Blogs

By Richard Sykes, Chair, Cloud Industry Forum

Election time! But this is not a Party Political broadsheet. What I argue here is that there is a key underlying issue that needs much clearer articulation to our politicians – and to us, their electorate. This is the issue of productivity (or the relative lack of it!) in the UK economy –and the role that our industry can play in its transformation.

By Rebecca Hennessy 
Director of Market Strategy Experian, Data Quality UK&I

Consumer attitudes towards data management are outpacing business’ readiness to respond. However, 2017 could mark an important step towards more transparent data management processes that meet the changing macroeconomic trends

The rapid adoption and development of technological innovation means that we now live in a world built on data. Providing data as part of an interaction with brands has become so familiar to us – whether it’s to utilise apps to plan a journey like Citymapper, access content or pay  online – our awareness of this data exchange has grown greatly. These exchanges have become ingrained in our behaviours and as a result, data is everywhere. Organisations of all shapes and sizes are in possession of more consumer information than ever before. With this comes greater responsibility and an onus on businesses to have effective processes in place to manage their data.

By Simon Rutt
CIF Programmes Director

Lack of Cloud Skills is certainly a problem for the modern business, but how about related cloud business skills and knowledge?

Finding people with right cloud skills to facilitate digital transformation is not an easy process as a recent report from Microsoft echoes. The report, entitled “Microsoft Cloud Skills Report: Closing the Cloud Skills Chasm”, says 83 per cent of UK’s organisations consider cloud skills ‘important’ or ‘critical’ to digital transformation.

By Emma-Jayne Hunt, 8x8

CIF and 8x8 held an engaging session on ‘Taking advantage of the UKs flexible and remote working boom’ at 8x8’s new UK Head Office on Tuesday 28^th February. Here is a summary of what was discussed.

By David Grimes, CTO at NaviSite

Companies are always looking for new ways to increase efficiency and reduce costs while maintaining excellence in the quality of their products and services. A big part of cloud computing that IT departments and service providers increasingly look to is APIs (Application Programming Interfaces – sets of routines, protocols, and tools for building software applications) to enable automation, in turn driving efficiency, consistency and cost-savings. How are businesses doing this, and where are the opportunities for future development?

By HighCloud Solutions

If you’re thinking about saying goodbye to the responsibility of maintaining and supporting your in-house business systems, and you’re considering a move to the cloud to gain the agility and insight you need to compete effectively in today’s ever-increasing competitive environment, that’s a wise move.

All industries are facing more competitive pressures than ever before, and we know that wasting time and resources on costly and ineffective on-premise business systems that fail to support your business strategy is simply not a viable option for you and the long-term growth of your organisation.

Read on to discover the value that a true cloud solution can add to your business.

David Grimes, Chief Technology officer at CIF member Navisite, reflects on cloud market trends in order to continue to provide clients with the solutions and services they need in the ever evolving IT landscape. So what is the next big thing (or perhaps “next big things,” is more accurate) in the wonderful world of cloud?

New research undertaken by 8x8 and the IoD on the UK business community exposes rift between attitudes of company directors and IT managers when it comes to embracing new technology

By Antonio Piraino

All cloud services are prone to failure. Although technically correct, this argument is widely used by industry laggards as a deterrent to cloud adoption. And even if practical examples of cloud outages support this argument, the cloud industry already offers promising solutions to address these concerns.

By Simon Rutt, Programmes DIrector, CIF

As more and more IT systems are externalised, making sure you pick the right cloud providers has become critical to long-term success.

However, the available market is vast, with a myriad of providers offering an even larger number of services. From market giants like Microsoft, Amazon and Google through to smaller niche players offering bespoke services.

So how do you select the right cloud provider from so many? The answer is a defined selection and procurement process appropriately weighted towards your unique set of needs.

We’ve distilled the key factors into a definitive list of 8 consideration areas.