The enterprise cloud seduction begins…

Big Blue’s services division is looking to build bridges to the cloud for businesses that desire to capitalize on the benefits of this lofty form of computing. Lofty because while several cloud services have launched to stratospheric heights in the past couple of years, enterprises have largely been kept out of the loop when it comes to their in-house computing needs. IBM’s Smart Business services portfolio wants change that (and carve out new revenue-generating opportunities) with offerings that are “meant to help clients turn complex business processes into simple services.”

IBM plans to accomplish this with a three-pronged strategy to quickly migrate to a cloud model. This includes services run on IBM Cloud; IBM- or client-run secure private clouds; and IBM CloudBurst hardware/software bundles for rapid private cloud deployments.

One area that IBM is keen on offering its expertise is software development and testing. Moving to a cloud-based model, developers can float over most of the bureaucratic snags that slow down development efforts. Not only that, the process is tremendously wasteful. IBM estimates that “…developers are driving so much business value that the average enterprise devotes 30 to 50 percent of its entire technology infrastructure to development and test, but typically up to 90 percent of it remains idle.”

To alleviate this, there’s Smart Business Development & Test on the IBM Cloud and IBM Smart Business Test Cloud, which mates application development and the adaptable nature of cloud computing platforms, allowing developers to “serve themselves” and reduce IT labor costs by up to 50 percent and coding errors by up to 30 percent, according to the company.

Another area IBM is tackling is virtual desktops. With the lure of eliminating up to 40 percent in desktop support costs, IBM hopes that companies will rethink the full-featured PC per cube model and consider services like Smart Business Desktop on the IBM Cloud (currently in preview) and Smart Business Desktop Cloud for delivery over a firm’s own datacenter and infrastructure.

If the cost savings figures hold true, it’s a safe bet IBM will successfully seduce businesses into its fluffy embrace.

The full details of the announcement, including two YouTube videos for you to peruse, are available at the IBM website.