So, last evening I was having this conversation with a 65 year old retired man, someone who acknowledges that technology "went over his head and passed on". In other words, he does not understand technology, much less Cloud. And he asked me about cloud - what it is, where it resides and what it does.
As I thought through my response, I realized how awful our industry has been in terms of humanizing the tech story. We have told tech tales to tech clients and kept it sufficiently esoteric for the others. But as tech buying shifts to LOBs, we really need to introspect how we communicate and engage these new buyer audiences. But that is a story for another day, so let's get back to our conversation.
Story #1: Cloud Computing Explained
About 150 years ago, factories began to invest in private electric power plants / generators to power their machines. And quickly built up a huge competitive advantage over those factories that did not - or could not - afford their own power generator. This was the era of low voltage, Direct Current systems. (If you want to read about the colorful history of how Power generation systems evolved, read here: History of Electric Power Transmission)
However, with the advent of High Voltage transmission, Transformers, and finally the emergence of Alternating Current, the idea of a city-wide electric utility to which any factory or consumer could tap into and pay for use came in.
Suddenly, having a private power generator in the backyard did not matter; Any factory could simply plug into the utility, use power and pay for their use! Of course, the factories that had their own infrastructure resisted this change. But change is a great leveler, and over time, the idea of plugging into an electric grid / utility became the norm. Today, we do not know any other way to consume electricyt, than as a utility.
Technology or computing is going through its own utility moment; The last 50 years, companies have invested in building their own IT infrastructures ala. private power generators, in their backyards (called Data Centers). Today, that model is being challenged by the emergence of utility computing, which we call "Cloud".
At this stage in the story-telling, my old friend had a question, a very valid one: what happens to my private information, my finance details, my address and other sensitive information? Wouldn't putting it all on this cloud put me at risk?
Data, privacy and Security are concerns whether we like or not. They are realities of a world we live in. As long as you browse the internet, use a mobile phone, engage on a social media platform - you are opening up to this reality. Infact, and notwithstanding the Personal Data Protection Acts (PDPA) drawn up by Governments around the world, it is still a matter of routine for us to produce - even deposit - our national ID cards (NRIC, here in Singapore) or Drivers' Licence to the security guard when we go visiting friends at their condo or office buildings. With that one act, you are putting up your private information up in public domain and potentially at risk.
So, Data, Privacy and Securing them are very real issues. The questions to ask are "How do you manage them?", and "What role can Cloud play in mitigating these risks?".
Story #2: Why you need to think like the parent of a 15 year old
As a parent of a 5 year old daughter, you could tell her to be back home by 7PM and she would comply. You could rest knowing she would comply.
10 years later, your daughter is a 15 year old young lady with a mind of her own. If you think you can tell her to be back home by 7PM and expect compliance, you are living in an unreal world. The role of a parent has to change; you become her friend, hopefully someone who has her confidence. You invite her out and go out for outings together. You cannot stop a teen from doing what she wants, but by becoming her friend, acknowledging her needs, and "facilitating", you are (a) aware (b) establishing guardrails (c) managing smartly.
Now imagine: that 15 year old daughter is your employee. You are the CIO.
10 years ago, when employees did not have laptops, smartphones, social media, even thumb drives, skype etc, you could ask that they come to office, work with company information - and when they leave, ensure nothing goes out. Today, with all the aforementioned technologies in their hands, it is near impossible to ensure compliance. Even with good intentioned employees, compliance issues can happen. So, as a CIO, your best bet is to provide a "facilitated envrionment and manage" their engagement. And this is where Cloud REALLY helps drive better security. By centrally managing access to corporate data, you can safeguard people, applications and devices connecting to the cloud; by identifying vulnerabilities early, you can help prevent attacks; by centrally monitoring the cloud for security breaches, you can gain visibility of what is coming up - and therefore, often prevent, rather than cure, security breaches.
So, there you go. Want to secure your company? Go with Cloud. Think like a parent of a teen.
Disclaimer: The views expressed here in - via posts, photos, videos or any other form - are my own, and does not claim to represent the views of my employer, school, organization or any other affiliation.
