Organizations just like yours that have successfully moved to business requirement driven applications are enjoying a wide variety of benefits to include increased efficiency, ease of access, reduced administration and management, and overall lower costs. But before reaping the benefits of cloud technology, businesses first have to move there successfully -- a process often fraught with various challenges, from insufficient planning to obsolete technology and more.
Here are 10 Reasons to consider a cloud based application that might help you meet the business requirements you were charged with:
1. People, Processes and Business Requirements
When it comes to cloud adoption, the biggest challenge isn't technology -- it's the people, processes and the specificity of their mission critical business requirements that absolutely must be considered. This takes time, limiting the effectiveness of cloud adoption. The biggest enterprises will have a long tail of transition when it comes to full cloud adoption simply because each unique function must be identified, understood and translated into a development plan in order to make the software/application into what it must be in order to support the very people that need it the most. BDA says it’s “All About the Data”, but first we must acknowledge that it’s really “All About The People” that create, gather, interpret and manage that data!
2. Defining the Business Requirements
Your business objectives must dictate your application development strategy, which is inherently complex. We work with companies that struggle with “BIG Data” node-based software, and more often than not, the struggle is due to a lack of clearly defined strategy at the Enterprise level, not the department or business unit where all the real work is done.
3. Thought Power is Real Power
Will the application be more secure than my internal or external data center? Can my application provider maintain my uptime standards? Will their technical support address my problems quickly? The answers are a resounding “Yes!” if you're working with an experienced, knowledgeable organization with subject matter expertise and a history of practical applications under their belt. Been there done that at the departmental and business unit level so that was the first objective we set when we started.
4. Resources and Security
Time/Budget and Security are the most common challenges in business today no matter the market. Moving data is a slow process because it requires a lot of bandwidth and man hours to gather, scrub, share, re-scrub, normalize and push to the “BIG Data” warehouse in the sky. When you have a centralized application that is built specifically to manage those processes in the most secure data storage platform (AWS) on the planet, Time, Budget and Security challenges are met with ease.
5. “Don’t Believe the Hype”
I was always told as a child that I should never put too much food on my plate. It's critical to not get caught up in the hype of “BIG Data” claims that they can be all things to all people (or departments and business units) . If you do, you'll end up spending countless personnel hours gathering, scrubbing, manually sharing, re-scrubbing, normalizing and pushing data instead of the mission critical objective you were charged with. You’ve heard the saying “Let Caesar be Caesar” (An inaccurate quote from Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” Act 1) we say, “Let BIG Data be BIG Data”… we are merely the common folk.
6. Is it Really a Change?
We use applications on a daily basis so is it really that much of a change? We use applications for email, text, social interaction… dating? We use applications to check manage our finances, doctor’s appointments, reservations etc. Can you imagine having an application that was built specifically designed with your thoughts and desires in mind? Your business thoughts and stakeholder requirements are what make the application so important and personal.
7. Is SaaS just ASP of the 90’s?
Yes, a resounding Yes! Storing your data along with a few thousand other clients in a data center that requires physical and electronic intrusion testing is a thing of the DoDo. No longer is your “Software”, which is subject to “Version” changes, that not only effect you but those thousands of other clients too, hanging over your head like a dark cloud. The “What’s good for one is good for many” attitude is now replaced with “Have it your way, have it your way...” (humming the Burger King jingle in my head)
8. Long Term “Commitments”
Buying a house on a 30-Year mortgage, that’s a commitment. Saying “I Do” to your childhood sweetheart, that’s definitely commitment. Signing a 3 or 5 year agreement with no out clause and no way to measure performance is simply a leap of faith that you don’t have to take. Like every other high performance application, you should be able to use a system with month-to-month use terms so if you like us… stay with us… if you don’t like us… leave. That’s the power you have to make us perform and continue earning your business.
9. Legacy Systems with Cloud Applications
Most current systems, particularly systems of record (the backbone of an organizations' operations) are not cloud-ready and can’t leverage the flexible, creative and feature rich platforms that are designed exactly how you need them to be. The effect that a cloud application has on your local or Departmental/Business Unit business requirements won’t ever replace BIG Data, quite the opposite, it will help you to drive data into it without compromising your ability to actually manage it the way you want to.
10. One to Many and Many to One
Your department or business unit is potentially faced with one or a few BIG Data systems that your organization utilizes for operational, financial, and potentially regulatory efficiencies. You’ve been asked to use “modules” in these many systems to carve out pieces of data that they need to complete their warehousing in order to give them a “BIG Picture”. You end up being the one that must use many… they become the many that need data from the one. That’s a bit difficult. Cloud applications allow you to manage some or all of this data in one application that you helped design and deploy in order to push to the “Many” one time.
Question for your Comments: What is your organizational attitude toward the adoption of cloud based technology and applications?
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About the Author:
As a former United States Marine, “Gunny ROK" O'Kelley retired in 1992 after serving during the Gulf War where he was highly decorated with numerous honors and awards for his performance on active duty. In his earlier years he was a highly recruited Division I football player, spending his time at middle linebacker on the defensive side of the ball. After medically retiring from active duty, Mr. O’Kelley held executive leadership positions at TractManager International, MediTract, Recall (now Iron Mountain) and IKON Office Solutions (now Kyocera).