Manufacturing organizations cautious when approaching cloud services
25 August 2011 16:48:27
Much of the private sector has already adopted cloud computing services for IT operations. However, the public sector, along with portions of the private, such as the healthcare, insurance and other industries that handle sensitive data, has been cautious when considering using the new technology.
Experts believe this to be a symptom of the novelty of cloud components, such as Infrastructure-as-a-Service, Software-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service, as new technology is viewed by many as a liability, especially for companies that manage sensitive data. Another factor holding some companies back is their inability to run the internally-developed software currently in use on new platforms.
Control Engineering Europe recently published an article explaining how throughout all industries, even those who have adopted cloud services, the manufacturing departments of many companies are slow to put faith in new IT practices.
According to the source, corporate and executive levels of organizations decide to change operations to cut costs, or as a result of seeing the potential in innovations, while the manufacturing level has not yet reached an understanding or comfort level with a transition. The website notes that the IT applications often need to be built to last on the industrial level, while the executive levels go through devices and software at a higher rate.
Additionally, some view the cloud as only providing one-size-fits-all services, which would not work for industrial employees, as software is largely developed in a specific way for specialized functions.
Still, the website affirms, the cloud can offer a highly tailored product, and more importantly for this type of worker, products such as Platform-as-a-Service can often adjust to host certain software. Support from the vendor can also help to modify software to fit the PaaS chosen by the company.
For purposes such as integration with new innovations, improving security and increasing continuity within a given production department, the website believes the production level will eventually see the cloud as an intelligent option for IT operations.
To combat these drawbacks, communication between IT departments, executives and floor managers needs to improve. Availability, the source notes, will quickly change from being feared because of migration and implementation processes, to the driving force for industries of all types to take advantage of the services.
Manufacturing and industrial levels of organizations will need to adapt to the rapidly changing world of technology. According to the International Data Corporation, the cloud industry is projected to grow from representing 600,000 units and $3.8 billion in 2010, to 1.3 million units and $6.4 billion by 2014.
-McAfee Cloud Security
