Knowledge Is Power In The Cloud

I’ve been a journalist for 20 years and have been writing about cloud computing for several years, so I was delighted when Workday asked me to get involved with an exciting new editorial project that would shed light on cloud computing. After two decades I’ve developed a pretty good nose for major industry shifts, and I think this cloud thing is here to stay.

We call this project the Enterprise Ready Series, and one of its goals is to take on the what-ifs: What if having my data in the cloud puts it at risk? What if all those claims of cost savings are a bunch of hooey? You know, the kind of healthy skepticism expected from anyone taking a good look at cloud computing. We turned some of these what-ifs into questions and brought them to the real pros–those that have been using a form of cloud computing known as software-as-a-service for at least a few years. You’ll read about their experiences in “Setting The Enterprise Free,” the first anchor article in the series.

For this story, we asked users about all of their experience–both the good and the challenging. For example, you’ll read that the IT and business managers at Chiquita Brands are big fans of Workday Human Capital Management and are expanding it to 21,000 users globally, but as one of the first companies to deploy SaaS in the enterprise , they also faced some new challenges. For example, SaaS apps – especially HR apps – often share data with onsite systems, and in spite of modern “in the cloud” technologies, that still meant the same planning and testing that’s required of any IT systems integration job.

Interested in options for integration? You can learn more about that in an upcoming blog to appear at the site later this week. And to learn how large companies are deploying SaaS, see “SaaS: Now serving large, complex enterprises,” a new research paper by TechVentive CEO Brian Sommer.

Future content we’ve planned for the Enterprise Ready Series will dive deep into such areas as security and mobility, and topics specific to business professionals in HR and other departments. We’ll talk to analysts, Workday customers, and even the customers of other SaaS and cloud computing products. And we won’t back away from reporting concerns, issues, and even challenges businesses have with cloud computing.

That’s because knowledge is power, and we know business and IT professionals need the whole story on these topics. You can’t make the best decisions about SaaS and your broader business and software strategies without that knowledge.

The Internet is growing more each day with all types of information—some of it good quality, yet some of it not—and our hope is that you’ll come to know the Enterprise Ready Series as a useful, high quality, and engaging source of information. A place where you can read not just about Workday customers’ experiences, but can glean insights on the broader topic of cloud computing. Which leads me to ask, what do you want to know more about? What questions should we be asking of experienced users, analysts, and other experts? Please send your questions to mary.hayes@workday.com. We hope you enjoy the series!