Global CIO: How CEOs See Cloud ComputingGlobal CIO: How CEOs See Cloud Computing

"Patty, I'm with you every step of the way. But did you just say that you—the CIO—can unlock new revenue? Please, Patty, please tell me you said you can unlock new revenue. And tell me how in 7 minutes."

"That's exactly what I said, Jack, and here's how it would happen. Our products have shelf lives of 18-24 months, during which we reap 80%-90% of lifetime revenue before the copycats catch up. And those same products have R&D lives of 36 months. So if I can deliver new systems to the research team that will let them operate at peak efficiency for every one of those 36 months, and eliminate 6 or 8 or 10 of months of what amounts to downtime while we reprovision the old systems to handle the new tests, then we can cut product-development cycles by 15%-20%, which not only lowers the cost of developing the new products but also gives extends our fertile time in the market by 6-8 months.

"And that, dear Jack, means a lot less cost and a lot more revenue. Back to you with 2 minutes to spare."

"Sold. But the board won't buy the term 'cloud computing.' Why do they call it that, anyway?"

"Well, like I showed you in that diagram, the cloud represents the confluence of—"

"Stop! Not where, technically, does the term come from; rather, why, intellectually, do they call it 'cloud computing?' 40 seconds."

"They call it that because Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd says it's a bad name that customer-side CEOs like you can't stand, but no one's come up with a better name. And they call it cloud computing because IBM CEO Sam Palmisano says it's an 'unfortunate' name but IBM still says one of its four strategic objectives for 2010 is cloud computing—they don't use what Palmisano says is the more-accurate term, which is 'highly virtualized environments.' Back to you—20 seconds."

"Sold. First, write up a one-pager with anticipated IT savings, and work with sales to see what type of revenue boosts we can get out of 6 more months of shelf life before the copycats catch up. Second, go full-speed ahead on this cloud thing. Third, when you talk to the board, use the term 'highly virtualized environments'—after that, they'll think 'cloud computing' is nifty.

"Fourth—don't ever draw that picture again with squiggly lines and cylinders. Because it makes people like me think that people like you don't know what you're talking about. But I know you know better and you need to stop hiding all that insight behind dumb drawings.

"Our work is done here. Go buy this cloud and cut costs and raise revenue and accelerate our labs. And then figure out how to do it all over the company. By the end of the year. Goodbye."

RECOMMENDED READING: Global CIO: The Top 10 CIO Issues For 2010 Global CIO: Cloud Computing's Deadly Vulnerability—And How To Avoid It Global CIO: Do CIOs Still Matter? Global CIO: Welcome To The CIO Revolution: A New IT Manifesto Global CIO: Welcome To The CIO Revolution, Circa 2010 Global CIO: SAP's Last Chance: It's The Customers, Stupid! Bob Evans is senior VP and director of information's Global CIO unit.

To find out more about Bob Evans, please visit his page.

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or write to Bob at [email protected].