This is an interesting take on the concept of cloud computing & how it might evolve into an utilitarian service in the future.

PS: I first heard this presentation as a podcast & then saw it on YouTube with the slides – I suggest you pay more attention to the talk rather than the slides.

Being in the industry, its not very difficult to imagine the enterprise IT landscape to be scattered with XXAS offerings (SAAS, PAAS, etc.). In such a future, pretty much any IT requirement that is not a source of competitive advantage would be consumed as a service. 

The recent acquisitions of service providers by product companies (HP / EDS, Dell / Perot, etc.) are movements in the market that lend credibility to this trend (innovation –> product –> services).

Just like a manufacturing organization consumes electricity from the grid, a green car manufacturer might soon be consuming CRM services from utility behemoth Accenture (or Infosys or IBM or TCS). Internally, Accenture could be using products from Oracle (or IBM or SAP) to build its grid (infrastructure) – but the green car manufacturer need not be aware of what products are used in services he consumes.

Interesting crystal balling.

The views expressed on this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Oracle.