Cloud Matters

Let's Focus

Early in my career, I spent time as a professional photographer.  Yes, we used film then. Kodachrome was the best available and Kodak was still the great yellow god in Rochester.

Times change and now they're about to file for bankruptcy.  

While the players, tools and technology may be different the foundation principles of photography are still the same.  Pick interesting subject matter.  Pay attention to lighting, composition, exposure.  Help the viewer understand the subject by the way you frame it: long-shot, medium-shot, close-up. When you think you're already close enough, take another step forward - unless standing on the rim of a steep drop.

And in all of this don't forget to focus.  Unless you have some artsy reason not to, focus is essential for all of the other factors work.  Back in the age of film, (this is where my kids would say: "When dinosaurs ruled the earth...")  if someone made a goof, you might hear them say "we can fix it in the darkroom".   Today the darkroom is photo-shop.  But if the original is fuzzy, there's not much help in the darkroom - film or digital.  

Focus, of course, is important in more than pictures.  As we make our plans for 2012, we have a range of options, but ultimately, focus is essential for business success.  That means we need to decide what to focus upon.  

Let's go back to long-shot, medium-shot, close-up.  During dozens of partner interviews during Q4, it became clear to me that we don't adequately help our partners in their business decisions by properly framing the value of some EMC opportunities and most importantly, how the particular relates to the whole.  We tend to go straight to the extreme close-ups and assume that the long-shot, medium-shot are understood.  

But the partner frame of reference is quite different from ours.  While we have a large portfolio - 13 product categories and 46 product families - they typically deal with products from many sources that multiply these numbers exponentially. What they most want - initially at least - is information framed at a wide-angle view - a long shot.  

They also want an approach that helps find the best answer to a customer puzzle and not just one or a few puzzle pieces.

One partner asked for the "three questions a sales person can ask to identify an opportunity".  Frame the customer puzzle. 

Another requested "just the elevator pitch and a pointer to easily consumable details when the next stage arrives".   Learn enough to begin identifying puzzle pieces.

In essence they are asking us to frame what problems EMC solves.  Then they want the short story, some positioning, a value proposition, target markets and profitability profile.  All done in a short-form consumable way. 

If more is needed they'll get it on the second pass after a customer shows interest.

Then they can reframe and re-focus.  

For EMC, that means sharpening the relationship of specific technologies and concepts to partner business opportunities - cloud or otherwise.  It means that we clearly and simply present the partner business value with specific examples.  

It means we don't start with a close-up but ultimately get both partners and customers to want those great close-ups we offer.

 

 

 

 

Partner Notes - High Tech and Practical

 

I’ve been spending a good deal of time recently speaking with partners.  The conversations typically focus around three things:

            1) How is business now and what will drive or obstruct your success in Q4?

            2) What are the plans to grow business in 2012?

            3) How can EMC help?

The individual conversations vary but the central themes that emerge are interesting and often predictable: 

     - “Business is OK but could be better. “

    - “Competition is tough and getting tougher.”

    - “Product margins are tight so we're investing in services and will be hiring  more technical resources in 2012”

     - “We're still figuring out our own cloud play and would welcome any help you can provide.”

    - “We need more accessible, easier and quicker to consume     education and training.”

More reseller partners are becoming cloud solution providers and are seeking to grow that business.

More partners are crossing borders – often through acquisition.  Canada to the US.  US to EMEA.  Mexico to Latin America.     

More partners are selling Vblock, or implementing Vblock based services for Hybrid cloud, including on-demand services to customers that used to just buy their own IT gear.

As EMC has encouraged more partners to sell enterprise products such as VMAXe and VPLEX, they’ve been getting their teams trained and ready from both sales and technical perspectives.  And as we follow through, we see more partners firmly committed to growing their profitable EMC relationship.

Sometimes that means starting with a core group and then bringing others up to speed as they see opportunities multiply. 

Nearly all are looking to enhance Symmetrix expertise and quite a few have VPLEX in their demo labs.   

In some cases, by virtue of recent acquisition or mergers, a big part of their attention is centered on building staff expertise and focus.  That may mean less business in the fourth quarter but higher expectations going into 2012.

Getting back to, “How can we help?”  EMC is responding and reexamining all the ways we work with partners.  That includes variations on these themes in particular: 

 - Need help to focus on the right positioning questions to ask... & the right follow-up to steer customers into the best possible path forward.  Cloud isn’t for everyone.

- Need the high-level EMC messages to circulate broadly and the more particular to get each partner region standing on their own – especially in the enterprise space. 

