Adapti: follow the cloud - Mario Schraepen

Over the last few years, 'cloud computing' has been a major buzzword within IT. From relatively slow beginnings, it is being adopted by more and more companies, proving conclusively that there is more to it than mere hype.

CIOs are proving receptive, implementing cloud services at a swifter pace than anticipated. According to a study conducted by Gartner, 43% of businesses will be running the majority of their IT environments in the cloud within the next four years.

"The small companies were the first to reap the benefits," says Mario Schraepen, CEO of cloud computing specialist Adapti. "Then the larger companies began to adopt it as a way of reducing cost. It's happening very, very fast - just two or three years ago, no one knew what cloud computing was all about."

Clear advantages

As an expert in the field, Adapti has been well placed to chart this progression. Based in Belgium, the company helps businesses improve their internal processes and demonstrates the immediate advantages that cloud computing can bring.

The cloud itself is a relatively simple idea that requires little definition. From a consumer standpoint, the best illustration is email - you cannot say where your data is located, but you can access that data from wherever you happen to be. It works along similar lines within an enterprise.

While traditional business applications are complicated, expensive and tricky to implement - taking up both time and physical space - cloud computing allows these applications to run on a shared data centre. Applications can be fully functional within a few days and, irrespective of your location, you only need log in to get started. Schraepen believes that, where companies are reluctant to get on board, this often has much to do with security issues.

If data is lost or stolen, the ramifications can be dire, meaning many customers are understandably reticent. Anyone who is considering transitioning to cloud computing would be viewed as reasonable were they to demand information about data security practices, scrutinise service-level agreements, and make sure that data can be encrypted both in transit and at rest. In Adapti's case, brand recognition goes some way towards mitigating these safety concerns.

"We are partnered with Google and Salesforce, which are used by banks and financial institutions," says Schraepen. "If you trust that financial institution with your money, you will implicitly trust them to keep your data safe."

The company also helps alleviate worries by demonstrating its security process in action.

"We say to customers, 'Give me your username and your password; if I go back to my office and try to log in with this information, what are the odds that I can do so?'" says Schraepen. "The answer is: I can't, because Salesforce is also checking the IP range. So, if it's a new IP address, you'll get an email asking you to fill in a code."

The final, optional level of security is to log in with a one-time digi-pass. This provides the same protection as a financial institution and, therefore, the ultimate guarantee that the data will not be lost or tampered with.

Secure information

Cloud-based apps are arguably more reliable, secure and scalable than traditional applications.

"They bring many benefits to businesses," explains Schraepen. "The world is becoming mobile, and with cloud computing you can get all kinds of important information on your mobile phone - not just email, but also your company results and sales cycles. You don't have to use VPN or whatever - you have everything at your fingertips already."

Another widely discussed advantage is cost-effectiveness. What customers purchase can be exactly matched to the scope of their organisation - meaning that when you have three users, you pay for three users, and when you have ten users, you pay for ten. Users don't need any special certification to operate the service, so a business can save money on training and cut software costs. The only payment required is a subscription fee for the specific aspects of the program that are actually used.

Perhaps most importantly of all, cloud computing has been developed with the end-user's needs in mind.

"The designers looked hard at consumer products," Schraepen says. "In the old days, it was easier to purchase a book via amazon.com or pay for travel online than doing so using your own ERP or old CRM system. With the new cloud technology, however, user-friendliness is at the top of people's minds."

The newer generation of services are designed to be aesthetically appealing and intuitive, so navigation is a pleasure rather than a chore. Of course, because cloud computing is a relatively new technology, not everybody is alert to all these advantages. Receiving adequate information is half the battle. Adapti therefore provides services in both a practical and consultative vein.

"We try to be a kind of mediator," says Schraepen. "A lot of people come to us with their questions about cloud computing, because marketers did quite a messy job explaining what it was about. In the beginning, 'cloud computing' was a popular phrase, so lots of hosting companies appropriated it, claiming to offer 'private cloud computing' instead of hosting. This created widespread misunderstanding."

Adapti trains users and administrators, develops interfaces, customises data migration, provides strong customer support and answers any technical queries that arise along the way. Thus, the company bears the burden of technology, freeing up users to concentrate directly on their core business challenges.

Bright outlook

Adapti also enjoys fruitful partnerships with a range of enterprises and always selects the best-regarded players in their domain. Salesforce.com is the on-demand CRM market leader, boasting more than two million users and a plethora of awards.

Google Apps Enterprise offers mail and calendaring, a state-of-the-art collaboration service and enhanced security in one platform. Other partners, meanwhile, provide mass email solutions, digital signatures, data integration and data cleaning, with almost any service capable of being transferred seamlessly to the cloud.

"We do a lot with large email implementations, for example, because this is something that has to be there all the time, and if you have a server in your own environment then there is the constant risk that the server will go down," says Schraepen. "That will not happen when you move it to Google."

As cloud computing continues to gain ground and the early confusion is straightened out, the IT landscape looks set to be revolutionised. Even complex ERP systems are now looking at ways of expanding their model into the clouds. The pace of change, however, is such that predictions remain hazy.

"A few years ago, I could pretty much determine what would happen within a year," says Schraepen. "But nowadays it's much harder to say. I think social media will be integrated within companies, and I think we will eventually get to a place in which 100% of our information is on the web.

But it's going so fast. Who knows? All we can say for sure is that what is happening is pretty amazing."