Cloud Computing. Computing cloud. These terms – better defined as concepts – contain within them a complex system, a set of semantic fields that can be acquired by the various subjects who exploit its many peculiarities: tool, mere software, leverage to reduce business costs, storage, information aggregator and processor and much more to be identified.
“Il cloud computing (DC) it can be defined as a set of service models that encourages flexible use of one's own ICT resources – infrastructures and applications – or those made available by a specialized service provider, the cloud provider”. To decline the different facets of the phenomenon was a research conducted by the political culture foundation ResPublica and by Astrid, foundation for analysis, studies and research on the reform of democratic institutions and innovation in public administrations. The aim is to demonstrate the positive impact of the CC on relevant aspects of the Italian economy, both from a European point of view, through comparative analyzes of some experiences already started in other national contexts, and from a local and regional perspective.
The overall result, which does not want to be a punctual estimate in terms of wealth generated or lower costs incurred by businesses, aims to evaluate the relative advantage of Italy compared to other countries, through the selection and analysis of two macro- significant variables: the dimensionality of the companies, users of the technology in question, and the greater sensitivity of some sectors with respect to the use of the cloud "tool".
The research, divided into eight chapters, opens with an overview of the Italian situation, in terms of competitiveness compared with the other partners/competitors of the European Union. In the current context of reduced margins for fiscal manoeuvre, given the difficult situation of public finances in Italy, the CC can thus represent an excellent and effective driver for boosting company productivity and relaunching overall growth.
In second chapter four service models are identified and explored, independently of the physical implementation and management of the CC: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), concerning the basic elements without application software, such as storage and data processing; Platform as a Service (PaaS), focused on the provision of top-level application services – such as operating systems and middleware programs – which exempts the user from any system execution process; Software as a Service (SaaS) including the supply of any type of application, regardless of the location and type of device used; Business Process as a Service (BPaaS), represents an evolution of SaaS with a view to transversal business and process functions.
Other models - secondary to the above classification - concern the characteristics of the distribution and the type of network: private cloud and public cloud. The third and fourth chapters analyze respectively the main sources of benefit offered by cloud computing for business activities and the specific advantage in terms of fixed costs and variable costs.
Ample space is dedicated, in the central part of the research, to an accurate sectoral analysis conducted on a sample of thirteen European countries: seven relevant sectors of the economy are studied and compared on the basis of four specific variables – incidence of IT costs; production variability; information sharing and staff mobility; security of the ICT system – affected, to varying degrees and forms, by the adoption of the CC. “The indicators used – we read among the results of the analysis carried out in the fifth chapter – allow us to conclude that it is the sectors with the highest added value that benefit the most from the cloud and, in particular: information and communication services; professional, scientific and technical activities; and administrative and support service activities. […] Information and communication services would have an economic advantage of almost 60% over the manufacturing sector”.
Benefiting from the sectoral analysis carried out, the investigation then continues, in the sixth and seventh chapter, on an estimate of the overall impact of the CC, both on European countries and on the twenty Italian regions, in terms of income and employment generated and taking into account of the weight of micro-enterprises in the economic fabric.
The conclusions of the work are entirely dedicated to the formulation of policies and tools capable of favoring the adoption of the technology in question. "The main impact of the CC from a socio-economic point of view - we read in the last chapter - is the globalization of IT services and the exchange of data and information [...] a major effort is required in defining the rules, behaviors and procedures [...] in order to accelerate the benefits and equally ensure the protection of users, companies and the country". Precisely with reference to this last step, it should be noted that the definition of a regulatory framework and a structured strategy on the subject of the digital cloud is topical and of high priority in the European institutional context. A summary document – the final draft of which is still being examined by the European Commission – indicates three guidelines: common standards for EU countries; more certain and secure contractual conditions and terms; partnerships on the PA front.
The report conducted by Astrid and ResPublica, in summary, analytically manages to demonstrate how this new technology represents a crucial factor in the growth and competitiveness of every economic system, contributing in a decisive way to the increase in the productivity of companies and creating an opportunity for public administration. The articulation of the research - which touches on economic issues, both at a micro and macro level - lends itself easily to the understanding of a phenomenon in progress and in continuous remodeling, by those who manage a business activity and at the same time by those in charge of identifying efficient solutions in the PA.