- Need to have technical exchange opportunities with EMC. Things like the ESD Partner Champions program and on-line communities.

- Need more real-world examples, success stories of where we have seen strategies work.

- Need to better understand the logic flow that reaches the best, profitable, solution proposal.

- Need help with strong positioning and competitive understanding.

- Need help in developing cloud service offerings.

- May need some occasional handholding but the objective is to be independent 90% of the time.  That’s how partners will profit most.

- EMC needs to understand and support partner business objectives and look for ways to mesh with EMC’s own.

“Nobody buys cloud.”  Not all at once anyway.  So partners want to know how to help their customers move down the path that is best for their needs - one that will still result in profitable business and satisfied customers.

Practical.

 

 

 

 

 

VMAXe and New Partner Horizons

The notion of broadening horizons is typically a personal realm, but companies do it too.  In this case, EMC with Wednesday's announcement of VMAXe. 

The VMAXe is a new step for EMC and the Enterprise Storage Division that will help facilitate profitable partner business.  It builds upon VCE/Vblock innovations and a revamped Velocity program intended to help partners broaden their business and get ready for the cloud. 

First, a bit of history: Symmetrix as an EMC brand and flagship product is central to EMC's soul - if companies have a soul.  When I joined EMC in 2000, Data General had only just been acquired and the prevailing focus and energy of our sales was Symmetrix.  The answer to every opportunity - if the opportunity were indeed worthy of pursuit - was Symm.  But that began to change.

Storage Area Networks were just becoming widespread and DG with SAN experience and their CLARiiON storage array was a perfect fit.   Volume began to grow through direct sales accounts but take off through the channel.  Then, signing Dell in 2001 gave partner sales a rocket boost.  A few hundred million became a billion and that certainly got everyone's attention.

As sales through partnerships of all types continued to expand, there was particularly robust success for channel reseller partners selling CLARiiON - more recently VNX. Healthy additions along the way included  backup (BRS), security (RSA), document management (IIG) and the beat continues. 

Still, big, expensive and complex, Symmetrix remained primarily in the realm of direct with a relatively small number of capable / qualified partner resellers.

That's where broadening horizons comes in.  

Velocity, VCE, VMAXe, and Cloud

First, Velocity.  January's revamped Velocity partner program features multiple specialties.  Think of these as focus areas for sophisticated technology and business offerings.  One of these is "Advanced Consolidation" - read Symmetrix and enterprise offerings.  

Velocity specialties are the foundation for partners wanting to build deep technical skills and confidence in pursuit of enterprise business. They get comprehensive training, tools and enhanced financial incentives and, in this specialty, are supported in selling Symmetrix and delivering all the related services.  Add in lots of opportunities for infrastructure migration, virtualization, cloud enablement, application upgrades and more. 

EMC  expands its footprint.  Partners enhance their bottom line.

Now, couple Velocity for Symm with VCE - the Virtual Computing Environment company that converges cloud infrastructure from Cisco, VMware and EMC in a Vblock.  VCE certified partners already have the expertise in storage, networking and virtual environments.  Adding VCE to the list for a certified Symmetrix reseller positions them to offer industry leading cloud infrastructure.   Because the technology involved crosses company boundaries, this is a perfect business opportunity for partners to play a uniquely competitive role in advancing the cloud journey for their customers.

Enter VMAXe. 

"VMAXe is EMC’s new entry-level into the Symmetrix family. Symmetrix VMAXe was developed for customers who require a storage solution with enterprise reliability, availability, and serviceability and a scale-out, multi-controller architecture within a tight IT budget. Symmetrix VMAXe further complements EMC’s existing storage portfolio and creates a new lower entry point for customers looking to move into the Symmetrix family."

Wednesday's press release, noted that VMAXe is:

   "Now Available Worldwide: EMC is making high end storage capabilities available through more channels around the world than ever before.  The Symmetrix VMAXe can be purchased from EMC Velocity Channel partners or direct from EMC immediately.

This product is designed to fill a gap between the top end of EMC VNX and the entry point to Symmetrix VMAX.  

Yes we have noticed some of our competitors exploiting that gap.  

VMAXe is also designed to be channel friendly - customer friendly too.  It's easier to order (comes pre-configured), easier to install (we assert less than four hours, but we've already seen installations in less than two), easier to operate (virtual provisioning).  Also easier on the budget. 

Symm resellers who have been certified on VMAX are automatically eligible to sell VMAXe after a bit of on-line differences training.  A nice addition to the portfolio and the competitive arsenal as well.

