As consumer interest in cloud computing grows, potential investors should consider a number of factors before making a commitment, according to Warren Small, MD at BasisOne, an established SAP (News - Alert) technical specialist organization.

Small was addressing the ITWeb Virtualisation and Cloud Computing Conference in Gauteng. The conference was attended by a group of industry leaders. It provided a platform to discuss the existing and emerging trends within the cloud computing and virtual services environment.

Based in South Africa, BasisOne is a service provider in the international SAP basis consulting and managed hosting services market.

ITWeb/ Fujitsu (News - Alert) Cloud Computing Survey was one of the topics discussed in the agenda. The survey stated that nine percent of IT professionals said they were knowledgeable and deal with cloud computing as part of their jobs. The research also suggested that broadband reliability and speed was affecting the pace of local investment in virtualization.

Small acknowledged the hype that surrounds the cloud computing and growing virtual service market and the fact that this has contributed significantly to general consumer interest.

Those who are eager to embrace the technology should consider the aspects like architecture, connectivity, risk management, security and government compliance, according to Small.

“Our message to the market is that it is best to have the appropriate architecture to support cloud computing,” Small said. “The rationale behind this is that by not having adequate architecture in place, the success of cloud computing in business is jeopardized.”

According to Small business leaders are realizing that data is being used to predict outcomes and also that there is ongoing global pressure to sharpen risk focus and review manual processes.

Small suggested that investors must consider components of cloud computing like identity management infrastructure and virtual infrastructure in order to benefit from lower cost, better risk management and better process quality.

“If one looks at user management in the context of the value of cloud computing, this area is affected by manual actions, actions which are prone to error and are time consuming, and that is influenced by security and governance risks. A move to a cloud-based environment addresses these issues, but, as we have already mentioned, it is very much dependent on having the correct architecture in place,” Small explains.

BasisOne is using Novell identity and security solutions for its platform that deploys SAP ERP solutions as a service using Vodacom (News - Alert) Business's private cloud, TMCnet reported. Novell’s solution enables BasisOne to extend an enterprise organization's security policies onto the applications that are running on virtual servers at Vodacom Business's state-of-the-art data center.