COMMERCIAL REVIEW: CLOUD COMPUTING AND IP 21WEDNESDAY MAY 20, 2015

There is more than a littleirony in the fact that modernadvances in information tech-nology (IT) seemtobe leadingus inexorably back to the

bureau-style of computing that char-acterized the earliest decades of busi-ness applications.

Back thenhugechunkymainframecomputers in the US were used todeliver services to european and UKcompanies, while the US was asleep.All UK companies had to do was toinvest in a bunch of dumb terminalsand a hugely expensive data link, andthen pay the bureau for the use of theapplications and processing power.Today, software-as-a-service (SaaS)

and the underlying infrastructure – acombination of data and telephonynetworks, processing and storage,plus security – have something incommon with that old bureau-styleITmodel. Theonebig difference, how-ever, is that the internet and mobiletelephony changes everything; inboth our personal and professionallives we have become increasinglymore dependent on being able toaccess our data and use our deviceswhereverwe are.The idea of holding the process-

ing power in some well fortified,highly secure central location staysthe same, but the idea of deliveringservices to any device anywhere is

both new and ahuge transforma-

tion. ofthe old

model. Moreover, as Aileen Primrose,generalmanager at eureka Solutionspoints out, whereas a few years agopeoplewere uncertainwhat the cloudentailed and how secure it would be,many prospective clients are nowgenerally very comfortable withhaving their private data on theirsmart phones backed up and held“in the cloud”.This greater familiarity with the

idea of using storage hosted at someremote location and having all oursmart phone apps upgraded auto-matically from the cloud, is definitelyspeeding up the sales cycle, she notes.“We achieved three times as many

cloud sales of erP systems in 2014as we did as client server implemen-tations. As an organisation, we arecertainly seeing people very muchon board with cloud solutions,” she

notes. Moreover, the kind of compa-nies considering cloud-based erPsolutions and other cloud applica-tions is changing.“Up until the start of 2014 whenwe

were talking to prospective clientsabout cloud-based solutions, theytended to be young, entrepreneurialstart-ups. Now we are seeing matureorganisations actively investigatingpotential cloud implementations,”she comments.“TheMillennials, as theyare called,

particularly the entrepreneurialtypes, are all familiar with the cloudfrom their mobiles so it is only natu-ral, as they see it, to look for cloud-based solutions for their business.But now the mid-range, well-estab-lished companies are also seriouslyinvestigating cloud solutions,” shenotes. What clients tend to like is the

subscription element – they like thattheyhaveanagreedongoingpaymentwith noworries of future upgrades orsudden changes in technology thatrender their systems unsupported– with a true cloud solution custom-ers are always on the latest version oftheir software. It is also a big plus thatthere no hardware restrictions, sincethe software will run on any devicewith a browser.“Thismakes cloud-basederP solu-

tions very agile and means that wecan do very rapid implementations,”she notes. “eureka has moved mostof its own applications to the cloud aswell. We are seeing huge benefits. Asa growingbusiness ourselvesweneedto ensure we are as agile as possible.Thismeans our staff having the infor-mation theyneed,wherever theyare.”Another huge benefit of moving

to the cloud is that since the originaldocuments are all held centrally, atthe service provider’s site, everyone isaccessing the same document.“It is a great benefit that the cloud

allows you to have version control, sothat there is a single version of thetruth at all times. You are never shar-ing outdated files, and each personwho accesses the centrally held docu-ments gets the same, single view ofthe truth,” Primrose notes.Jim Lockhart, the founder of char-

teredaccountants, LockhartBusinessAdvisory, set up the firm specificallywith the idea of providing outsourcedservices for accounting and tax, withthe cloud as their delivery platformformost services.

