Over the last decade, cloud computing has grown from a technological “baby” to becoming a powerful force recognized by many industry domains. The digitalcloud has been among the main reasons why we are seeing the proliferation of technology start-ups and disruptors. As an after-effect of the 2020 pandemic, the world is witnessing the growth of remote working – that has largely been enabled by cloud computing tools and platforms.
While cloud services like Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS) have been the pioneers, other cloud-powered services are growing through innovative cloud solutions offered to their customers. The global market for SaaS (Software as a Service) solutions is expected to reach $145 billion by 2022 – while that for IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) will be $107 billion by next year.
How is cloud computing impacting today’s business operations on a daily and long-term basis? It is time to discuss the latest trends.
Cloud Computing – Impact on Business Operations
Be it a start-up or a large business conglomerate, enterprises adopting cloud services can benefit from it in a variety of ways. On one hand, cloud services provide the necessary cost-effective solution that can meet growing infrastructure needs – while on the other hand, it can accelerate technology-driven innovation in business processes.
Here are 5 ways how cloud services are impacting and changing the way business is being managed:
Higher agility and flexibility
Cloud services provide higher agility and flexibility that are essential for today’s changing business environment. This is supported by the growth of PaaS (Platform as a Service) tools like SAP Cloud and Microsoft Azure – which enable businesses to quickly build customized solutions that meet their organizational needs.
Even before the remote working model became mainstream, employees and technology workers across the globe had better access to business data and services through the cloud. Successful examples of companies that have adopted the cloud-powered remote working model for their distributed workforce include the likes of Zapier and Alley.
Better operational scalability
With business growth, companies are bound to improve their computing power to handle increasing demands. Thanks to cloud service providers, business investments in in-house servers and IT infrastructure are a thing of the past. IaaS platforms provide the flexibility of upgrading the computing power and resources – based on operational needs. Be it additional storage space or handling higher traffic, operational scalability is no longer a roadblock for business operations.
One such example is that of GE Health Cloud – powered by AWS – that is empowering its customers through medical data that is collected and stored from medical devices all around the globe.
Addressing customer needs
Customer-centric mobile apps or SaaS apps are now a driving force for business success. Apart from imparting personalized services to customer demands, cloud-powered application data can capture vital customer information that is crucial for customer analytics and insights. As an example, customer feedback and social media posts are an effective mode of understanding customer sentiments towards the brand.
Thanks to the growth of personal devices, companies are now connecting with their customers through mobile platforms and cloud tools. For example, following their decision to migrate to the cloud, the video streaming company, Netflix experienced a sharp spike in uploaded content and subscriptions.
Impact on product designs
Can cloud computing platforms have an impact in improving product designs or products that customers like? Absolutely yes – all thanks to better collaboration between product designing teams with other business functions like marketing, customer support, and financing. A cloud-powered flexible business model breaks down the multiple “silos” within organizations, thus providing a cost-effective and efficient way of achieving business process KPIs.
The ride-sharing company, Uber is a prime advocate for its successful hybrid cloud engineering model that was able to design and deploy a virtual fleet of cabs without any downtime.
Data security
In the face of rising data breaches, cybersecurity or data security has emerged as the top priority for data-driven organizations. Cloud providers are responding to growing customer demands for data security through tools and technologies like multi-factor authentication, data encryption, and private cloud environments.
In addition to providing complete visibility into critical application files and folders, cloud-based data security tools are proactively designed to detect suspicious user behaviors and mitigate online threats. For instance, New York-based Flushing Bank moved from its tape-based backup to the cloud premise to meet its growing data backup requirements. The cloud solution implemented included data encryption with the exact location of its data centers.
Conclusion
Through this article, we have only highlighted five ways in which cloud computing can impact business operations. Needless to emphasize, cloud services offer a range of cost and operational benefits that are applicable across industries. The next decade will be witness to how cloud computing can impact the way we work and how a business operates.
At Stralynn we believe that technology can truly provide a competitive advantage for our clients - with innovations like digital transformation, cloud services, and Big data analytics.
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