So what?

As with any good company looking out for its shareholders, EMC is looking to secure more business in more markets and in more market segments.  VMAXe is designed to help make that happen.  A central theme running through it is that we have indeed expanded our Horizons and reseller partners are very much a part of that expansion.  

We already have a good number of partners certified or well on their way.  Always room for one more. 

Lots of details and info and blog perspectives through the links below.

EMC.com/VMAXe

Chuck's blog

The Storage Anarchist

Virtual Geek

Computer Reseller News

 

Of Clouds and Culture

Simplify.

One big promise of cloud IT is in making the complex simple.  Or, at least, hiding complexity.  

We tend mostly to look at it through the lens of technology. Think of IaaS, PaaS, SaaS.  Think of user choice, flexibility, cost control and self-service.  Think of Big Data meeting Cloud in a way that helps to manage the impact and opportunities of both. 

So, how's that playing out in practice?  

I'd say it's a lot like the picture EMC paints of the cloud journey.  We move through phases of physical-to-virtual-to-critical applications-to-IT as a Service.  But we need to add geographic, cultural  and institutional considerations.  Gaps that need to be recognized and addressed.  

I've written previously about the massive IT and cloud challenges facing the US government. They are certainly at one extreme end of the spectrum.  But they recognize that and have put a very big emphasis on the journey.   By one recent estimate, the US government will save about $18.8 billion a year when they finish consolidating several hundred data centers.   And they are making a lurching but impressive progress.

Of course, with over 2000 data centers around the world, a bit of lurching is to be expected.  

So their impetus is saving dollars.  Then there is federal culture.  Fed culture ranges from smart & responsible use of taxpayer's money to silliness, waste and fraud - which has little or nothing to do with technology.   It's the way of thinking that needs to change if the cloud technology is going to effectively deliver.

So, as they save all that taxpayer money, they need to address the thinking that will help to take advantage of the new infrastructure and deliver better services too.  Make the cultural shift.

If you look at institutions with a profit motive they are driven by a much different culture.  Of course they want to save money.  In addition, they'll want to innovate, maximize returns, gain a competitive edge. They may see cloud & virtualization approaches helping to do that but they still need to change individual thinking and institutional culture to take full advantage.  

What we do in the US is very likely going to be different than the UK or Germany. As you move to smaller countries and economies it will be different yet again.  

I saw this recently through the eyes of a partner.  

During a training session in Vienna, we discussed the current thinking in Poland about customer interest in virtualization and cloud.   And what this partner has seen so far is a gradual virtualization adoption but considerable reluctance to embrace cloud - at least outside of the institutional firewall. 

The savings are enticing but trust is a big factor - a strong cultural bias toward maintaining direct physical control of data and infrastructure.  Not trusting anyone else to safeguard it.  

Sound familiar?

Now, you might be correct in thinking that it's only a matter of time before they "catch up".  Or it just may be that the culture will keep them where they are .

For awhile at least.  

Until they can establish trust. 

Grappling with Cloud Identities

I've  been absent.   AWOL.  

I did have a rhythm posting a new blog post several times a month and sometimes several a week.  On energy efficiency. On cloud. 

Crunched for time and stopped.  

Like golf -  a time thing.  You enjoy it. You need time to do it.  

As one EMC exec says: "You can do anything you want, just not everything you want."

So I've been grappling with that for some time.  

Well, I don't have any new time bonus but I'm coming back to the blog fold  - at least part-time.   That's because I'm seeing some interesting developments as cloud is forcing a rethink for channel and value-added reseller business models.    

It's a cloud topic that hasn't gotten enough attention. 

Just as we have some early adopter customers, we have early adopter resellers. These are advanced EMC partners making a fairly rapid shift toward expertise and offerings that  support their customers  in transition to cloud-based IT models.

So, what's that mean?

This week I am in Europe to spend time with a few EMC partners in a series of visits and
and a couple of advanced training days. The point is that our partners - not just in EMEA - are very aware that the coming of cloud computing means change for their customers but also a fundamental change in their own business models.  While it's easy to say and may even be obvious, it isn't easy to do.  There are new roles that need new skills. New ways of consulting, selling, offering services that require new thinking.

So, EMC is looking to help in a variety of ways - advanced training being one. That's why we created the new "Cloud Architect" training.  But more importantly we are increasing investment in the advanced technical, sales and business capabilities of partners because the shift to cloud is more than a technology advance.  It's a whole new way of doing business.  New way of doing government too.

