How Cloud has Improved the Technology Industry
The cloud has shaken up the tech industry like never before, effecting a paradigm change in the way data is processed and software delivered.
Reduced Costs
A big impact of the cloud is reduced costs. The cloud allows enterprises to subscribe to server space on a need-basis, sparing the hassles and high costs associated with setting up on-premises servers. The cloud-based Software-as-a-Service, Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) models allow enterprises to subscribe to services rather than set up the required software and infrastructure on their own, sparing the need to invest sizable sum and maintain assets. Huge upfront capital costs are converted into easily attributable operational costs. The resultant savings enable enterprises to become more competitive, and also invest on their core activities.
Zero Hassles
When enterprises set up technology by themselves, they have to maintain it themselves, meaning they have to provision adequate resources for it, and dilute their attention from their core business activity. With the cloud, the burden of maintenance shifts to the cloud service provider, for whom delivery of the service is their core activity. The net result is a win-win situation, where enterprises can focus on their core activity without being bothered about technology. Tech companies get new opportunities to deliver the latest software, free from all glitches, for their clients.
New Business Models
Cloud-based services are now transforming business models and working approaches in a big way. The easy scalability and flexibility cloud brings to technology means technology is no longer a constraint when developing business models. Further, flexible IT architecture itself becomes the catalyst for new business models, allowing businesses to leverage new possibilities.
The cloud has unlocked several new business models not possible before, ranging from online stock trading to facilitating online payment processing, and from online betting to big data analytics that offers deep insights.
Newer developments in technology, such as new computing and programming languages, new and more dynamic non-relational databases, improved frameworks and more further encourage innovations. For example, modern web identity, open supply chains, and other advances are on the cusp of becoming mainstream now, mostly powered by the cloud.
Dynamic Internal Processes
Since cloud providers offer easy scalability, businesses may scale up their space and other requirements on the fly, and likewise scale down just as easily when the need is not there.
The cloud also helps to transform internal processes in a big way. One early manifestation was email rendering physical memos obsolete. Likewise, cloud-based apps, delivered through the cloud, enable business managers and field executives to remain connected when on the move. Cloud technology makes renders geographical limitations a thing of the past. Field service executives, may, for instance, hook up to the central office and avail the assistance of their supervisor in resolving complex problems.
Marketers can get access to the latest information related to the clients they are about to meet. Hospital staff can access their patient’s records on their tablets, saving valuable time and effort retrieving physical records, and also ensuring everyone has access to the complete, accurate, and latest information.
In short, the cloud facilitates anytime connectivity and hyper-efficient forms of collaboration.
Accelerated Processes
The cloud also speeds up things considerably. Time has always been valuable for businesses, more so in today’s fast-paced and hyper-competitive environment, where even a few seconds can make a big difference to seizing an opportunity. The cloud allows businesses to launch applications quickly, retrieve data faster and from remote locations, and subject data to analytics, to unlock insights in near real-time. Businesses can also leverage the cloud to offer self-service customer care and service to customers.
The cloud has already unlocked a world of possibilities and heralded paradigm changes, but what is available today is just the tip of the iceberg, compared to the possibilities ahead. As technologies mature further, and as emerging concepts such as Internet of Things and Augmented Reality gain centre stage and integrate with the cloud, the cloud will change technology in even more big ways.
However, the extent to which the cloud will transform the tech industry depends largely on how companies leverage the cloud to deliver cutting edge solutions that users can consume. CMC Markets is a good example of how technology companies leverage the cloud to offer cutting-edge services and solutions, such as stock, commodity and forex trading, and more.