Guru | Finbarr McCarthy

In my last post I outlined the direction that the technology behind cloud computing is heading. This time I would like to talk briefly about a few of the more down to earth changes that the emergence of cloud computing will have and the social impact that will result.

I believe that we are at the precipice of a whole new way of working. Traditional thinking suggests that once we have completed our education we go out and get a job. For my parent’s generation the objective was to secure a job for life, me and my generation took a different take on that and a good deal of people my age change jobs on average every three to five years. I think that a good deal of the next generation will not necessarily hold down regular jobs in the same way that we do today.

Before I dive right into justifying this argument consider a few changes that have happened in the past and think about how they might help us predict what is going to happen in the future.

As the standard (and cost) of living increased in Western Europe and North America the cost of manufacturing spiralled and many companies relocated labour intensive / low margin operations to Asian countries, principally China. These companies typically continued their design and research & development at their headquarters.

More recently there was a huge rush for companies to engage B.P.O.’s (Business Process Outsourcers) to offload some of the non-core processes that were typically carried out in-house. Typically the B.P.O.’s were located in India and did the work at a fraction of the cost. While there is still significant debate over the success of many B.P.O. initiatives, the reality is that there are nearly two million people employed in India today in the industry. In fact the B.P.O. industry in India is so successful that skills shortages, 20% annual wage inflation and skyrocketing real estate & infrastructure costs are threatening the competitiveness of India as a destination of choice for outsourcing. Considering that the companies that provide these services must also charge a margin on the services the cost justification for traditional B.P.O. is diminishing fast.

I can’t remember who coined the expression “we don’t go to work anymore - we just work”, but it wraps up nicely the way I see things moving. Remote working has been on the table for several years but it has been fraught with difficulties, not least of which has been connectivity and security. Consider the impact cloud computing has on this, because the platforms and software are now on the cloud and accessible over the internet it is possible for anyone with a broadband connection to access their systems with the same performance that they would have in the office.

The fact that we are currently in a global recession and unemployment has risen sharply doesn’t necessarily mean that companies don’t have plenty of tasks and projects they want to undertake - it is probably more down to restrictive budgets and commitment avoidance (not wanting to commit to employment contracts). There are many people who have come out of traditional employment are now freelancing and doing task based assignments for companies all over the world.

Some of the facilitators behind this are companies like ODesk, Elance and Guru. These companies provide a marketplace for companies who need to get projects done, and people with the skills to undertake the project work come to bid on the assignments. The geographical limits of traditional employment are no longer a factor with this approach.

While these sites currently cater primarily for the IT market, I think it is only a matter of time before there is much broader adoption of this model in other sectors.

Starting a small business has typically had a number of barriers to entry. The biggest barrier has typically been the range of skills needed to take a good idea and turn it into a tangible product or service. Typically most people starting out in business can’t afford to hire all the skills / buy all the equipment needed to compete with established players. Cloud computing, PaaS (platform as a service) and WaaS (workforce as a service) have changed this. Say for example I wanted setup a business to publish a magazine - what would I need?

Editors, Journalists, Copywriters, Photographers, Printers, Marketers, IT Staff, Accountants, Premises, Printing Presses, Distribution & Warehousing, Servers etc, etc……

I would probably do a little a little mental arithmetic and give up.

However, with the introduction of all the services I can now get on the web, and the cloud, I can now setup my servers on Amazon AWS, buy my images from Getty Images, Hire my editors, journalists and copywriters on ODesk, get my IT support from Guru and get MagCloud to print and deliver my magazines. The same type of scenario is also becoming a reality if I want to design and manufacture consumer goods, there are services coming on stream everyday where providers will design and manufacture nearly anything for you.

From an individuals standpoint there are immense opportunities to become part of many of these service offerings, or for the entrepreneur the availability of skills, talent and services, “on-tap” provides unprecedented opportunities.

I certainly think the future is looking very bright and exciting.

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