Intelligent Cloud Services: Too Smart for Their Own Good?

Grazed from Midsize Insider. Author: Doug Bonderud.

In 1957, prolific science fiction writer Issac Asimov penned "The Feeling of Power." In it, Asimov describes a futuristic world in which humans no longer have the knowledge to perform even basic mathematical functions, leaving the task to computers instead. When math is reintroduced under the name "graphitics," there is speculation about its authenticity, let alone the ability of any human to comprehend its myriad rules. Midsize IT professionals may be witnessing the start of a similar progression with the rise of intelligent cloud services ? are they too smart for their own good?

Going… Going… Gone!

While there is little chance the average IT admin will forget how to add, subtract or multiply any time soon, a June 18 Ars Technica article makes a good point: Software and applications are disappearing. Consider legacy customer relationship management (CRM) software, for example. Painstakingly designed in-house from the ground up, many legacy deployments are now being replaced with cloud alternatives. It is a logical move, since cloud-based solutions are faster, operate in real time and give frontline employees access to everything they need at a single glance. But what happens to the legacy? In many cases, it vanishes forever…

For Web-based apps, cloudwashing is even more worrisome. Many programs now depend on cloud services to function, and if that support is taken away, they are rendered useless. Ars Technica uses the example of MMORPGs, massive games filled with dedicated players who have spent countless hours questing and adventuring in a virtual world. When servers are shut down, that world disappears, along with the legacy of these players…

Read more from the source @ http://midsizeinsider.com/en-us/article/intelligent-cloud-services-too-smart-fo#.U6iGmJRdWRM