“We use Xero for our accountancyclients. Our clients are looking forus to help them analyse their profits

and reduce their tax bills, plus we domanagement accounts for clients,” henotes.The firm provides clients with an

integrated cash flow, profit & lossand balance sheet report at whateverfrequency – monthly or quarterly– makes sense for that particularbusiness.The company has built a substan-

tial client base among small to medi-um sized businesses. “Our sweet spotis probably the £2.5 to £3million turn-over company, but we also deal withstart-ups,” he comments. Accordingto Lockhart his team can have a newclient up and running in a morning,though larger clientswill take longer.“We see a much more sustained

interest in cloud-based solutions nowthan we were seeing a few years ago.We do a lot of work with the cloudinternally ourselves, so we are in agreat position to help clients get themost out of it,” he comments.Like Primrose, Lockhart reckons

that cloud security is less of an issuewith clients these days. however,when clients do raise security as anissue, he is able to reassure them byshowing themhowmuchmore secureXero’s approach is than would be thecase if theyhad thedata on servers ontheir own premises.For a start, all Xero’s servers are

located at enterprise-grade hostingfacilities, where access is heavilyrestricted to authorised staff. This issimply standard best practice for allcloud-based services.Where servers in most businesses

would be easily accessed by anyonepassing whatever room the serversare located in, hosting facilities areprotected through a combination ofbiometric systems and 24/7 onsitesecurity guards. external access tothe servers is controlled by multiplelayers of firewalls, intrusion protec-tion systems and routers.One of thehardest things for small-

er businesses to get right is imple-menting the endless operating systemand application patches that vendorsrelease, as well as carrying out regu-lar backups of the data.With a hosting facility, Lockhart

points out, all the systems a re config-ured, monitored and updated accord-ing to industry best practice and datais backed up securely off-site. Thecloud, in fact, is farmore reliable thanan on-site system for any businessthat is not large enough to justifybuilding its own secure data centre.

Cloud-basedcomputing offersmany benefits tobusinesses of allsizes, revealsAnthonyHarrington

Seek out those silver linings

EvEryonE agrees that innovationplays a vital part in any thrivingeconomy. For companies andindividuals to be prepared to devote thenecessary time and resources to bringnew innovations to market, they have tohave some reasonable certainty thattheir work will not simply be copied orreverse engineered by competitors –which is where patents and design rightscome into play.

one of the biggest changes topatent law in Europe is the drive for theso-called European Unitary Patent. Thishas been debated for years but

according to the latest report from theEuropean Patent office, the UnitaryPatent could become a reality some timein 2016.

Many hurdles and obstacles havealready been overcome. Despiteprotests from Spain and Italy, the EU hasdecided that the official languages of theUnitary Patent will be English, Frenchand German, and that there will be threeUnified Patent Courts – in the UnitedKingdom, France and Germany.

As David Moreland, ManagingPartner at the Glasgow office of patentand trademark attorneys Marks & Clerkexplains, when it is finally introduced theUnitary Patent will enable a single patentto cover 25 EU member states. Incontrast the position today is that apatent has to exist on a country bycountry basis.

Moreland points out that there will besome undoubted advantages for somecompanies to opt for the Unitary Patent,

such as ease of portfolio management.But he points out that there aredisadvantages as well. The most notableof these is that at present, if someonewants to attack a patent, they have to doit on a country by country basis.

you can lose your patent in Germany,for example, but until there is a rulingagainst it in the UK or elsewhere, itstands good until litigation in eachcountry decides against it.

By way of contrast, if you lost a

Unitary Patent action, then the patentwould fall across the whole of Europe onthat one single case.

Cost is another factor that could be adeterrent for innovators.

“As yet there is no clarity on what thecosts will be for the Unitary Patent.Individual countries are unwilling to giveup their revenues from patents, soworking out a pricing solution thatpleases all the countries is provingproblematic,” Moreland says.

Unitary Patent could encourage and protect innovation

SInGLE PATEnT: David Morelandsees pros and cons in the system.

CLoUDEXPErT:AileenPrimroseis generalmanagerat EurekaSolutions.

SKy’S THE LIMIT: Companies moving documents to the cloud benefit from immediate updates, with no possibility of staff members accessing outdated information.