Forrester Research advices companies to consider Cloud Computing

Submitted by CloudHosting on Wed, 19/11/2008 - 16:06.

Forrester Research, a technology and market research company that provides pragmatic advice to global leaders in business and technology, has advised CFOs to consider cloud computing for some of their business operations. Software as a Service (SAAS) is the new trend with many providers jumping on board this year. Microsoft have in the past month announced their commitment to the SAAS industry and they join the likes of Google, Cisco and IBM as major players in the sector.

The main benefit of SAAS is the infrastructure cost saving (both hardware and software), putting SME's on par with the larger corporate giants who have access to their own data centres.

Software as a service allows companies to run applications from the web leveraging infrastructure from the third party provider. As a customer, you pay at the end of each month in a similar way to how you pay for your gas or electricity bill - only for the amount you have used. Payment plans differ by provider but are usually calculated through a number of different measures: CPU clock cycle, RAM hours, Bandwidth etc.

Forrester Research editor, Ted Schadler, encourages CFOs to consider switching to the cloud. EWeeks.com has the full story:

Forrester Research has whipped up a new report that advises business managers on how to sell chief financial officers, those folks scrutinizing the bottom lines of your businesses, on cloud computing. The report aims to provide some respite from recession fears.