Ask 10 people what the cloud is and you will probably get 10 different answers. The cloud is fast becoming the de facto standard for deploying and managing technology. But there is still a lot of confusion about what the cloud actually is and what it can do for business. The most common misconception that we hear when we are talking to customers in Ireland and across the world is that cloud is all about IT and total cost of ownership (TCO).
The reality is that cloud is far more than this. Cloud is about driving new levels of process efficiency, collaboration, and insight. Line-of-Business (LoB) executives are embracing cloud to accelerate business transformation. In fact, IDC predicts that by 2016, LoB executives will be involved in 80% of all new IT investments and will function as the lead decision makers in more than half of those investments.
And, while the cloud certainly offers a cost advantage, the real benefit the cloud brings to business comes in two flavours: innovation and agility. With easy configuration and advanced development platforms, the cloud gives companies the agility they need to quickly adapt processes to capitalise on changing market dynamics and stay ahead of the competition. And, with IT and business needs often now shifting on a daily basis, it is often difficult to anticipate what may be required in the future, which is why businesses are tapping the cloud to enable new processes, gain new insights, and unlock new value.
In tandem with the shift in business requirements, the world is also experiencing an explosion in the demand and use of data, and the opportunity to be connected. In this networked economy, companies need to be able to harness this data in a real-time business platform that can generate insights, more accurately predict or forecast events and integrate across multiple systems. All of which allows companies to reap competitive advantage and business benefits.
“With easy configuration and advanced development platforms, the cloud gives companies the agility they need to quickly adapt processes to capitalise on changing market dynamics and stay ahead of the competition”
In such a complex environment there is always going to be a demand and drive for simplicity. And it is without doubt that cloud computing has a central role to play in this. Businesses should no longer feel constrained by ‘the way it has always been done’ but challenge convention and continually look for ways to transform their processes, infrastructure, skills and systems.
Some companies view the cloud as just another deployment option. But savvy organisations see it for what it really is: a requirement for success in today’s fast-moving world where agility and innovation determine winners and losers.
Kevin Kimber is managing director for cloud and line of business for the UK and Ireland at SAP.
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