Cloud Computing & Project Management

BANGALORE, INDIA: Gartner predicts the worldwide market for cloud computing will reach USD 68.3 billion in 2010 itself, and will reach USD 148.8 billion by 2014. IDC predicts that 10% of organizational IT budgets will go in favor of adopting the public cloud, and according to Forrester, 44% of the organizations want to move the private cloud way. If these figures are to be believed, then we're far from being well prepared for it. Currently, there are too many announcements being made related to cloud computing, with just about every vendor worth its name hopping onto the bandwagon. This is creating more confusion than clarity amongst prospective cloud computing adopters.

So to eliminate all confusion and make India a global leader in the cloud computing space, what's required is a global delivery model for bringing out better, faster, and cheaper cloud computing products and services. One way to make this possible would be for the industry to come together and bring out a set of best practices by using effective project management techniques. This was essentially the objective of a conference conducted by PMI in Bangalore on August 7, 2010. It was the first one in a multi-city series, which brought together thought leaders from the cloud computing vendors space.

Developing new cloud computing products, apps, and services
There are a lot of questions that come to mind while adopting cloud computing based products and applications. These need to be addressed in a logical way, so that the future products that get developed on this technology eliminate these complaints. Thought leaders in the cloud computing space came together in a panel discussion and gave relevant examples from their own areas.

Cloud aware Web apps: Shouvick Mukherjee of Yahoo! India R&D gave examples of how they were developing cloud computing based web apps for their business. An interesting example of how it should work on the web involves a cricket match. When the match is live, there's heavy traffic on the site, requiring very high hardware utilization, but when the match is over, hardware utilization drops drastically. A traditional app would take hours to make this transition, which is why it's important to develop a ?cloud aware? web app.

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Requirement analysis changes: Hemanth Dattatreya of HP said that the whole requirements analysis process changes with cloud computing. He compared the IT industry to what the electricity industry was when it started. Each organization generated its own electricity, and there were multiple types of voltages (AC/DC), different levels of current, etc. Gradually, electricity was centralized, and standards emerged, so people would simply plug devices into wall outlets without worrying about which generator was being used at the back-end, where it was located, etc. It only mattered that the electrical or electronic device should work, and the user would get billed for the electricity it consumed. Cloud Computing is taking the IT industry in a similar direction, with things getting centralized. So users don't have to worry about the underlying hardware, specs, etc. They just get a platform on which their applications would work, irrespective of the scale. They would get billed according to the application usage.

Cloud Computing for govt: Ashok Srinivasan of Microsoft spoke of building a Cloud Computing platform for the Indian govt, among other things.
Centralize your developer resources: With 17 million customers doing 1.7 million music downloads and demanding more apps, Nokia could not afford to have its huge developer team spread across the globe, and working on different platforms and not talking to each other. It centralized its development platform using the PaaS (Platform as a Service) model. This made developing newer applications easier and more cost effective, said Dr Satyan Coorg of Nokia.

Cloud based apps should simplify IT: The IT infrastructure across most organizations is extremely complex. People often get caught in defining detailed specs to run different apps. If Cloud Computing products are used, it can simplify life, said Niranjan Maka of VMware. He said that if you want to get from point A to point B in a city, it doesn't matter what type of technology is being used by the vehicle you use, nor do you worry about its engine's horse power, type of fuel, etc. That's how the IT infrastructure should also be, which is possible by building Cloud Computing products that simplify the IT infrastructure.

A very interactive audience bringing forth key points on cloud computing, whether it was on agile development practices, requirements analysis, cloud computing to help social causes for the govt, and many other things.

A fruitful discussion on how project management can be the key to establish the best practices for making new cloud computing products, applications, and solutions better, faster, and cheaper. The participants (from L to R) were: Anil Chopra, Editor PCQuest (Moderator); Niranjan Maka, VMware; Dr. Satyan Coorg, Nokia; Ashok Srinivasan, Microsoft; Hemanth Dattatreya, HP; and Shouvick Mukherjee, Yahoo! India R&D

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The world is moving to a subscription-based model: As far as services are concerned, there's a shift being seen toward a subscription-based model. This was the clear message from Pawan Sharma of KPIT Cummins. The traditional way that business functions in any organization involves multiple layers: network, hardware, middleware, apps, process layer, and finally the stake holders on top. These stake holders drive the business and want to improve their processes. For this, they define the process in the process layer, choose the application that would automate this process, and then choose the middleware, and so an and so forth. 

How to bring out Cloud Computing enabled IT services by following project management best practices, the lessons to be learnt and their impact on a global delivery model. The participants (from L to R): V Srinivas Rao (Moderator), Chairman PMI Team India, Venugopalan Dorair, Dell; Gopal Pingali, IBM; Abhijit Shroff, Infosys; Y K Maheshwari, Mphasis; and Pawan Sharma, KPIT Cummins.

The new model does away with this. Now, when consumers want a server, they don't want to bother about the underlying infrastructure. It's like selling a subscription and getting the device free with it, or buying a set top box and getting the TV free with it. Suddenly, the cost of the device itself becomes immaterial. It comes free with the service, because that's what the consumer is interested in paying. So going forward, 80-85% of the cost would go toward subscription, the rest would go in cost of device, support, etc. This completely changes the way you see a project and size the activity. It requires a change in thinking, re-skilling of manpower, etc.

Y K Maheshwari of Mphasis compared this shift to services-based model in a very interesting manner, and how it's bringing innovation down to the individual level. He said that earlier, innovation used to be done within the closed walls of a corporate office by stuffy people who had the money. Then, it moved to SMEs who would try to be innovative without having the necessary funds. Now, it's moved to the individual level, where entrepreneurs are driving the change. Look at all the app stores for instance. They have apps developed by individuals, who're now vying to make their apps popular and profitable. The cloud has moved things from the ground to the cloud, he said. It has empowered everyone to run their own businesses individually.