Can the Apple iCloud Make it Rain in the Enterprise?

Apple’s much-anticipated iCloud was announced last week at the Worldwide Developer’s Conference to the eager ears of tech nerds and journalists alike. The iCloud aims to make your information ubiquitous across all Apple devices. How? “It just works.” Gotta love that slogan.

On the surface, the iCloud appears to be a solution aimed at the consumer, syncing things like photos, appointments and music across all devices. It’s Apple’s answer to the failed MobileMe, with more features and a cost-friendly price point (free). But, with the growth of iPhone and iPad use in business, Apple is becoming a recognizable brand in the enterprise.

It stands to reason that Steve Jobs wants to stake some claim in the cloud computing space. After all, the cloud’s where the action is these days.

Google is one of Apple’s top competitors. The god of the search engines already has a presence in the enterprise space via its Google apps. For example, here at Software Advice we use Google apps, such as Gmail and Google docs, for much of our collaboration efforts. We, of course, run all of these on our fancy Mac desktops.

While the verdict is still out on which is cooler, Google or Apple, it’s fair to say that neither company has made a large effort in terms of the enterprise market. (So far.) Will iCloud be the game changer?

Given Apple’s power plays across other devices, I could easily see them step to the forefront to leave their mark in the enterprise space. They could start off by capitalizing on their stronghold in the creative industries and education, targeting enterprise businesses in those areas. But unless Apple addresses some core issues, their latest roll out could turn into a dark cloud.

Does iCloud equal iEnterprise?

When you meet Apple users, they typically don’t have just one Apple product. More often than not, you’ll see them typing on their MacBooks, while listening to their iPods and simultaneously texting on their iPhones. They like Apple. Well, actually, they love Apple, and when you love something you commit to it. This type of brand/vendor solidarity is commonplace in the consumer space where users have the ultimate say in what products they use. In the enterprise, however, it’s a different story.

With an increased desire for system integration, the enterprise space has taken a more horizontal focus. Most companies run their business across multiple systems and need the systems to work together. Apple traditionally hasn’t been known for their cross-system integration. It is likely that individual teams could use the iCloud, but it would not be ideal for organization-wide deployment.

Companies not only need their systems to play well together, but also their teams of employees. One of the perks my company enjoys with Google docs is the ability to create, edit and share documents across the organization. However, it appears that iCloud’s automatic syncing guarantees interaction with your own information, not others. This ignores one of the biggest incentives of choosing to operate in the cloud: the ability to share information between individuals and/or groups across multiple networks. The device syncing is desirable, but it falls short of wide-scale enterprise needs.

Of course, Apple understands this. So when iCloud was announced, Apple touted its impressive file synchronization via “Documents in the Cloud.” Speculation began on whether this could pose a threat to existing cloud storage vendors. But these vendors don’t appear to be all that worried.

Box.net posted their response to iCloud, citing the fact that Apple might have great cloud storage, but they’ve never focused on the enterprise. Therefore, Apple’s cloud could have several gaps when it comes enterprise cloud storage. In order to scale for the big business, the iCloud would have to incorporate features, such as advanced security, logging activity, scalable user management and privacy settings, as well as address the many compliance and governance issues. Can they do it? Sure. Will they do it? (*Inserts white headphones into ears*)

Don’t doubt the great and powerful Jobs

There are many elements that define Apple as a brand. One of the most important is its fear of staying the same. Apple has re-orchestrated itself several times over the years. This is not a company afraid of change. People like to tout Apple as a consumer brand, but Philippe Winthrop, enterprise mobility expert at TheEMF.org, disagrees:

Apple is not a consumer company. Apple is a user-centric company. We talk all the time about the difference between consumer and enterprise needs, but we fail to mention enough times that enterprises are comprised of what? Consumers. We’re all users.

Taking the long view, maybe the gap between consumer and enterprise is smaller than we think. That’s because the use of iPads, iPhones and other Apple products is becoming more commonplace in the traditionally PC-based business environment as well. People like Apple in their personal lives. So, it makes sense that this personal preference would bleed into the working environment.

In fact, Needham’s Charlie Wolf released his analysis of Apple’s last quarter growth in the enterprise, revealing what he called a “torrid” growth rate of 66%. Compare that to the rest of the PC market, which saw a mere 4.5% growth in the enterprise space. The chart below shows the growth broken up by business size.

When you get down to it, business is all about supply and demand. Based on these numbers, demand is not an issue. The question remains: will Apple and its latest wonder rise to meet it?

A cloudy future

Because the iCloud hasn’t been released yet, what we know at this point about its viability is clearly limited (MobileMe v.2.0?). Sure, we know Apple “just works” for the individual consumer, but can that ease of use be scaled for the enterprise? As of now, I don’t see that in Apple’s short-term strategy. Could it happen eventually? You tell me. Leave your comments and feedback in the section below and share your predictions for Apple’s iCloud.