Management World — To help prepare the way for cloud services to make the leap from hype to reality, the TM Forum announced a new initiative this week to create an Enterprise Cloud Buyers Council that would drive a new ecosystem of cloud buyers and sellers who will, in turn, create programs to remove barriers to growth.
“Cloud computing is a universe in formation,” said Martin Creaner, president and chief technology officer at the TM Forum. “So we can either watch it or we can step in and help form it.”
The forum has chosen the latter and has tasked the new ECBC with understanding the needs of the largest global cloud buyers and removing any impediments to the uptake of cloud technology. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Deutsche Bank are among the first members and Sean Kelley, global CIO for Deutsche Asset Management, said cloud computing has the potential to have a significant influence on enterprise IT in the type, quality and price of the services we create and consumers, but a number of challenges remain.
Eric Pulier, executive director of the ECBC, said it was important to remember that the group is not trying to set standards but it looking to create momentum behind de facto standards. “The ECBC represents an opportunity to affect the global information technology marketplace, bringing transparency and efficiency to the relationship between buyers and sellers,” he said. “By lowering the gating factors for widespread adoption of cloud services, the ECBC can accelerate the shift to the next era in computing.”
The ECBC will seek to understand the needs of commercial cloud services buyers, set strategy and launch specific work programs. All work on specific projects will be done collaboratively within the broader ecosystem, with the buyers providing guidance and best practice requirements.
