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Thread ID: 134917 2013-09-02 21:27:00 Xero - the dangers of cloud computing anon463 (17148) PC World Chat
Post ID Timestamp Content User
1352559 2013-09-03 06:24:00 Yes, im wary of cloud computing, especially since most data INCLUDED Xero are held outside NZ, that's why half the time depending on time of day, Xero processing reduces to a crawl....the whole idea of cloud is to remove backup and update hassles for those that dont have in house IT....Can you imagine trying to get your data back when you have your entire client file structure back down out of the cloud...Our data is over 400GB alone, then their are all our VMs.... SolMiester (139)
1352560 2013-09-03 06:55:00 Yes, im wary of cloud computing, especially since most data INCLUDED Xero are held outside NZ, that's why half the time depending on time of day, Xero processing reduces to a crawl....the whole idea of cloud is to remove backup and update hassles for those that dont have in house IT....Can you imagine trying to get your data back when you have your entire client file structure back down out of the cloud...Our data is over 400GB alone, then their are all our VMs....

:thumbs::+1:

Any one care to take a guess where xero's NZ address actually is ??:nerd:

Ping their site and have a look. 		wainuitech (129)
1352561 2013-09-04 22:44:00 That's a lot of hops from NZ to Xero's website in Texas:

starts NZ
San Jose, California, USA
Denver, Colorado
Chicago, Illinois
end in San Antonio, Texas 		kingdragonfly (309)
1352562 2013-09-05 00:19:00 Can you imagine trying to get your data back when you have your entire client file structure back down out of the cloud...Our data is over 400GB alone, then their are all our VMs....

Yeah it's not too difficult, that's why you start getting in to high availability setups and things. We had around 8TB at the previous place I was network admin'ing for ;) 		Chilling_Silence (9)
1352563 2013-09-05 06:30:00 Most companies intentionally try and run at a loss when starting up, buy up large infrastructure etc... It's just good business sense to do-so!
What!? Chill... how can you possibly back up that inane statement? 		Greg (193)
1352564 2013-09-05 07:46:00 Most business requires a lot of capital when starting up. This can mean that for the first year or two they are running at a loss. Bobh (5192)
1352565 2013-09-05 09:49:00 Very briefly, cloud computing is just another form of outsourcing, and same caveats apply.
Outsourcing is good every time it saves money/time/complexity, but it is extremely bad every time it loosen the control on your critical assets.
Can you outsource know how about how producing tires? Yes, whatever, of course... unless you build tires. 		bir8 (17149)
1352566 2013-09-06 12:10:00 What!? Chill... how can you possibly back up that inane statement?

Though I realise you're asking Chill,

It's generally accepted in the business world that, to the extent that cashflow permits and the business is able to grow, it's a good idea to pour money into pursuing growth. This is a form of investment.

For example, you might spend money expanding into other countries, or hiring extra sales staff, or developing your products faster than is necessary to maintain the product and satisfy existing customers. This is an investment that ought to pay off in the long term, but for accounting purposes it is a loss, as the expectation of future profit cannot (and should not) be treated as an asset.

Most start-up companies follow this strategy, and spend the first while making a loss. Some choose (or are forced) to limit their investment to what can be spared out of revenues, so that they break even or make a modest profit, but many companies choose to use debt or equity (i.e. shareholder contributions) to spend a lot MORE money on the pursuit of growth than they earn.

In Xero's case, they're hiring staff all over the world to expand as fast as possible, because they believe that their growth justifies such a strategy. They expect to continue to lose money for (if I recall) another year or more, but they have enough cash in the bank to sustain several years of such losses, and the choice to stop hiring staff for the purposes of expansion at any point.

Disclaimer: I am a shareholder, and I am not giving any opinion about whether Xero will succeed or fail - just explaining my understanding of their strategy and their justification for it. 		george12 (7)
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