Had a recent conversation revolving around “Hosting’ …

which designs are appropriate?  Since requirements should drive such decisions it’s important to list them.  But which ones are critical and actually need to influence the “Spend?”

Unfortunately opinions are sometimes issued as if they were facts.  An important thing to distinguish is what’s convenient / profitable for the vendor.  Is that in conflict with what the customer actually needs?  Each business depends on an ecology of IT services.  But now it’s more a question of why shouldn’t we do it all in the Cloud?

Hate to admit it, but in the IT profession it is common practice for vendors to sell unwitting clients solutions that are only well-fitted to contributing to the vendor’s bottom line.

A simple example I use often: A Real Estate agency needs a self-hosted website for lots of reasons. The same agency does not need self-hosted email.  Cloud services are actually best.  Why?

• Low cost
• Ubiquitous availability (any appliance, anyplace)
• Interconnectedness to social media
• Availability of vendors

Further — Cloud hosting email (like at google, for instance) can place those services in proximity / close association with beneficial Social Media services which can be disruptive — in their market spaces.  And conveniences like cross-platform logins that simplify security and other maintenance issues.