Resource on Demand

Call us today on 020 8123 7769 or click here to email us

Tag Archives: cloud growth

Press Release: Is Cloud Computing immune to a Double Dip Recession?

Posted on

(Thursday 29 September 2011) Leading cloud recruitment firm Resource on Demand (ROD) today announced that year-on-year cloud recruitment figures have increased by a staggering 52.9%. With ROD seeing over twice as many new roles opening up when compared with the same monthly period last year.

Widespread job losses in the public sector tell a tale of doom and gloom, but cloud computing is bucking the trend and seeing year on year job growth, reports cloud specialist ‘Resource on Demand’.

Operations Director of ROD, Theresa Durrant, said:

“These figures are proof that cloud firms are continuing to grow and invest in their work forces. This growth is in stark contrast to the public sector, which is sadly being chastened by government job cuts and stringent budget measures, with UK unemployment rising to over 2.5million as a result.”

These latest figures from ROD show the percentage increase in new jobs that the cloud computing industry has created; whilst for accuracy only jobs which have been filled count towards the percentage of growth. Durrant explains some reasons for this growth:

“The ‘tech bubble’ has been instrumental to the growth of the cloud ecosystem, growth that we believe to be sustainable. Many firms who rely on the cloud are heading towards, or have already made, an Initial Public Offering (IPO) and due to this are seeing initial and continued paths to investment, not least due to the sale of stock to the public that comes with an IPO.”

“We have seen a renewed confidence in the hiring of cloud professionals and the number of clients opening their doors to us. The buoyancy of the cloud ecosystem shows no sign of letting up and is an encouraging sign for the UK economy.”

The Office for National Statistics said the number of people out of work rose by 80,000 in the three months to July 2011, mainly due to a sharp rise in youth unemployment. Employment in the public sector fell by 111,000 in the second quarter of 2011, the biggest drop since recent records began in 1999.

Despite these official figures, ROD believes that the stable growth cloud is experiencing can make their industry recession proof. Durrant concludes:

“If there is one sector that can have immunity from a double-dip recession it is Cloud Computing. We are confident of this and are looking forward to another busy 12 months and reporting further growth in 2012.”

Resource on Demand is a specialist in placing and training salesforce.com candidates, through working closely with salesforce.com and the cloud ecosystem.

ENDS

 


In the clouds or on the ground?

Posted on

Gartner’s latest Hype Cycle Report has been released and showed that the hype around has reached its highest levels to date this year.

The analyst firm claimed cloud computing is among the emerging technologies that have moved into the “Peak of Inflated Expectations” stage of the cycle of acceptance and adoption that it charts using a proprietary methodology.

The hype-cycle, tracks technologies’ trends from their conceptualisation, through the hype of them being the “next big thing”, through the valley of despair as they fail to live up to expectations, to a plateau of maturity whereby that technology is used for what it is designed within realistic expectations.

This diagram, shows the Hype Cycle for cloud computing and can help us predict how the technology will be perceived and acted upon in the future.

Jackie Fenn, vice president and Gartner fellow, said “computing remained among those technology areas attracting ongoing interest and activity, alongside social media and mobile.”

At Resource on Demand we follow these reports with great interest and believe that whilst there may be a ‘trough of disillusionment’, this will be short-lived, likely due a double-dip recession where firms will seek to gain value for money from their IT systems, leading to a likely take-up of cloud computing. Indeed it is quite likely that we are already on the ‘slope of enlightenment’, as cloud and web platforms become increasingly common place, especially in the light of iTunes launching iCloud.

What do you think? Is this report accurate? Are we heading into the trough or already on the slope of enlightenment?

Source: Gartner, Hype Cycle for Cloud Computing, 2011 David Mitchell Smith Publication Date: 27 July 2011 ID Number: G00214915 © 2011

 


Will the shortage of cloud architects lead to bad clouds?

Posted on

David Linthicum writes a compelling piece in infoworld.com, suggesting that there seems to be more cloud construction projects than there is talent to support them.