The "Information Policy" blog recently noted that cloud computing is critical to European Union competitiveness: 

"European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes sees cloud as ... one of the key enabling information technologies that can help European businesses –especially SMEs – to drastically reduce IT costs, help governments supply services at a lower cost to citizens and make computing much more energy efficient. The promotion of cloud computing in Europe is therefore an important objective of the Digital Agenda for Europe."

So, if the EU sees it and EMC partners see it and EMC is taking a position to lead it, then EMC should be doing all that it can to address the transformation.  That, of course, is frequently demonstrated in EMC technology advances.  

But there is more to be done in "how to.  The development of the business models, the means to transition from what we did to what we need to do next and the need to understand just what the benefits and opportunities of the new model have in store.  

Pitfalls too.

As the idea of cloud has become more widely understood and accepted, the how-do-we get-there questions are more critical.  For example, it's clear that there must be an organizational evolution as well as a technical one.  

The traditional technical skills are still absolutely needed but in many ways it's even more important for the people and business process to advance. Start with a new understanding of business service implications and look at developing skills in cloud architecture and the management of new services such as virtual desktops, infrastructure services, application services etc. 

Then think about how to accelerate all of that through consulting, education and certifications.  

Many of our partners are well on their way - and their customers are too. 

More on the Government Cloud

While creating the previous post, I came across a  General Services Administration (GSA) landing page featuring current news as well as a link to all of their 2010 press releases. 

In addition to the announcement I highlighted about cloud security, two others were featured and both were about government cloud computing. Here's what it looks like: 

Nov 2, 2010 - Government Closer to Universal Cloud-Computing Security Assessment and Authorization Program

News Release 11/2/2010 Government Closer to Universal Cloud-Computing Security Assessment and Authorization Program

Read More >

Oct 19, 2010 - Cloud-Based Infrastructure as a Service Comes to Government

News Release 10/19/2010 Cloud-Based Infrastructure as a Service Comes to Government

Read More >

Oct 26, 2010 - Data.gov Reaches for the Sky with Additional Cloud Services

News Release 10/26/2010 Data.gov Reaches for the Sky with Additional Cloud Services

Read More >

This may not seem remarkable 'til you examine the listing of all the other releases this year and see that none relate to cloud computing.  (My personal favorite is the one on goats clearing brush behind the Federal Courthouse in Pasadena: GSA Deploys Goat Herd to Save Energy, Money.) These have all been released within a period of a few weeks, so it seems the current focus is pretty strong.  That made me curious about what other big governments may be doing and the answer is, quite a bit. For example, an article in the UK Guardian details how something called the "G-Cloud" would help cut government expenses.  And if you've been following the news from Britan, you know that austerity measures are well underway.   The outlined plan would set up a series of consolidated data centers costing about £250m each.  These would offer shared services and, once established, more than 500 current data centers become candidates for shut down.  Once complete, they hope to gain as much as £3.2bn in annual savings.  But they get it too that the benefits go well beyond the financial: "The G-Cloud plans could support everything from pooled government data centres to a communal email solution, collaboration tools and staff-editable wikis (like Wikipedia, but private). Part of the plan points to the potential of an internal government "app store" so that recommended tools could be shared and distributed among government departments. By 2015, the strategy says, as much as 80% of the government departments could be using this system." AND "The benefits for the government are largely the same as the advantages for business – reliability, cost savings and access to innovation by sharing resources. .... Another benefit could be the opportunity to develop more efficient, green practices." By now the pattern is well established.  Businesses and government agencies look at cloud computing as a way to cut expenses.  Then, as they gain more insight to the innovative possibilities, they see the potential for new ways of doing business - creative ways to deliver more effective and efficient services.   There are also the common stumbling blocks - the cultural shifts - that mean managing IT differently, changing procurement practices, developing new skills and staff expectations. These are sometimes the toughest to do quickly. But the potential gains will are clearly building momentum.  Given their huge annual expenditures on IT (US is about $80B) it's appropriate to be curious about broader government cloud adoption.  They are a key indicator of speed and standards.   I'll keep looking around and periodically share updates.

 

The White House and Cloud Computing Security

EMC Public Relations provides a great daily industry news aggregation.  Makes it easy and quick to scan headlines and pick up items of interest. 

In today's version, one headline read: “White House Proposes Common Security Requirements for Cloud Computing”.  Details  appeared in " nextgov" an on-line publication about "technology and the business of government"

Now, I'd have thought that the White House would be pre-occupied with yesterday's election but that wasn't the case.  Nice to see work continues whatever the distraction.  And this one is an interesting step in the cloud progression.

