Author: Dr Will Venters

Lecturer in Information Systems, Department of Management, London School of Economics.

Get Safe Online anti-hack site should have used the cloud

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Why in the 21st century are websites going down because of peaks in demand. (BBC News – Apology for crashed Get Safe Online anti-hack site). If the cloud is about anything it is about scalability using pooling of resources to ensure resilience. Famously Animoto scaled from 50 servers to 3500 servers over three days as its services demand went viral and ballooned – with the service continuing to run as it relied upon Amazon Web Services. Given this is a website about getting information out to the public rather than keeping it secure there must be a case for web hosting on AWS, Azure or Rackspace ….

 

Viral spread of cloud is meant to leave IT out in the cold – TechRepublic

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Viral spread of cloud is meant to leave IT out in the cold… I missed this article from last year based on one of my long-standing worries about cloud computing…

via Viral spread of cloud is meant to leave IT out in the cold – TechRepublic.

The Internet of Things – Two articles from the round-table I attended last week.

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The following two articles emerged from the IoT debate I participated in last week… I am not sure they quoted me correctly though. My points was that you need to balance value with security, and that the architecture of IoT demands that we consider where security is most important across the whole ecosystem. You might not worry if a random sensor is easily hacked so a hacker can discover it is reading 36 degrees… but you might want the part of the application that links that sensor to your health information, and shows that it is a night-time reading from your health monitor to be very secure. Similarly you might accept the risk of sharing your health data with a cloud provider if it creates value for you in some way – making you healthier perhaps!

Education and security needed for Internet of Things to reach business potential- The Inquirer.

The Internet of Things needs a security model to protect user data- The Inquirer.

Aleksi Aaltonen – a friend involved in the “Moves App” recently sold to Facebook gives tips for entrepreneurs

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A friend and colleague of mine, Aleksi Aaltonen, talks about how he and his friends created the “Moves” app recently acquired by Facebook…

Tips for LSE entrepreneurs – 2014 – Around LSE archives – Around LSE – News and media – Home.

Its a hard life for academics … Business Innovation GroupCo-creating Value in Venice

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I didn’t get much sympathy when I told my family I had to take a business trip to Venice.  Anyway here is a report from the event I was participating in – thanks to the kind  invitation from CAGE and WMG at Warwick university.

Business Innovation GroupCo-creating Value in Venice » Business Innovation Group.

Cloud sourcing and innovation: slow train coming? FREE JOURNAL ARTICLE

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An article I wrote with Edgar Whitley and Leslie Willcocks for the journal Strategic Outsourcing has been awarded the “Outstanding paper of 2014” award. This means that the article is freely available from the following website (articles are usually $32 so quite a saving!). Please feel free to download a copy today:

Emerald Insight | Cloud sourcing and innovation: slow train coming?: A composite research study.

Abstract:

Purpose – Although cloud computing has been heralded as driving the innovation agenda, there is growing evidence that cloud computing is actually a “slow train coming”. The purpose of this paper is to seek to understand the factors that drive and inhibit the adoption of cloud computing, particularly in relation to its use for innovative practices.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on a composite research base including two detailed surveys and interviews with 56 participants in the cloud supply chain undertaken between 2010 and 2013. The insights from this data are presented in relation to set of antecedents to innovation and a cloud sourcing model of collaborative innovation.

Findings – The paper finds that while some features of cloud computing will hasten the adoption of cloud, and its use for innovative purposes by the enterprise, there are also clear challenges that need to be addressed before cloud can be adopted successfully. Interestingly, the analysis highlights that many of these challenges arise from the technological nature of cloud computing itself.

Research limitations/implications – The research highlights a series of factors that need to be better understood for the maximum benefit from cloud computing to be achieved. Further research is needed to assess the best responses to these challenges.

Practical implications – The research suggests that enterprises need to undertake a number of steps for the full benefits of cloud computing to be achieved. It suggests that collaborative innovation is not necessarily an immediate consequence of adopting cloud computing.

Originality/value – The paper draws on an extensive research base to provide empirically informed analysis of the complexities of adopting cloud computing for innovation.

 

Digital Innovation Challenge Winners – Information Systems and Innovation Group

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Congratulations to Emilie and James, the two winners of this year’s “Digital Innovation Challenge” which we organise here at the LSE. It was great to meet them a week or so ago when they presented their work on 3D printing and Gamification. For details of this annual university essay competition, and to hear from the winners, visit the following page:

Digital Innovation Challenge – Information Systems and Innovation Group – Academic groups – Research – Department of Management – Home.