He writes:

The demand has exploded for those who understand how to build clouds. However, you have pretty much the same number of cloud-experienced architects being chased by an increasing number of talent seekers. Something has to give, and that will be quality and innovation as organizations settle for what they can get versus what they need.

You can read his article in its entirety here.  What do you think?  Does demand outweigh the talent available?  Will something give?  Is David right?


Can we speak the new language of the cloud?

Posted on

ROD was recently approached by the good people at Cloud Pro, who wanted our thoughts on how quickly people are adapting to new technologies like Cloud Computing.  Here’s a snippet of the article and the link to the full piece on their website.

Can we speak the new language of the cloud?

Cloud computing has created the need for a new vocabulary – and new languages. How quickly are we adapting to this new way of working?

It is perhaps no surprise that the ‘utopian’ world of cloud computing should throw up new set of programming languages. A new lingua franca was inevitable as software developers came to collude inside the fresh pastures of the cloud computing cloudscape with its untapped possibilities.

While cloud vendors have sought to pacify us with suggestions that software development methodologies and core technology principles translate ‘seamlessly’ to the cloud; the reality is that a whole range of new languages and systems tools has come to be and, as yet, not everybody speaks fluently in these new tongues.

Comparatively new names including Cassandra, Voldemort, Puppet, Chef, Map Reduce and Hadoop are starting to define the skill sets that by which we measure cloud competency at the individual coder level. So has the IT recruitment industry found itself on a blind curve heading downhill faster than it can manage? Furthermore, have programmers themselves recognised the new skills topography they will need to navigate – and what are they doing about it?

Back to school?

At the individual level, software application developers are of course responsible for their own skill sets. As such, they can take it upon themselves to ‘train up’ for the cloud by using online training tools and resources if they wish. However in practice, not every developer will choose to augment his skills, so inequalities in the programmer job market have become more pronounced.

“One thing we have always noticed as cloud recruitment specialists is that there are truly excellent programmers who excel at everything they do; and then there are average programmers who ‘just about get by’ and are sometimes carried along by other members of the team. But, crucially, when it comes to the cloud, this disparity is magnified and there is an even greater wedge between the two tiers,” said Theresa Durrant, operations director of cloud-specialist recruitment consultancy Resource On Demand Limited.

“We typically work for large global IT consultancy brands and our clients are becoming very demanding when it comes to skill sets for the cloud. This issue needs to be highlighted right the way back to the student level, or we risk the uncertainties of a job market suffering from a dearth of core skills. Aberdeen University has apparently started to offer MSc/PgDip in ‘Cloud Computing’, but this is a mere drop in the ocean in terms of what is needed,” added Durrant.

To continue reading this article on the Channel Pro website, please click here.

 


Universities Encouraged to Embrace Emerging Technologies

Posted on

Resource on Demand, today sent out a press release encouraging Universities to embrace emerging technologies, like cloud computing.

You can read our press release below…

(London, UK) Leading cloud recruitment firm, Resource on Demand, is encouraging universities to introduce industry-recognised modules in a bid to increase the employability of graduates.

Theresa Durrant, Operations Director at Resource on Demand (ROD), said:

“Higher Education Institutions need to further their commercial partnerships with organisations and platforms in order to give under-graduates the edge in a crowded job market. Through offering modules in contemporary technology, such as cloud computing, graduates will enter the job market better equipped for the task in hand.”

From September 2012, universities in England will be allowed to raise tuition fees up to £9,000 per year and ROD are arguing that this presents a great opportunity for Universities to invest in emerging technology markets.

Theresa Durrant and ROD, are pioneers in the cloud recruitment market and are blazing the way for graduate opportunities, she said:

“We are currently seeing graduates enter the job market with no certification at all, which is the bare minimum they would need to work with a platform such as salesforce.com.  There is then additional training they need to undertake before they can begin to work, which we hope can be avoided in the future.”

One of the few universities to embrace Cloud Computing is Aberdeen University who offer a MSc/PgDip in ‘Cloud Computing’, but ROD is encouraging places like Aberdeen to expand their offering.

