March 14, 2016
Cloud computing has taken off in recent years, as individuals and small businesses have been eager to embrace the new technology as a way to gain scalability and dramatically cut hardware costs. However, larger corporations have been hesitant to join the fold with a few exceptions – Oracle, Dell, Facebook, Google and Amazon.
And now that trend is now beginning to change. Results from a 2015 survey showed that more than 40% of respondents said their organization will invest a large amount of their IT budget in cloud computing. Companies across many industries are increasingly using the cloud in all of its forms: public, private and hybrid.
The cloud is simply a new form of IT outsourcing, according to Forbes.com — “the cloud and outsourcing have merged into one.” The cloud, however, is generating much more excitement than traditional outsourcing. Because of this, the IT industry is becoming progressively at ease with the cloud, and thus becoming more comfortable with the benefits of standardization, such as increased efficiency, virtualization and reduced support costs.
Benefits of Growing Cloud Computing Popularity
Essentially, cloud standardization is purely the delivery of applications, security, storage and other infrastructures and platforms, including those for software development for users over the Internet (public) or a private cloud. Many companies have been flocking to it because it diminishes the amount of hardware and software that users must own and maintain. Basically, users only have to pay for the computing capability they actually need, instead of investing in hardware and memory that either won’t be utilized or will be obsolete in a matter of months.
Besides its management and cost saving benefits, cloud computing also can provide firms with greater flexibility to focus IT spending where it is most needed, as well as the ability to change course quickly. Cloud standardization provides redundancy and a natural structure to support disaster recovery and backup. In addition, the virtualization aspect of cloud computing offers cloud providers the ability to optimize workloads among their hardware resources. Standardization is essential to allow data and applications to move seamlessly from one cloud environment to the next. The bigger your organization is, the more effective standardization will be because you won’t have to hire employees with such a wide range of skill sets.
As cloud computing gains popularity, organizations have started shifting the outsourcing of their IT and computational needs to data centers rather than maintaining their own IT infrastructures.
As the cloud is much more simple in comparison to existing complicated IT environments, outsourcing your cloud computing can provide companies with more cost-effective and agile IT capabilities than many in-house IT services. The result has been standardization across the industry.
Another benefit of cloud computing standardization is a boost in supply chain management, which is one of the most profitable steps a business can take to efficiently produce high-quality products to customers at the lowest possible cost. A properly deployed cloud solution can significantly improve supply chain management by creating a more efficient and customer-centered value series that is supported by the analytic capabilities that the cloud offers. It also helps businesses control their networks, giving them an IT infrastructure that is as adaptable and scalable as possible, which creates an IT environment that is more adaptable and impressively cost-effective.
Cloud solutions enable users to access the services from anywhere in the world on demand. Availability of expertise, a faster pace of innovation and the ability to focus on more specific aspects of your company’s technology experience are all the more reason to embrace the cloud as your IT infrastructure. In addition, for many companies, migrating to the cloud doesn’t require any new IT dollars, only a shift away from infrastructure spending.
This transition to the cloud doesn’t come without its concerns, however. Businesses large and small struggle with security and data governance, for example, but rest assured that cloud computing is here to stay. Bernard Golden, vice president of Enterprise Solutions at Dell, argues that “the cloud is the wave of the future; all IT will be done this way.” Golden went on to state that companies will be under increasing pressure to wind down legacy systems and replace those capabilities in the cloud over the next two to five years.
As more and more IT services are outsourced, the capabilities of in-house IT professionals must shift from a technical emphasis to an emphasis on structuring, coordinating and integrating services. Those companies with experience in the outsourcing world should take the same care and approach to cloud engagements. As companies continue to move away from big infrastructure investments in favor of cloud-based systems they are finding incredible business gains.
The factors that contribute to widespread cloud migrations are business benefits that transcend industries. From medical companies to industrial products, there’s a place in the cloud for all enterprise types.
The cloud is ideal for collaborative global software development, and Accelerance has been helping clients do this for years. For companies looking to plan a successful move to the cloud, one key step is to link up with a business partner that can help tailor the migration to your enterprise’s unique needs. The ecosystem of Accelerance Certified Expert (ACE) partners includes software development companies that are experts in cloud computing technologies.
Contact Accelerance today to get started!