How the Cloud Changes Software Consulting

The New York Times

...Software can be deployed and updated faster in cloud systems because of the central control. If you make changes to a calendar function, for example, or patch a potential security flaw, it can show up on everyone’s machines the next time they log in.

You can also change the way that other programmers and consultants approach work. Appirio, based in New York, is attempting to build a crowdsourced method of writing custom business software applications. Called CloudSpokes , it involves companies submitting “challenges” in exchange for cash rewards. Programmers from around the world can compete to write the best software, possibly winning jobs as well as money.

“Companies pay for the top one or two submissions, but they get to look at multiple versions of the work,” said Narinder Singh, co-founder and chief strategy officer at Appirio. His company often gets a commission for managing the work, and can more easily spot talent around the globe. “You aren’t paying for labor before you have a sense of the person’s skills,” he said. The system also works for designers, he said. Much the way Cloud Sherpas sells Salesforce as well as Google, Appirio is increasingly selling more software from Workday, another cloud-based software company.

The new approaches to consulting underline how much collaboration figures in cloud technology. Google is gaining traction partly because its products have better features; even more important, traditional enterprises have come to accept cloud-based systems, and workers are used to communicating constantly, thanks in part to the habits of “sharing” information over Facebook and Twitter...

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