Our Poll: Saving Cash in the Cloud

Oct 24 2011, 7:23 PM ET

This week's poll question is: Does the cloud help you reduce business costs?

According to Larry Collins, Vice President of E-Solutions and Risk Engineering at Zurich Services Corporation, the cloud's cost reductions come from its status as a shared resource. "A centralized service provider, called a "cloud" provider, shares the cost of an IT infrastructure across many customers, thereby lowering the cost for each," explains Collins.

And you'll get upgrades cheaper and -- often more importantly -- faster, according to Collins. "A one-time system upgrade, the cost of which is again shared across many users, gives them all access to the resulting upgrade, rather than having to wait for the inevitable cost/benefit analysis to be completed at each company," he says.

So have you saved costs in the cloud? Tell us in the poll on the right-hand side of this page. Or respond in the commenting forums below.

Carly Bohach
Carly Bohach has over twelve years of writing and editing experience for a diverse range of publications. Formerly the senior editor at Accounting Technology Magazine, she currently writes for The New Jersey Technology Council’s publications, which help technology and science professionals stay up to speed.

With Insights From:

Larry Collins

Vice President of E-Solutions and Risk Engineering, Zurich Services Corporation

Larry Collins has more than 30 years of experience in risk engineering, with 15 of those years spent coordinating/servicing large commercial, industrial, national, and regional accounts.

James Shira

Chief Information Security Officer, Zurich Financial Services

James Shira manages the security of data and assets at Zurich Financial Services at a global level. Prior to that, Shira spearheaded the information security departments at Farmers Insurance and AIG.

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Our Poll: Saving Cash in the Cloud

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