Business Case for Cloud (Part 2)

This is the second part in a series on this topic. Previously in part 1, I defined cloud and discussed in-depth the three broad categories of cloud computing. This second post focuses on why you should care about the cloud and what is in it for your business.

In previous post, I defined cloud computing as a revolutionary approach to how we traditionally do IT, and that cloud is changing how we invest in, and how we consume, IT services.

Why should I care?

The cloud is a different way of “doing” and “consuming” IT services (whether it be software, telephony, asset tracking, etc.) in a more efficient and cost-effective manner. And since you already trust my judgement, that last point alone should be enough to make you care; but for the benefit of those still on the fence, let me elaborate…

You should care about the cloud because you may be spending good money on bad IT services without even knowing it. Cloud technologies will provide cost savings no matter how you slice or dice it, even if it’s just converting CAPEX into OPEX and freeing up budget that you can then spend on growing your business.
You should care about the cloud because it will provide you with the agility needed to get your ideas in front of your customers at the right time; rather than wait on your IT department’s several months lead time needed to build infrastructure within the legacy construct. By the way, this long lead time is not an indictment on your over-tasked and under-appreciated IT department – there’s only so many hours in a work-day/week/month/year to deal with both tactical and operational tasks – you get the picture, right?
Finally, you should care about the cloud because of its elasticity. Due to this elastic nature whereby, cloud resources are auto-provisioned and deprovisioned as necessary, you will never have to worry about running out of capacity again – Whether that is during open enrollment if you are a healthcare company, or during cyber Monday if you are in retail. The elastic nature of the cloud will eliminate the scalability issue that has plagued businesses relying on internal IT to ensure availability for decades.

What’s in it for my business?

The positive impact cloud can and ultimately will have on your business’ bottom lines are too numerous to list, but I’ll focus on three components that shouldn’t be overlooked in today’s always-on digital age:

Security – the cloud is designed from the ground up with security at its core rather than bolted on as an afterthought. Obviously, NOT all clouds are created equally, so make sure you have a trusted advisor in your corner both during the evaluation and selection phases of your cloud services procurement.
Competitiveness – If getting your products or services to customers at the right place and at the right time determines whether you attract and retain more customers in order to stay in business, then the cloud was born to ensure your business’ viability. My favorite saying about the cloud is, The cloud is the greatest equalizer for businesses. The cloud does not have any regard for how big or small your business is; the cloud services that drives competitive advantage for fortune 100 companies will equally do the same for a company of 100.
Availability – the cloud is always on, and this is wholly due to the obscene amount of money invested by the various hyperscale cloud operators, such as Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), GoogleCloud Platform (GCP), Salesforce. These companies are literally investing billions of dollars year-in year-out into building and maintaining their cloud platforms so that you wouldn’t have to dabble in the business of “doing” IT, and thereby freeing up resources (people and money) to focus on building your core business instead. The net result of their investment is that you and your business no longer have to worry about your email system or e-commerce website (among other critical systems) going down at critical times and bringing your revenue and reputation down along with it.

A crashed website is enough to drive customers into competitors arms.

‍Now for the finale…

The technology incumbents selling you mostly on-premises systems (i.e., PBX/phones, productivity software, server hardware, etc.) have no incentives to bring you emerging technologies for fear of cannibalizing their own market-base, so you’ll have to rely on trusted advisors like Dual Prism to bring you these valuable information – If you don’t have a relationship with a vendor-agnostic partner like Dual Prism – do so immediately!

Companies like ours focus on delivering genuine value to your business because our reputation depends on it!

For more information on Dual Prism services, visit us at dualprism.com.

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