Market/Customer:
This is by far the most important perspective. Let’s take a current example: as cloud computing becomes part of enterprise computing, customers will go with the hybrid approach. if you keep hearing that (as we have), it becomes very clear that having an on-premise and on-demand offering will fit very well with their needs/strategy.

Strategy:
Independent of the technical reasons to do or not to do, there are probably strategic reasons that are more important. For example, Salesforce.com probably got many requests to make their technology available on-premise. Hard to do when the KEY differentiation is ‘no software.’ The other aspect is DNA. Running an on-demand application needs different kinds of folks that the ones traditional software companies usually have.

Technology/Architecture:
- On-premise software is designed to ship, so one has to worry about size of image, install scripts, platform dependencies etc. These factors affect the overall architecture much more than one thinks.
- On-demand software/site is designed for scale, ease of use, zero downtime etc.
- If on-premise software is designed for simplicity and scale, it is much easier to make it available available on-demand – the other way round is much more difficult.
- Much like open source. Technology that was not designed to be open source is very hard to open source.

In general customers want flexibility, too much of which leads to increased complexity. Vendors have to start by answering simple questions like why and how.

SOA is an approach. Much like OOP (object oriented programming). Make building and maintaining IT systems more efficient.

Cloud Computing is about enabling technology. Much like Client/Server or Web Computing, the drivers are costs and time to market/revenue.

ALL customers that we talk to get the difference. Not sure why there is so much confusion.

“Cloud computing” contains the seeds of IT’s next generation – YES. This is real, much like client server and Web computing… in fact probably has benefits of both – cost and revenue.

Cloud’s customers (slide #16) – great customer segmentation. would like to add that almost all enterprise customers are using cloud for revenue or customer service related projects and using time to market/costs as the major drivers.

The systems vendors will not dominate (slide #22). This one requires a double take. James makes the point that for a vendor to succeed, it requires operations excellence in Web scale data center operations and system companies have expertise in managing enterprise data centers – wrong skills. This may seem like Wow! comment for many have not been through this, but for anybody who has built, deployed and managed enterprise apps. vs. Web apps they know the difference. The mindset is very different. The smart vendors are aware of this and will either focus on their sweet spot or acquire/grow into this space.

Another big benefit to enterprise cloud adoption will be a survival of the fittest among business – you really do need to start the move to the cloud to stay a viable business in today’s climate where the slightest edge means everything.

- Customers think of information technology as a means to an end.
- When they are making IT related decisions (technology and vendor) they are generally making them for the long term.
- Technology decisions are based on many issues like skill availability, how it fits into the technology, standards – portability as it related to standards.
- Vendor decisions are also based on many issues like track record, area of focus/expertise etc. Leverage is also on the list. Portability helps with issue.

At the end of the day, customers are looking for standards based technology that they can work with vendors to implement. Standards not only help them with technology related issues, but also leverage with vendors.

The study claims that 72% of US companies think cloud computing will play an important role in helping companies, especially in today’s economy – reducing infrastructure costs is cited as a big strategy for “doing more with less.” The main takeaway confirms what we’ve been seeing – selectively using cloud services will cut infrastructure costs and increase IT operations efficiency.

What do you see as the business benefits of APIs?

Just like every business has its own processes and revenue models, not all will benefit from APIs in the same way. One company is a content provider, basically a database to be searched. They may have a goal of selling raw access to that data to other companies or partnering to create new applications. Another company may want to use its API to facilitate application integration for its clients. The opportunities are as varied as the companies that deploy them.

Remember when XML was introduced into Web development? HTML was used in formatting the presentation layer and XML was used to serialize the data. By using Web services APIs you have the ability to abstract away the UI from the application. Now the UI can evolve or change to meet the client needs. Think about how you interact with Twitter – do you ever go to the Web site? Many do not because they have a much better experience using other client apps. If Twitter didn’t have an API, I don’t think they’d have the explosive growth that you see today. The API has become the tool that enables business agility.

Do you think APIs are for everyone, or do you think there are certain verticals and types of businesses better suited to extending services with APIs?

Like I mentioned before, business models will differ, but I can’t think of a vertical or business that would not want to have an API. I’m actually interested in the API first design principle. Perhaps by developing the API first, it would ensure consistency in the way the API and the Web application function. I’ve seen companies try to develop the API retroactively and have some trouble getting the same data as using the Web application. I read what Huddle.net is doing and I agree; you must be able to trust the API. It can’t be a second class citizen in the development priorities and backlog.

What do you see as the major concerns for companies opening up their services or content to the cloud with APIs?

There are a few concerns that I have talked about since my earlier days of exposing APIs. You must be able to control access. If you are a content provider, this is a major concern. You must protect yourself from misuse of the API; this means some sort of throttling. And remember, you can’t manage what you don’t measure. If you are going to open an API, make someone responsible for it and give them the tools to manage it.

How do you predict APIs will change the way we do business?

APIs create new business opportunities. VARs that used to deploy software on premise can now use APIs to do integrations of applications, along with developing tools for data migration. This is especially critical for SaaS and cloud computing. There really isn’t an opportunity for much customization of applications and VARs are now looking to provide more configuration and integrations in their offering. APIs will result in more strategic partnerships in business. A prevailing thought on my product team is to build less. If you focus on the problem that your product solves, and do that correctly, there will be other areas that you will partner. APIs can help make Best of Breed products into custom solutions to compete with software suites and really provide increased value for the consumer. But, APIs are not a panacea; there are things that are difficult to do even with an API.