Cloud Ventures

When it comes to building new cloud services, there is a large opportunity for new services built around Big Data. So when you look at consulting firms that provide application development and integration services, are there opportunities for them to leverage Big Data in their service portfolio? For enterprise consultancy, cloud platforms and tools such as enterprise integration framework and development software can be used to provide line-of-business, e-commerce and system integration services.  And the nice thing about Big Data is that it helps provide opportunities to build financially sustainable services. While there is a large market for cloud computing and mobility solutions, one of the services that consultants are seeing traction with is through offering Big Data analytics, especially in the Healthcare and Automotive verticals.  The nice thing is that the... (more)

ACIS – ESaaS Best Practices

ACIS are a specialist in the Microsoft FAST Search engine, and offer technical and consulting expertise that enables it to be used for the best practices described in our white paper – Microsoft Cloud 2.0 – FAST Social Computing. Their SPM module enables FAST to be used in a ‘Hybrid SaaS‘ manner – In short one version of FAST can serve many different agencies via a form of a multi-tenant architecture, like the Government of Ontario here, which also explains how they use it to improve citizen service access via the various agency portals. Critically they all share one common ind... (more)

Microsoft GovCloud 2.0

We’ve just published our first main ‘Solution Guide’, a complete snapshot of how Cloud is applied in one specific area, in this case the Microsoft portfolio. MicrosoftCloud.biz is intended as a channel marketing tool to envelop all aspects of the Microsoft Cloud supply chain, ranging from in-house Private Cloud through Azure hosting and Office 365. As part of this we’ve started looking at specific client scenarios for the Microsoft set, like Salesforce 2.0 and also how the Globe and Mail might use an Azure/FAST combo like the Chicago Tribune group. EDaaS – GC Docs from the Clou... (more)

Infopedia – Microsoft Salesforce 2.0

One of the most powerful IT case studies I have read recently was the Microsoft one for their own in-house `Salesforce 2.0′ platform, what they call Infopedia. As detailed in the full white paper on this topic of Cloud 2.0, when it is applied to the sales activities of an organization it`s called `Salesforce 2.0`. A powerful focus area as you can imagine, and so given one of the flagship examples of how and why to do it is Microsoft`s own adoption of their own own new products, is a compelling marketing scenario for sure. Get Sharepoint FAST! Critically what`s really important ... (more)

Canada Cloud Network – A Triple Helix Design

The idea behind the Canada Cloud Network has been to identify, review and then utilize a number of Innovation Best Practices to design how (and why) this forum works. In particular one key goal is to implement a ‘Next Generation Cluster‘, a thought leadership piece from Cisco on how the original cluster model from Michael Porter can be upgraded through new Cloud 2.0 technologies. Naturally Cisco suggest their own but the model recommendations aren’t tied to them, so it’s actually a very smart piece. The central idea is that fundamentally clusters are geographically-centric, lik... (more)