Everything-As-A-Service — How The Cloud Is Defining A New Normal

The IT industry is growing fast, driven by an explosion in spending on post-pandemic digital transformation projects.

Research from ISG indicates that global spending on IT and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) in the first quarter of 2021 has grown by 11% since last year – $17bn of spending globally in a quarter.

Where this gets really interesting is the numbers focused on cloud-based services. Of that entire $17bn, $10bn was spent in the cloud, reflecting a 15% year-on-year increase. The first quarter of 2020 was not really affected by the Covid-19 pandemic because most European and American lockdowns did not start until the middle of March, so these growth numbers really reflect a pre-pandemic state. With so much “new normal” investment now going into technology it is likely that growth will accelerate this year.

The advisory company McKinsey published a major report suggesting that recovery from the pandemic will be digital. McKinsey suggests that IT spending is moving away from five-year plans and traditional investment in infrastructure and into the cloud. Modern organizations need agility and this is exactly what the cloud can offer.

Many executives have been wary of buying cloud-based services. They wanted systems in-house so they can exert more control and have less data out there in the Internet. Now it seems that the opposite is true. Companies that cannot change quickly are now the ones that look risky. Buying services from the cloud, as and when your company needs them, allows you to pivot and reinvent how your company works with no infrastructure spending required.

Resilience is one of the key themes of the post-pandemic business environment. Organizations need to be able to change quickly – who could have imagined the challenges of 2020 as we were celebrating the end of 2019? The companies with rigid infrastructure plans may no longer even exist.

But how do you catch up?

If you have spent years being wary of cloud-based services then how can you suddenly embrace them and what are the practical steps you need to take now?

First, it’s likely that the pandemic has changed everything for your business so accept this. Accept that agility can be achieved with security – you don’t need to trade one feature against the other. It’s just that your security needs to be planned and managed differently from that old system.

Second, doing nothing is not an option. You cannot take your business into a digital future with the tired infrastructure that used to work well enough before the pandemic. Even if it looks like things are returning to normal, planning for the ability to manage events like this must be integrated into every aspect of your business processes. Creating the flexibility to change quickly is now essential.

I’d recommend finding a partner to help. Yes, you could just call up Azure or AWS and get a contract ready without hiring consultants, but there are many different clouds, some can remain private rather than public, and there are dozens of different cloud management systems – it’s a whole new world and your existing internal skills may not be adequate to choose wisely.

Find an expert you trust and ask three questions:

1. What is the opportunity?

Remove all the IT jargon and explain what my company can gain by adopting a cloud-based approach to infrastructure and services?

2. What does it cost?

What are the various options for management systems and using a public or private cloud service? Are there different levels of service that would all work?

3. Will you vanish after the implementation is complete?

Microsoft generally updates their Azure system several times a day. You ideally want a partner that can stick around and offer advice on what’s coming soon, which new features might help the business, how to improve security?

Most cloud services are pay as you go – you don’t need to invest millions upfront in huge capital costs. This means that you can experiment more, you can try new ideas and services. Mistakes will be small. You can try a new service and cancel it if it doesn’t work out.

You have an opportunity to build a new organization that is far more agile and more innovative. Why not seize it now?

Read more about cloud services and boost your business up. Unlock True Hybrid Cloud Computing Capabilities and discover why Open Hybrid Models Are The Next Evolution In Cloud Computing.