I’ve been promising a post on “The Cloud” so here it is…
The New, New Technology Approach
Cloud computing builds upon the general concepts of the “Software as a Service (SaaS)” model allowing users to access technology-enabled services without having to build, buy, maintain or even understand the technology infrastructure that supports them. It’s all the rage, and it’s replacing existing software systems with better, easier-to-use technology across industries. According to Gartner senior analyst Ben Pring, cloud computing has “become the phrase du jour.”
What’s happening today in “The Cloud”?
Main uses today include end user applications (G docs, Gmail, Zoho), enterprise‐level applications (Customer Relations Management, HR, Sales) and Storage and Database (Amazon’s S3, managed hosting and beta testing services).
Google’s free version of an office software package and utilities is gaining wide acceptance with about 10 million users. A premier version of Google apps will cost $50/year for each user while MS Office costs up to $500 for each version installed.
Amazon Web Services was one of the first companies to offer cloud computing in 2006 or so. They offer simple storage (S3) to provide unlimited document, video, photos, and data storage. Others include Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) for Computer processing; Simple Queuing Service and Simple DB (beta testing), a popular site to test and develop new applications.
The consensus is that Cloud computing is taking off, and it’s actually penetrating smaller organizations even more quickly than large organizations, primarily because it is financially compelling. A $3B investment in The Cloud is forecast by Microsoft (remember the incredible discipline behind avoiding a weather pun here, when you read my closing) in the short term. In 2009, they expect to open a 100‐megawatt data center (note ‐ measured in power, not in numbers of servers) in Chicago; bigger than anything Google currently has running.
So what is happening in HR?
Yesterday’s proprietary technology solutions have been leapfrogged by the capabilities that cloud computing offers. Today, knowledgeable developers with a little industry expertise can leverage a SaaS like Salesforce.com to build out a far superior platform to anything on the market, for less money. Salesforce.com’s motto is “The End of Software,” READ: the end of the traditional applicant tracking and HR Systems in use today.
In the new economy you probably have fewer openings, but you definitely have many more people applying. The only way to adjust is to leverage technology to improve your efficiency and make your workload manageable. But despite the new market realities, few people are demanding a more sophisticated technology approach to address these issues.
The demand is greater than ever before and the technology has evolved, so there are no more excuses. HR leaders need to step up and support their teams with technology that addresses their needs to manage the swelling pipeline of passive and active candidates, and deliver the best possible candidates to those companies who are relying on them now, more than ever, for their survival.
You’ve read my thoughts before on becoming more “entrepreneurial,” designing work differently, and delivering HR services differently. Well this is part of it. The cloud can evolve the way traditional HR services are designed and implemented, accelerate change in shared services initiatives and not just transform, but revolutionize the organization when combined with HRO and RPO. Check out Phil Fersht’s blog for the longer and more technical view. Phil is Research Director at AMR Research on global business, supply chain and IT outsourcing strategies.
If you aren’t thinking about how future technologies can transform your HR service delivery and your organization’s talent management position, then my advice to you is: Get your head in the clouds!
Tags: cloud computing, Gartner, Google, Microsoft, Phil Fersht, SaaS, technology
