Cloud computing is called as, well, “the cloud” because the end users don’t really need to know what’s going on inside the cloud. The end users are presented with an interface or dashboard to control things in the cloud and all they need to do is to plug into the cloud and the cloud vendors of their choice will manage everything inside the cloud.
There are plenty of cloud services to choose from today. Unfortunately, plenty of choices mean end users need to choose the right cloud business solutions for their needs – the question is, which one is the right one? You can’t possibly do trial-and-error – you can’t afford the lost business due to outages and failures along the way.
What’s more, the recent Amazon cloud outage in historical scale open the eyes for those who are already in the cloud and who are considering to adopt the cloud – bringing your entire business to the cloud will pose you a big risk: If your cloud vendor fails, your business will too.
As already predicted by Rich Miller of Data Center Knowledge about two years ago, there will be a gap to fill in the market – someone who will help end users to find the right cloud solutions; an intermediate in the cloud market.
Thus born cloud brokering – a business service that has a huge potential because it fills a gap in the cloud market.
The cloud brokers or cloud middlemen will help businesses to choose the right cloud business solutions – which platform to use, which cloud apps to deploy, even helping end users in cloud integration, as well as doing “cloud arbitrage services,” allowing businesses to shift between cloud services and platforms to get the best pricing.
Cloud brokerage: Big opportunities
Many cloud brokers today are actually extensions of their existing established business. Some examples include RightScale and Kaavo, that are offering cloud deployment services based on templates.
There are still big opportunities present in the cloud brokerage arena – even you can create your own niche and dominate it, such as Oxygen Cloud – a cloud business offering centralized virtual file system that allows users to access and control files from anywhere while leveraging public or private storage cloud without relying on a cloud service provider.
Considering the benefits, as well as the potential risks of cloud computing, cloud brokerage will play a major role in helping businesses to minimize cloud integration woes; the future for cloud brokering is bright, indeed.
