The Open Group, a global IT standards organisation which counts SAP, Oracle, HP, Kingdee, Capgemini and IBM among its members, has published a new book, Cloud Computing for Business, which looks at how enterprises can derive the greatest business benefit from adopting cloud models.
The book is part of the ongoing work of The Open Group Cloud Computing Work Group, which aims to create a common understanding among buyers and suppliers of how enterprises can realise the significant cost, scalability and agility benefits of using cloud computing in their architectures.
Intended for a variety of corporate stakeholders — from the executive suite to business managers, the IT and marketing departments, as well as enterprise and business architects — the book reflects the combined experience of member companies of The Open Group and their collective understanding shared with the wider IT community as practical guidance for considering cloud computing. The book explores the importance of cloud within the overall technology landscape and provides practical advice for companies considering using the cloud, as well as ways to assess the risk in cloud initiatives and build return on investment.
“With each new technology trend that emerges, the resulting hype cycle often obscures how companies can actually take advantage of the new phenomenon and share in its growth and benefits,” said Dr Chris Harding, director, interoperability, The Open Group. “The Cloud Computing Work Group was established by Open Group members to help enterprises of all sizes make sense of cloud computing and provide the understanding necessary to make it work for them.”
Key themes covered in the book include: why cloud?; establishing a cloud vision; buying cloud services; understanding cloud risk; building return on investment from cloud computing; and cloud challenges for the business.
The book is available through the Open Group website (www3.opengroup.org) as a free download for representatives of Open Group members or for purchase as a hard copy.
