cloud Coockoo Land Computing,” dotfuture- Forum, 2009).
Computing Services,” SearchSecurity.co.uk, manifesto.blogspot.com; Andy Greenberg, 20 CIO Cloud Computing Survey,” CIO Magazine,
February 23, 2009. “Deflating the Cloud,” Forbes.com, April 15, 2009 June 2009; “Clouds Beyond the Hype:
3 Ethan Smith, “Disney Touts a Way to Ditch the 13 “SaaS Returns Bolster Cloud Computing’s Positioning for the New Era of Enterprise IT,”
DVD,” Wall Street Journal, October 21, 2009. Promise,” Computer Economics, March 2009. presentation by Frank Gens, International
4 Ben Worthen and Justin Scheck, “Tech Giants 14 Penny Crosman, “Cloud Computing Begins Data Corp. to the Society for Information
Ramp Up Their Online Offerings,” Wall Street to Gain Traction on Wall Street,” Wall Street Management Boston chapter, June 11, 2009;
Journal, June 22, 2009; “Cloud Services/SaaS: & Technology, January 6, 2009; Galen Gruman, McLaughlin, ibid., Avenade study, ibid.
What Telcos Are Doing,” IDC Technology “Early Experiments in Cloud Computing,” 21 Mell and Grance, “Effectively and Securely
Assessment, October 2009; “China Mobile InfoWorld.com, April 7, 2008; Steve Lohr, Using the Cloud Computing Paradigm,”
Enters Sphere of Cloud Computing,” Interfax, “Best Buy Prepares for the Post-DVD Era,” presentation by the (U.S.) National Institute
November 17, 2009; Bernard Golden, “The bits.blogs.nytimes.com, November 3, 2009. of Standards and Technology’s Information
State of Cloud Computing in Japan,” CIO.com, 15 “Salesforce.com Powers Starbucks Campaign Technology Laboratory, May 15, 2009.
November 5, 2009; “SingTel to Help Establish to Mobilize Americans in National Service,” 22 Gmail blog, “We Feel Your Pain, and We’re Sorry,”
Singapore as a Regional Cloud Computing Salesforce.com press release, January 21, 2009; August 11, 2008 http://gmailblog.blogspot.com;
Hub,” SingTel press release, July 14, 2009; Charles Babcock, “Salesforce Enticing “From Sidemail to Gmail: A Short History of
Chris Preimesberger, “Fujitsu Launches Cloud Customers With Force.com Free Edition,” Cloud Computing Outages,” Network World,
Services in North America,” eWeek.com, InformationWeek.com, June 16, 2009. October 12, 2009.
December 8, 2009. 16 Jarina D’Auria and Kim Nash, “Early Cloud 23 Tony Konter, “Pulte CIO Has Cloud Horror
Adopters Ride Out Hype Cycle,” CIO.com, Story,” CIOInsight.com, Sept. 30, 2009.
May 27, 2009. 24 Accenture Technology Labs,
17 “Rentokil to Use Google’s Apps Cloud, “Having Confidence,” ibid.
Biggest Yet,” CIOzone.com, 13 October 2009;
Genentech on Google Apps, YouTube.com;
Erika Murphy, “City of Angels to Give Cloud
Computing a Go,” TechNewsWorld.com,
October 28, 2009.
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10. Six Questions Every Executive Should Ask about Cloud Computing
About the authors About Accenture
Jeanne G. Harris (jeanne.g.harris@ Accenture is a global management
accenture.com) is a senior executive consulting, technology services and
research fellow with the Accenture outsourcing company. Combining
Institute for High Performance, and is unparalleled experience, comprehensive
based in Chicago. She is the co-author, capabilities across all industries and
with Thomas H. Davenport, of business functions, and extensive
Competing on Analytics: The New research on the world’s most successful
Science of Winning (Harvard Business companies, Accenture collaborates
Press, 2007) and, with Davenport with clients to help them become
and Robert Morison, of Analytics at high-performance businesses and
Work: Smarter Decisions, Better governments. With more than 177,000
Results (Harvard Business Press, 2010). people serving clients in over 120
countries, the company generated net
Allan E. Alter (allan.e.alter@ revenues of US$21.58 billion for the
accenture.com) is a research fellow fiscal year ended August 31, 2009. Its
with the Accenture Institute for High home page is www.accenture.com.
Performance, and is based in Boston.
He was formerly an editor with such
publications as CIO Magazine and
CIO Insight. About the Accenture Institute
for High Performance
The Accenture Institute for High
Performance creates strategic insights
into key management issues and
macroeconomic and political trends
through original research and analysis.
Its management researchers combine
world-class reputations with Accenture’s
extensive consulting, technology and
outsourcing experience to conduct
innovative research and analysis into
how organizations become and remain
high-performance businesses.
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11. Copyright © 2010 Accenture
All rights reserved.
Accenture, its logo, and
High Performance Delivered
are trademarks of Accenture.