Theresa Durrant added:

“Universities can use recruitment companies, like ROD, to gauge the direction that technology is moving in, and adjust their courses accordingly – at the moment recruiters tend to be a dirty word – but we believe there is a strong partnership that if forged could help graduates, Universities and the job market.”

Lee Durrant, ROD MD, said:

“Our suggestion is that Universities take advantage of the free tools that salesforce.com offer, such as developer accounts, wide-ranging online training, and free social collaboration tools.  The culmination of this is the student undergoing the certification process as an integral part of their course and leaving University with usable and employable skills. Providing a vocational and work experience led qualification that meets both the industry and direct company employment needs.”

ROD launched in Feb 2009, and are now recognised as a leading light in the Cloud eco-system.  They were one of the first UK recruitment companies to focus purely on Salesforce.com and Cloud recruitment.

 


Online Professional Networks: Part Two

Posted on

In a recent blog post, we spoke about the huge growth that is currently occuring in the Online Professional Network sphere.  Fuelled by reports that LinkedIn and Viadeo are set to go public.

In Part One of this blog mini-series, we detailed the stats of LinkedIn with their rather nice infographic.  This time round we’re focusing on Viadeo, who are rapidly gaining ground on Linkedin, having opened an office on Linkedin’s doorstep in San Francisco and who claim they are number one in Europe – being as they are a French company.

While the tech press tends to concentrate on LinkedIn, its rival has a substantial audience in a number of regions, as this infographic shows.

To put this in some context, LinkedIn boasts over 90 million members worldwide, including 20 million in Europe. While Viadeo is sitting at just over a third of the total users if we go by LinkedIn’s figures, we read that Viadeo stands by its claim of being number one in Europe and questions LinkedIn’s numbers.

Either way, France-based Viadeo is targeting developing markets for further growth. As the graphic shows, it sees significant potential in Asia and is set to open offices soon in Russia and Brazil.

Thenextweb.com report that Just weeks after LinkedIn filed to go public, it appears that rival social network for professionals Viadeo is thinking of heading in the same direction.

AFP reports that the company is “Studying the possibility” of an Initial Public Offering. Although the company doesn’t appear to be rushing into a decision, Dan Serfaty, co-founder of Viadeo, is quoted as saying “We’ve existed for five years, we have the size, we are credible. In terms of images and resources, it could be interesting,”

The Paris-based company isn’t yet even sure which stockmarket it might float on, considering emerging markets as one possibility. “The question arises of where we would do our IPO, in France or not. We’re number one in France, Italy, Spain, and in countries like China, Mexico, India and Brazil.” Serafty told AFP. “It could be that we would seek a listing on the stock exchange in an emerging market, because it would allow us to position ourselves as a social network in these countries.”

Demand Media and LinkedIn have kicked off a renewed appetite for tech IPOs this year. Zynga, Groupon and Facebook are all thought to be considering going public in the next couple of years. It looks like we can now add Viadeo to the list too.

 

 

Click here to see the full size version on thenextweb.com.


Happy Christmas from Resource on Demand

Posted on

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for working with ROD over the last year.

At the beginning of the year we said that 2010 would be the ‘year of the cloud’ and have been proved right as we all saw the Cloud enter the mainstream.

To reflect this, ROD has also had a record breaking year - never before have we placed so many candidates and had so much fun doing so.

We have also been all over the press as ROD became recognised as a leader in Cloud Recruitment.

The Independent | Daily Mail | Sky News

Thank you for being a part of our wonderful year, we hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

We look forward to seeing what January has to bring.

See you there.

Lee, Theresa and all at Resource On Demand


Cloud Computing Proponent Quits Microsoft After Causing Revolution

Posted on

On October 18th BBC News reported that “Ray Ozzie, chief software architect of Microsoft and proponent of cloud computing, [had] resigned unexpectedly. Mr Ozzie was a top member of the company’s management, having taken over the software role from Bill Gates.”

