For step changes in the way companies behave, businesses need to look at what cloud-based IT delivery models enable them to do that they couldn’t before. An obvious example is remote collaboration on a large scale.
“With the current economic climate there is a real need for businesses to become more agile and innovative,” says David McLeman, managing director of Ancoris, a Google Apps authorised reseller and enterprise partner in the UK. “While existing PC-based tools were built for personal productivity, cloud services are much better for supporting teams. Teamwork and collaboration are the keystones of innovation.
“The transition from PC to the cloud enables a different approach to information management,” he notes - a switch from ‘my data’ on ‘my PC’ to ‘our corporate shared information’. The practice of emailing documents seems very archaic once a company has moved to a cloud platform, he adds. “Rather than multiple copies and different versions of documents and spreadsheets, everyone always has simultaneous access to one latest version which is also accessible on a PC, a tablet or smartphone.”
But, more than that, cloud-based resources give companies unprecedented agility to chase new opportunities at very low risk - because of the afore-mentioned freedom from costly investments in dedicated infrastructure.
“The real benefit is that a cloud-based proposition allows rapid deployment of end-user driven tools without requiring a complex IT engagement,” McLeman says. “The elimination of the friction created by legacy IT systems means that ‘infrastructure’ is no longer an impediment to innovation. As cloud software applications are accessible through the browser with data security built into the application (and not based on network access), it is possible for niche applications which might have strong business impact to be delivered very quickly.”
McLeman agrees with the suggestion that enhancing business relationships between complementary businesses or supply-chain partners is an obvious opportunity. “The complex interactions between customers, suppliers, business partners and contractors with different levels of trust, ad-hoc relationships and differing IT infrastructure can only be supported easily in a cloud environment,” he concurs. It is no coincidence then that a host of Google Apps are emerging which target this opportunity, including project management tools such as Manymoon and Mavenlink.
