Cloud Computing

Recently I was asked, along with a colleague, to host a group of specialists participating in an international trade mission. Needless to say, stakes were high. In this case the trade mission group was from Taiwan, and the topic was Cloud Computing. Our plan was to begin with a high level overview of Cloud Computing; show a few examples of the software, then build out a few business cases that highlight the applicability and value. The very full room, with very smart and informed people with a common interest generated some fascinating conversations.

From my perspective, talking about Cloud Computing from an industry perspective made me realize a few things. What I realized is that the opportunity that cloud computing offers in a number of industry segments, if set correctly, can represent a huge value. First is the value of collaboration to any organization working on any project. The limitations around time zones and practical problems of transferring files are minimized. This also means that by bringing people to the content as opposed to moving content to people audit trails and governance needs are more controlled. The second is the ability to build a backbone that would support any project based activity where diverse applications, people, and requirements can be leveraged and scaled rapidly. Make the right tools available, and it can be a game changer.

A couple of examples came to mind that are simple, but very relevant if you have a capital project, a building, a bridge, an oil refinery, a project of significance in terms of cost and people involved. Cloud Computing could open the opportunity for participants to collaborate more readily, to distribute content following a process, in some cases simplifying the process. Today when an engineering firm has drawings, calculations, specifications, etc for their customer (typically the entity that has commissioned the capital project) they send a transmittal. A transmittal management solution assures a legal transmission of the content from one brick and mortar business (B&M)to another B&M. In a cloud environment you are bringing the supplier and customer to the information. All that is left to do is to define that presents the content to the right user at the right time. Behind the scenes, audit, security, and business processes are tracking the event, recording the legal delivery aspects of the process.

The fundamental thinking is that Cloud Computing brings the people to the content. There may be examples and problems where solutions for CAD or other drawing needs must be dealt with. . Ultimately the value of using cloud simplifies how information is shared, how it is passed from one group of users or stakeholders to another as the project progresses. Longer term, by bringing people to the information, those people are adding to the content and collectively when the process is over, the shared content is accurate content. In the case of an oil refinery being built, the set of drawings, procedures, work instructions, asset information and so on that are handed over are accurate right. The old way has proven ultimately to be the costly and burdensome way. This translates more often than not to be a case where the customer that commissioned the bridge, the building, the oil refinery must recreate information for their purposes, instead of reusing.

I think we all know that Cloud Computing is not a one size fits all solution, and requires blends of various models, where some information, especially really sensitive information, needs to reside in very secure places. That does not mean that if you have projects where large groups of people in multiple organizations should not all work together to collaborate, share information, and speed up how we create content, while drop the cost of those pesky mistakes or recreation of content. The trade mission team was super to work with and enabled me to open my thinking even further to the possibilities. I look forward to more of that.