In the continuing push toward facilitating and standardizing how government agencies expand cloud capabilities with appropriate levels of security:  

"The Obama administration on Tuesday proposed a common set of security requirements for cloud computing that all federal agencies and contractors could share. The move is intended to expedite the transition to universal Web-based services by eliminating the need for agencies to assess and authorize every information technology product. "

It may take a decade but the intent is for cloud based IT to become standard across the US Federal Government.  Since a major rationale for this is waste reduction, it makes sense to create a way for security standards and  qualifications to be shared: 

"Completing the security assessment and authorization process separately by each customer is redundant," ...A "governmentwide risk and authorization program will promote faster and cost-effective acquisition of cloud computing systems by using an 'authorize once, use many' approach to leveraging security authorizations."

Something this sensible had to be executed without the help of Congress.  Probably in secret. 

Of course they did have some federal fun with a typically frumpy  name for the initiative:  Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP)

Greening the Fabric

An article in today's Boston Globe,  "Taking a different measure", profiles how "Akamai Technologies is keeping a careful eye on its greenhouse emissions."

What I find gratifying about this is that it isn't any longer a special add-on to the mindset but rather - under the leadership of the Akamai CEO, Paul Sagan - an integral part of the way they measure themselves.  

(EMC is doing quite a bit in this realm which you can sample here in a feature set called "Captains of Sustainabiltiy")

Akamai operates 70,000 servers to handle as much as 15-25% of global internet traffic every day. Now, in addition to measurments of network activity they're monitoring emissions to reduce their CO2 output.

They found that network operations were 86% of their overall carbon emissions. So they marshaled the IT, facilities and programming teams to make improvements. Results were impressive: "by the end of 2009....Akamai achieved a 32 percent reduction in energy consumption and carbon emissions relative to network traffic."

In 2010, they expect to achieve another 35%.  

Sagan says that the project wasn't completely altruistic - he's saving a lot on his cost of power.  Akamai is also reporting carbon emissions in their annual report and taking advantage of the positive PR it generates.  

All toward setting a good example and helping the environment, and the bottom line is still the bottom line.   

 

...by any other name...

By a different name - or no name in particular -  is it still a cloud?  We all know what Shakespeare said:

 

"What's in a name? that which we call a rose

 By any other name would smell as sweet;

So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,"

Romantic eh?

In a more mundane realm, there are lots of organizations that have worked for years toward consolidated, optimized, automated and virtualized infrastructures and they just call it "efficient".  

No roses.  No cloud - until now maybe.

Many have taken that very practical approach to save expenses, to virtualize, and only recently adopted the cloud terminology.  Still, the underlying intent and capability fit the concept perfectly.  

Take the example of Ken Theis, CIO for the State of Michigan.  I recently had the opportunity to share the virtual stage with Ken for a webcast that highlighted some of the early innovations he put in place.  

Keep in mind that this is a huge operation - 1700 employees, 800 business applications, 55,000 desktops and 19 separate agencies being consolidated into one.

Not simple. Not easy. Not quick.  But in many respects the technology was easy compared to the operational, social and procedural change required.

Over several years, Ken's operation made huge strides before the cloud buzz and now he's embraced that too with a willingness to incorporate service providers into his plan - provisionally.  He offers five key ingredients that service providers must deliver:  

"To get it right, Theis has identified five critical areas that the state's cloud initiative must encompass to assure its success. They are:

• Ownership of data;
• Security compliance;
• Compliance with federal and state legal requirements;
• Location of data; and Service-level agreements." 

Ownership of the data means two things.  First, it is the client's data and they need to control it.  Then, the service provider has to respect and protect it.  Make certain that even if their business fails that the customer's data is till intact and accessible.

Then there is security and compliance which go together with certifiable audit trails and adherence to regulations.  This is all pretty boring stuff 'til the sheriff shows up and then things can get exciting.

Finally you have the key IT premise that whatever you need for service levels can be assured at a bet-your-business level.  You make promises to your end users.  The SP must make guarantees to you.  (They will also charge you appropriately and that's the way they stay in business.)

Michigan started their journey in 2001 with a five phase plan.

Phase I – Risk assessment - the good, the bad and the bloody awful...

    - Temperatures in the 80s, flood plain locations and scary DR

Phase 2 – Strategize & prepare - then get the critical stuff in motion...

