Cloud as a Business Strategy, not just Technology Strategy

When it comes to cloud computing, organizations may be at different stages along the journey, with varying needs. Whether you are completely new to the cloud, or looking to optimize your enterprise, there are many possibilities. But the one strategic driver in common is positioning for business growth – and this is where cloud computing can help, creating a scalable, time- and money-saving future.

Having said all that, how to best leverage cloud computing for business growth may depend on your starting point and current challenges (see also our recent blog, How Should an Enterprise Think About Future Readiness on the Cloud?). Let’s first consider the size of your business and the benefits of cloud computing:

• Startup: Starting a new business can be one the most exciting but challenging projects. Yet, according to CB Insights, spiraling costs are often to blame for startup failures, so it’s essential you invest finances wisely. One of the best ways to control IT infrastructure costs is by leveraging cloud computing to achieve critical business benefits. Here’s how: cloud computing saves you money on hardware, delivers automatic software and security updates, offers flexibility to only pay for what you use as your needs change, and access to support from the world’s top DevOps experts. Setting up on the cloud is easy to set up and affordable, and businesses that don’t adopt cloud computing are now rarer than ever. Plan for your future from the word go.
• SMB: As volume of data starts to grow exponentially, many small to medium sized businesses need better IT solutions to keep pace. Reducing costs and increasing efficiencies may be the primary focus, and to achieve this cloud computing becomes a ‘need-to-have’, not ‘nice-to-have’, option. Being on the cloud removes the need to invest in additional hardware or in-house maintenance, offers the ability to scale up, or down, as often as necessary, and opens your world to a whole range of additional technology as the business grows.
• Enterprise: You’re most likely already on the cloud, or even on multiple clouds, and now exploring ways to further enhance business growth opportunities. As your organization expands to operate in multiple, remote and/or global locations, secure online access and real-time collaboration with customers and employees is critical. Leveraging full DevOps capabilities will support automating manual tasks and managing complex environments at scale. Large enterprises with bigger budgets also have the potential to handle a hybrid cloud approach (see below). The more available cloud services you access, such as modern business analytics tools (predictive, descriptive and diagnostic analytics), the more business intelligence your organization can gleen to secure your competitive edge.