The cloud computing industry has grown over 300% over the past 6 years and is showing no signs of slowing down, with 60% of CIOs claiming it is their top priority. IT executives are outsourcing more infrastructure, application management services and custom development so they can devote more of their own resources to core business functions.
Making The Move To The Cloud
When an organization moves IT to the cloud, it greatly reduces the need to maintain in-house expertise, leaving it, instead, in the hands of its cloud computing and managed services provider. Since the provider already has a robust system in place, the organization is then easily able to scale IT up as needed, without the need to plan for large hardware, software, and personnel upgrades.
Whether a startup or a fortune 100 (or both), reducing the cost of IT is imperative to keeping the bottom line in check. By moving to the cloud, companies only pay for what they need, when they need it. Most importantly, the cost of IT is instantly reduced to a best-practice bare minimum. The alternative of keeping IT on-premise would only be able to match (and never beat) the costs associated with a cloud computing solution, since advantages like economies of scale and top level expertise would not be included.
Rather than have to worry about constant hardware and software upgrades necessary to keep their system up-to-date, by operating in the cloud, organizations are able to rely on expert providers to keep their systems running on all cylinders at all times no matter how big (or small) their needs.
Cloud Computing & Innovation
While the reasons that cloud computing has seen an exponential growth in the business community are quite straightforward and easy to understand, the results of this shift are only now beginning to be fully understood.
While cloud computing most certainly allows IT organizations to become more efficient, reliable, and agile, the end goal is much deeper: innovation. Businesses that have managed to take advantage of cloud computing’s ability to create innovation have transformed their IT from a cost center to a strategic department that exploits new business opportunities, and unlocks new revenue streams.
On the other hand, organizations that have been slow to adopt the cloud have struggled to achieve the same levels of success, as they have been increasingly saddled with unstable infrastructures and obsolete systems management strategies. IT departments that have not adopted the cloud often find themselves caught in a reactive mode of trying to support current outdated systems while trying to keep up with the ever-increasing backlog of requests for new services, rather than investing in new systems that would deliver innovation and, ultimately, business growth. The entire process often ends up driving a wedge between the business stakeholders, who are constantly frustrated with IT’s inability to keep up with requests, and IT departments, that are constantly playing “whack-a-mole” between new requests and issues that pop up.
More and more, cloud computing is empowering IT to break free of this negative sequence by allowing it to reinvent how services are delivered to the organization. The end result for the business at large is the ability to operate in fundamentally different ways that can only be described as more flexible and responsive to business needs.
Here are a few specific examples of how innovation is fueled by cloud computing:
Resource Allocation
The most obvious way cloud computing fuels innovation is through what is called the 80-20 Rule: that up to 80% of a company’s IT time and cost can be dedicated to the maintenance of legacy systems, leaving only 20% for the implementation of new innovations that help drive business growth. By significantly changing these percentages, cloud computing opens the door to business-driving innovations.
Interoperability
When systems are moved into the cloud, their ability to combine with other systems goes up exponentially. As a result, a wide range of different systems, devices, and applications can all seamlessly integrate with the system in place, all in the cloud. This allows for all kinds of innovations involving improved communication, business intelligence, and customer interaction, among other things.
Security
IT Security is yet another area that has experienced great innovation as a result of the cloud. The main reason for this is that when one considers methods for monitoring, managing, and assessing vulnerability, doing so from the outside, rather than from within, tends to work more efficiently and accurately.
While it’s true that the most important reason companies have been moving to the cloud is because it’s easier, cheaper, and better, the greatest benefits being derived from the shift to the cloud are those that could not have been predicted before the shift, because the table was simply not yet set for true innovation.
Call Syntax today to find out how you can enter the cloud computing revolution and fuel innovation for your business.