     - Migrate the critical apps with special attention to the ones that impact lives and safety, and of course the State’s revenue collection

     - This is also where facilities need attention - infrastructure, capital   vendor contracts  and coming up with common processes for migration 

Phase 3 – Communicate & create momentum

    - Create the common vision, including agency buy-in and scary true stories that show vulnerabilities and wasted budget dollars with promises for improvements in security, delivery and cost.

Phase 4 – Consolidate!

    - Prove the case with a well executed pilot and create standards for moving forward

As the journey progressed Michigan increased security, began virtualizing applications, introduced ITIL best practices and created a strategic vision that accommodates primary and secondary service requirements and critical security functions.  

Through this process, they created their five key cloud factors:

• Ownership 

• Security

• Legal issues (privacy)

• Location for hosting

• SLAs

Those looking for proof that cloud delivers on its promise can look here.  Ken and his team developed  a strategy that used trusted vendors to assist and validate. They established standards.  Cloud wasn't what they started out for but they smartly adjusted with experience and new technology.  

They achieved a very good working model.

A rose. 

This was and continues to be an IT transformation.  More impressively it is a public sector business transformation.  

In August, EMC awarded Ken Theis the Cloud Computing Visionary Award.  A recognition that puts the State of Michigan and Ken out front in their practical demonstration of vision. 

 

How different is it?

My grandfather was born in Boston in 1888.  Three masted schooners still sailed the harbor and horses filled the streets, not automobiles.  Boston's subway had not yet been built (he'd help do that later on) and gas lamps lit the night. 

Over the course of his long life he saw the introduction of steam ships, electric lights, the telephone, airplanes and travel to the moon. He witnessed the introduction of radio, television and the modern computer as well as the great depression, two world wars and lots of smaller upheavals. 

He lived through a lot of dramatic change and "modernization" that pressed ahead, like-it-or-not.  Through all of that change, nobody could predict exactly what it would mean or what impact it would have on everything from the economy and jobs to social structures and international relations. But modernization continued full speed. And I can assure you that he had some great stories about his part in all of it. Some of them true.

Now IT is being modernized - again - and the rate of change that my grandfather witnessed over a lifetime is being compressed into a much briefer span.  Call it cloud or next-gen data center or just common sense business dynamics, the change continues and adjustments will be made.

We'll all adjust and have our own stories to tell.  Some of them true.

One adjustment that I hear a lot of IT professionals thinking about is the shift in and recombination of job skills that will address and take advantage of the changes underway.

So, we've heard it clearly.  The new wave of IT is built differently - pooled architectures centered on service offerings.  

IT will be consumed differently - variable consumption on demand with assumptions of infinite capacity.

IT will be managed differently - lots of automation and low-touch administration.

IT will be governed differently - more sophisticated integration into core business missions. 

So, traditional methods will no longer work.  IT organizations will evolve with new roles, recombined skills, changed org structures, processes, and usage behaviors.

No worry.  IT has already done this multiple times on the technology front and this is just another turn of the crank.  Right?

Maybe not. Maybe this is about more than information technology worries. 

It is  clear that new IT and communications capabilities have impacts way outside the data center.  We've already seen new business structures, social structures and recombinations of fundamental business philosophies.

Some of it is very good.  Some of it will improve business value and raise the competitive bar. Some of it gives cause to worry, or at least evaluate more carefully. For example, how do the new capabilities change how people work and how we think?

While I personally think that the prediction of eReaders eliminating physical books is as credible as the death of the mainframe.  There are other trends of greater concern.

A study published last week shows that cell phone use is trending more toward texting than talking.  What are the implications of that for the social and communications skills of young people coming into the workforce?

Nick Carr had a recent post, Brave New Google, in his blog "Rough Type" noting that in the "Wall Street Journal, Google CEO Eric Schmidt lays out the next stage in his company's ambitious plan to replace human agency with automated data processing, freeing us all from the nuisance of thinking:"

That can't be good for business.

Now I realize that this isn't all dependent on or even related to cloud computing per-se, but it does all ultimately tie back to wise planning as a foundation requirement for how we use technology and how we let it use us.

If, in my grandfathers time, people could have foreseen the long term implications of automobiles - pollution, congestion, urban sprawl, oil spills and more - how might that have influenced the things that they did to manage our collective future? How realistic is it to think that all of the competing interests could have been influenced at all?

No doubt in my mind that we will press ahead with the new technology.  Let's just not get too giddy about the shiny new toys to the detriment of our best interests in the long run.

I'd like to hear what others think.