Castlebridge Associates

Over the past few months I've been involved in a number of events related to Cloud Computing and have had countless conversations about the pros and cons of outsourcing, as well has having studied a number of business arrangements that boiled down to someone being a Data Processor for someone else, a Data Controller.

I have found that my message in each of these apparently disparate situations can now be boiled down to:

• It's the Information, Stupid and
• The Fine Print can feck you up frustrate your intent and
• If you can't find who is responsible for the thing, then it is you who is responsible.

Over the past few months I've been involved in a number of events related to Cloud Computing and have had countless conversations about the pros and cons of outsourcing, as well has having studied a number of business arrangements that boiled down to someone being a Data Processor for someone else, a Data Controller.

I have found that my message in each of these apparently disparate situations can now be boiled down to:

• It's the Information, Stupid and
• The Fine Print can feck you up frustrate your intent and
• If you can't find who is responsible for the thing, then it is you who is responsible.

I was asked recently to present at a Breakfast briefing being run by another local Irish consulting firm that specialises in Cloud Computing (they're imaginatively called Cloud Consulting and are run by a really nice bunch of guys, including Tim Pullen).

This is a recording based on a presentation that I delivered to BizCamp South East 2010 at Waterford Institute of Technology in June 2010.

The topic of the presentation is a discussion of how Information is a pure business fuel. It is an introductory level presentation and I'd welcome discussion and debate on the topic here.

Cloud Computing is the coming wave. There is no escaping it. However, when it comes to managing Data Protection and Information Quality we need to be wary that this new Emperor may be somewhat lacking in the clothing department.

There are two areas where organisations need to consider their strategies when interacting with the Cloud are:

• Information Quality
• Data Protection/Privacy

Over the past few days I've been called at home by the accounts department regional newspaper looking for a prominent local business.  This is something that happens every year around this time for the past few years.

Each year my wife or I politely inform the accounts department that they have the wrong number. Each year we are told that the error will be corrected. Each year we get another call. This year we've had one yesterday and one today. I predict we'll get one tomorrow as well.

This is a good example of how poor quality information can have both a direct financial cost and an indirect reputational cost for businesses. Let's look at this issue in a little more detail.

Flicking through one of the local newspapers this morning (the Wexford People) I spotted a story about a laptop that had been stolen from a primary care Medical Centre in Wexford town last week.

What struck me about the story was how they made a point of stressing the value of the laptop (€1500) but at no time did they mention whether or not the laptop held any personal data relating to patients at the Medical Centre in question.