By challenging the company to make more use of the web and to move away from the old school hardware systems that were in place, Ozzie revolutionised the way in which Microsoft functioned. According to CEO Steve Ballmer, the cloud is now “… full speed ahead in all aspects of [their] business.”

However this success has come through no lack of hard graft. When joining the company five years ago, The Daily Telegraph writes that “Mr Ozzie, 54, told executives that unless it adapted its software and the way it was sold “our business as we know it is at risk.””

His persistence and belief in the idea of Cloud Computing has revived Microsoft and hurled it favorably into the now and with emerging technical leaders in the business, Ozzie know his work as a catalyst is done.

And so by taking a step back and examining the facts maybe we can ask the question: if a business as established as Microsoft has had to embrace Cloud Computing and adapted itself in order to fulfill its potential, shouldn’t that be a lesson to us all?


Cloudforce 2010 highlights

Posted on

Tim Anderson is a highly regarded freelance Technology journalist, he was in attendance at Cloudforce 2010 and put together this article, of which the rest can be found on his Technology blog ITwriting.com…

“I’m attending the Cloudforce conference inwidel London to catch up on what’s new with the Salesforce.com platform.

CEO Marc Benioff was on good form, with a fun slide in his keynote presentation saying “Beware of the false cloud” – this was a jab at private clouds which he considers lack the advantages of a multi-tenanted public cloud platform like, you know, Salesforce.com. He has some justification – operating your own cloud is clearly a significant IT burden to carry – but that is the price of freedom. His company continues to report impressive growth. The theme this year is Salesforce.com Chatter, a Twitter-like service embedded into the platform, for which there are just-announced mobile clients (Apple iOS, Blackberry, Android coming) as well as integration with the web UI and programmable platform.

Chatter is reducing email usage for adopters, apparently; Benioff says by 40% in his own company. Another of its advantages (aside from general social media goodness) is that users cannot attach documents directly, but only links to documents – pass by reference not by value – which is a better approach to collaboration. Of course you can do this in emails as well, but people habitually do not. It makes you think – maybe the likes of Outlook should do this by default, saving no end of space in corporate mailboxes. Or perhaps we should just use Chatter instead.”

To read the rest of this article, please visit Tim’s blog.

If you were at Cloudforce we would love to hear what you enjoyed about it. If you found yourself hearing about the cloud for the first time and would like to chat with us about a career as a salesforce.com consultant, force.com developer or becoming certified either phone us on 020 8123 7769 or email us: rod@resourceondemand.com


Cloudforce 2010 – Register Now

Posted on

It’s that time of the year again. The salesforce.com team are in town and are all set to host Cloudforce 2010 in London.

For those that are new to the Cloud or salesforce.com, Cloudforce is an annual event that allows you to ‘Experience at first hand, the mobile, collaborative and social innovations that are driving the Cloud 2 revolution.’

Join salesforce.com Chairman and CEO Marc Benioff and cloud leaders VMware and BMC for the enterprise-computing event of the year. Hear from customers who are adopting Chatter in their business to drive collaboration and increase productivity across their sales and service teams, and the entire enterprise.

It might be that through ROD you’ve been introduced to the Cloud, or that you’re looking to move in that direction. Whichever scenario you’re in then attending Cloudforce would be a great event for you.

Registration is free (but space is limited). Some key elements will include:

See the latest cloud breakthroughs—featuring live demonstrations from companies that are using cloud computing, Chatter, the Sales Cloud, the Service Cloud, and Force.com to lead their industries and grow their business.

Learn how Chatter boosts CRM adoption and productivity of sales and service professionals

Hear how companies are using Chatter across the enterprise to break-down business silos and create collaborative companies

Discover how to make custom applications collaborative and social with just a few clicks

Test drive the latest cutting-edge applications from salesforce.com and our partners

Lunch is included. And you can top off your day by networking 1:1 with cloud computing experts, salesforce.com customers, and partners in our Cloud Expo.

Register by clicking here

If you would like to meet up with any of the ROD team to discuss a career in the cloud, job prospects or training, then please email rod@resourceondemand.com and we can arrange to meet with you.