MarketStar Blog | Technology

Key Insights

A PwC research indicates that many outsourcing deals collapse even before the contract has concluded because of mistrust between service providers and customers.

You already know that your organization is expected to be General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliant by May 25, 2018. If you have not updated your organization’s website yet, here’s a guide that cuts the muck and gets straight to the point. 

There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has permanently changed the way we do business, including how we sell enterprise technology. With employees working from home, licenses for on-premise enterprise software are being replaced by software-as-a-service (SaaS) subscriptions. Cloud solutions have been with us for some time, and adoption has accelerated thanks to the pandemic.

Increasing focus on digitization has driven widespread adoption of technology in every aspect of business, irrespective of department, region or industry. Our dependency on technology is greater than ever before and has escalated to the point where any technological failure brings life -- both work and play -- to a grinding halt. To say that technology is essential to our productivity would be an oversimplification of our enormous dependency on it. 

If you’re considering moving your business to the cloud, then you’reprobably looking to strengthen your focus on achieving your business goals. Your company’s poised for the next level of growth. Now it’s more important than ever before to keep your crosshairs trained in the real raison d’être of your enterprise, and to do that at the lowest cost. 

Keeping an audience captivated and engaged for the duration of an event is no easy feat. It was always a challenge to begin with, and it’s only getting harder. The average human attention span continues to get shorter, while at the same time, we have the world at our fingertips, thanks to mobile devices that allow us to keep ourselves entertained however we see fit.

Let's assume you are looking for a solution to effectively analyze large volumes of data from different sources to help you plan smarter campaigns. Or you are considering running a remarketing campaign. It could be that you want to personalize your website's communication to be more precise and give visitors what they are searching for. Alternatively, perhaps you want to identify your audience’s targetable attributes at every stage of the purchase funnel to deliver personalized, one-on-one messages to them. In all of these cases and many more, a DMP would be exactly the solution that you need. 

Itwasn’t too long ago that cloud computing was still a relatively new model of operation. There were serious concerns at the time about the security, legal implications1 and performance2 of the technology, but things have come a long way since then. As time passed and the concerns were gradually addressed, the use of cloud computing spread. Today, it’s firmly established as a mainstream practice. The question is no longer whether utilizing the cloud is a good idea; it’s now a matter of how to best leverage the technology. The answer is simple: adopt a cloud-first approach.

Taking a cloud-first approach means adopting a mindset wherein the cloud will be your first and main consideration before turning to other alternatives for any emergent business requirements such as technological upgrades or workload and data migration. 

Here are a few reasons why it’s time for you to take a cloud-first approach to business: 

1. Cloud Cuts Cost

One of the first benefits associated with the adoption of cloud is cost saving. Provisioning and maintaining your own on-premise hardware is cumbersome, time-intensive and expensive; updating and repairing hardware, along with personnel costs, can quickly nibble away your budget. By opting to move to the cloud, you forgo these expenses in favor of a monthly or usage-based fee paid to your cloud provider, allowing you to enjoy all the benefits that cloud has to offer without worrying about any of the upkeep3. 

2. Scalability is Critical to Success

There will come a time for any budding business when its internal infrastructure can no longer keep up with the increasingly demanding operational requirements. The ability of an organization to quickly adjust to shifting needs is critical to its long-term success. Whether scaling up or down, cloud gives you the flexibility to provision resources as needed. With a usage-based tariff, this allows you to always meet business requirements at minimal cost, keeping operations smooth and efficient3. 

3. Security Issues Have Been Addressed

In its early days, apprehension about cloud computing was widespread and legitimate. The risks of adoption were high; security, in particular, was a big concern for early adopters looking to implement this practice 4. Now that the field has matured, many of the reservations initially held about cloud computing are no longer valid; in fact, security is one of the biggest strengths of the cloud. In fact, according to Gartner, through 2022, at least 95% of cloud security failures will be the customer’s fault. This indicates that the flaws lie not within the technology itself, but in the way it’s used5. 

4. Future-Proofing Your Organization

The cloud has been a disruptive force over the last decade, and the field is set to be the area of focus for further advancement in the foreseeable future. Game-changing innovations that are yet to come will almost certainly be geared toward cloud computing. Taking a cloud-first approach now means that you’ll be perfectly situated to reap maximum benefit from said innovations when they arrive, at minimal cost and restructuring. This will translate to improved agility, streamlined operations and quicker time to market6. 

5. Embracing Mobility

With today’s bring-your-own-device culture in the workplace, cloud adoption is an obvious choice. If an internet connection is available, your employees can work from any location on any device in real time. This level of flexibility means that productivity rarely suffers because of restrictive circumstances7. 

6. Encouraging Innovation

The cloud environment grants you access to all the latest software releases virtually instantaneously, be it new technologies or updates. Such freedom encourages experimentation with little or no downside, which leads to innovation. Trying out new delivery models, leveraging big data, implementing artificial intelligence – the possibilities are limitless, and you might just stumble upon something that works for you and gives you an advantage over competitors8.

It’s clear that cloud computing is here to stay. Organizations that align themselves with the vision of a ‘cloud-first’ approach can expect to reap significant rewards in the not-so-distant future.

Embrace the Future with a Cloud-First Approach

Adopting a cloud-first approach can revolutionize your business, driving cost savings, scalability, security, and innovation. By prioritizing the cloud for your technological needs, you future-proof your organization, enabling flexibility and embracing mobility. The cloud allows for seamless updates and encourages experimentation, setting you up for long-term success. As cloud computing continues to evolve, businesses that embrace this approach will be well-positioned to reap substantial benefits and maintain a competitive edge in the ever-changing marketplace. 

References: 

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.729.163&rep=rep1&type=pdf  

https://ts.data61.csiro.au/publications/nicta_full_text/4387.pdf  

https://nordic-backup.com/blog/benefits-of-cloud-first-strategy-for-business/  

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-computing-cloud-survey/cloud-computing-disappoints-early-adopters-survey-idUSTRE7932G720111004  

https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/is-the-cloud-secure/  

https://www.securityroundtable.org/cloud-first-security-strategy/  

http://www.inteqna.com/blog/4-benefits-of-a-cloud-first-business-strategy  

https://www.ibm.com/blogs/watson/2017/04/beyond-cloud-businesses-need-truly-cloud-first-strategy/

In an amazingly short span of a couple or so years, Cloud Computing has become an integral, perhaps even the most vital part of an enterprise’s IT Strategy. It has helped free-up a huge chunk of the IT from the constrictions of legacy software and hardware licensing data center models, and has opened, revolutionized and to an extent democratized the way IT delivers services and how the users access information, applications and business services. 

But with the ever-increasing impact the cloud has on IT, there’s also a palpable confusion about how its full value to business can be harnessed, mainly because of the continuous and rapid evolution of the cloud and its related technologies and the growing flux of vendors using portentous hyperbolic marketing speak to sell their cloud solutions. 

That is why it is essential for businesses to continually monitor computing trends to keep updating and adapting their cloud strategies to evade expensive oversights or encash market opportunities over the coming years.

It’s being called nothing less than the “Fourth Industrial Revolution”1. And in terms of uncovering the potential of the Internet of Things (IoT), it seems the limits are defined only by our collective imaginations. Indeed, as one Forbes.com article argues, “The most important thing to do when considering how the Internet of Things will affect your business is to think bigger—much bigger.”2 And what applies to our businesses applies just as much to our individual lives.