Management Strategies for the Cloud Revolution: How Cloud Computing Is Transforming Business and Why You Can't Afford to Be Left Behind

Everyday business as we know it is poised for a monumental shift, courtesy of cloud computing—the biggest game-changer since the creation of the Internet itself. There’s no doubt about it: If you want to compete in the future, you must begin educating yourself about cloud computing now.

From InformationWeek editor Charles Babcock, a leading authority on the business benefits and pitfalls of cloud computing, Management Strategies for the Cloud Revolution provides the tools every manager needs to create a new business strategy that harnesses all the power cloud computing has to offer.

Cloud computing is the equivalent of renting time on a computing infrastructure over the Internet, rather than building your own from the ground up. Access to the cloud is growing quickly, and the benefits are undeniable. Those who begin incorporating cloud computing into their business strategy will enjoy:

• Dramatic Cost Savings: The cloud makes available innovative technologies that would otherwise be too expensive.
• Ubiquitous Access: Employees can access the server power they need anytime, anywhere, and send it the program they want to run.
• Unprecedented Agility: Business processes and business infrastructures can be altered quicker than ever.
• Steady Traffic Flow: Even during peak loads, systems in the cloud can overcome bottlenecks and expand to meet the user’s needs.

Working on the cloud, your analysts, business intelligence experts, and researchers can access large-scale, high-speed, highly reliable systems while paying only for short-term use.

You didn’t set up your own electrical grid to power your computers. Why pay big money to use them when you don’t have to? The cloud is on the horizon, and it’s looming larger by the day. Learn how to take full advantage of it with Management Strategies for the Cloud Revolution.

About the Author

Charles Babcock has been reporting on the major trends in computing for the past 20 years. He currently serves as editor-at-large at InformationWeek, covering the business application of Web services, virtualization, cloud computing and other topics of interest as they come up. He writes major features and cover stories for InformationWeek, daily stories for its Web site and blogs regularly on related topics. He has also been integral in their transition to the web. He is the former Software Editor and Technical Editor of Computerworld and editor-in-chief of Digital News.

He has been the winner of $400 William Randolph Hearst journalism scholarships for two years in a row in a national competition (third place, investigative reporting; fourth, editorial writing). He was also part of a team of three at InteractiveWeek that won the Jesse Neal award for business writing for an in-depth look at a failed effort to revamp computing systems at McDonalds Corp.

Babcock gives talks at user groups of software companies. He moderates or sits in on panels at shows, such as the Open Source Business Conference. He organizes, hosts and speaks at InformationWeek-organized Webinars on virtualization and cloud computing. Over the course of a year, he speaks to 800-1,200 people in various settings. He also appears in a regular show of video recorded interviews on Silicon Valley topics, called ValleyView, aired on the InformationWeek Web site.