Authored by Hiroshi Tahata, JDU Head, Fujitsu Limited
For many years, even preceding the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations over the world had been digitalising their operations, to leverage the resultant efficiencies and to stay competitive in their respective industries. This adoption encompasses everything from modernizing processes and creating new business models, to building new products and services, and is fuelled by cloud computing, which plays a key role in digital transformation.
Cloud providers facilitate access to remote storage and servers, and computing services such as software, analytics, database management, and networking through internet-connected devices instead of a hard drive. This means that businesses of any size can use cloud computing to harness powerful IT infrastructure to become competitive and grow, without having to invest in hardware. The technology also enables them to respond rapidly to customer needs remotely, when physical interactions are restricted, such as during the pandemic. These advantages are driving the growth of the cloud computing market, which is set to reach USD 947.3 billion by 2026.
The market is set to grow further as more businesses gear up for a digital transformation that is increasingly becoming unavoidable and inevitable.
How is cloud computing fuelling digital transformation?
Cloud computing is a huge transition from the traditional approach toward IT resources. To begin with, it eliminates the capital expense of buying software, hardware, round-the-clock electricity, as well as IT experts for managing the entire system. These services are designed as fit-for-purpose and enhance agile software development, which enables them to respond to change better and deliver quality solutions faster. This makes it convenient for even small and medium-sized firms with limited resources to go the cloud route for optimizing business costs and reducing risks.
A cloud provides organizations with infrastructure that allows for flexibility and continuous upward and downward optimization across the organization. With cloud computing, resources are accessible 24X7, all year round. All an organization needs are an internet connection to start making its ideas a reality. Due to its availability round the clock, companies can continue easily on to the next growth level without expensive repercussions.
For companies that frequently experience surges in demand, the cloud enables the automatic addition of capacity in response to increasing customer usage. It helps scale services in seconds rather than the weeks to procure additional physical servers. The benefits of this speed were particularly evident during the pandemic when a massive shift to digital channels created sudden demand peaks.
Cloud computing also offers enhanced security by embedding robust standardised authentication and hardened infrastructure. It also helps provide companies with an opportunity to eliminate vast operational overheads.
However, deciding on the right set of technologies and implementing cloud solutions can be challenging for an organization, and they can address this by partnering with Information and Technology SaaS companies. These firms help companies avail perfectly customized cloud solutions that combine the right set of cutting-edge technologies to ensure an intelligent, connected and transformed future for the organization. Moreover, when cloud services are combined with managed services, organizations can create value for customers and not worry about the nuts and bolts of the underlying platform.
In conclusion, a cloud generates value by providing organizations the required agility and resilience, as well as innovation capabilities with sustained velocity, which traditional IT infrastructure is not able to offer. As businesses work towards recovering from the pandemic and moving to the digital front, cloud computing will prove to be a powerful technology, which can help companies accelerate their digital transformation plans. In the “digital-first” era, it is no exaggeration to say that cloud solutions enable and scale business to greater heights.
