Do you suffer from cloud computing fatigue? Provocative question, I know, but sometimes you just have to call it like you see it and I am sensing a some pushback out there when it comes to cloud computing. This resistance is coming from both the IT channel as well as the non-technical community. I suppose it was destined to happen.
For two decades, the managed services profession has been searching for a catch phrase; some easy way to describe what it is they do for customers. Finally, around 2008, the term cloud started to come into use, not just within the IT channel, but more importantly, within the non-technical consumer public. Steve Jobs' presentation at the Apple World Wide Developers conference in 2011, other than being his last keynote address, was a major event for managed services in that it was one of the first times the every day consumer got wind of how "cloud computing" could really change their lives. True, his presentation was about the magic of taking a picture on your iPhone and having that picture pushed out to all your other devices. But, we know that cloud computing is much more than just pictures and music. Cloud has a purpose for almost everything we do in our personal lives, as well as our business lives.
The problem is that all this discussion about cloud computing has people just a little tired. The most simple explanation is that cloud has been horribly overused in the last few years. It has been used to describe just about everything that pertains to technology, and consumers and IT professionals alike are getting a bit tired.
I still maintain that cloud is the best marketing device managed service providers have when it comes to easily explaining what they do. However, with that ease of explanation comes the corresponding obligation to maintain standards and discipline when it comes to how consumers perceive cloud is being policed and regulated. Naturally, my belief (along with many thousands of MSPs around the world) is that the UCS audit is the best way to demonstrate that self-regulation.
Overexposure is something everyone in the entertainment business can relate to and understand. Professions have the same problem. Now that MSPs can easily explain their purpose in life to consumers by way of the cloud, now it comes to self-regulating our industry so that those same consumers continue to have faith and trust in the providers. After all, without the trust, all the cloud in the world won't save us.
