DO THE CLOUDS REALLY HAVE LIMITS?
Shane Collier, founder of Consolidated Reality, LLC (CReal) considered this proposition as he contemplated a potential venture with Beyond the Psy (BtP) which involved moving high-value, sensitive content to the cloud. With an extensive technical and business background, he grew to appreciate the value of cloud computing, along with its impact on business. To be leveraged correctly, you had to do more than simply migrate your existing infrastructure to the Cloud, or build a traditional application as a Cloud based solution--you had to innovate. Moreover, to leverage the cloud globally, you had to understand culture and its impact on security. Beyond the Psy (BtP), founded more that twenty-five years before the time of the case, faced a challenging environment. Current business was excellent, exceeding two hundred and fifty million dollars annually, but was constrained by space, location, and staff. Closely aligned with the new age movement, competition was emerging everywhere. Though an established brand, BtP could be superseded by newer, more aggressive organizations, often with more flash than substance. How could BtP defend and expand its business while protecting its intellectual property? CReal put an attractive option on the desk of Dave Conseen, Director of Technology at BtP. The objective was to recreate, using cloud computing, the experience of attending a program at the organization’s physical facility. If done properly, BtP could become a billion-dollar a year operation. The proposed project presented a number of risks to both parties. Consolidated Reality, LLC was small; this project could only be achieved by drawing staff and resources from other opportunities. A failure could threaten the company. Counteracting these risks was the potential to expand globally, while providing self-funding for future expansion. For BtP, there was the obvious financial risk; however, that was the lesser risk. Of far greater concern was the fact that many of BtP’s clientele were high profile individuals whose participation at BtP, if leaked to the public, could end careers. In addition, BtP’s key assets were the propriety media and other program materials that would be distributed more broadly under the proposal. Internationally, both the concepts of privacy and ownership were subject to the interpretation of the cultures in which the programs were hosted. What would happen when these programs moved beyond U.S. jurisdiction?
