digital business 1 image

The Post-Covid Era of Business Digitalization

The coronavirus pandemic arose challenges for public and private organizations and service providers that deliver solutions. The increased demand for cloud solutions by different organizations creates an opportunity for service providers to meet this pressing requirement. 

Introduction

The unprecedented pandemic of COVID-19 has created an urgency for strategic decisions within enterprises. Before the crisis, the digital strategy of businesses and governments was towards increased productivity. The post-Covid situation constructed a different position; a need to maintain productivity delivered at a reasonable cost and the same or higher quality of service. Now more than ever, it is necessary to adopt robust digital transformation planning for business endurance. To operate digitally seems to be the only way to remain in business during shutdowns and restrictions. The choice has narrowed to either go digital if possible or limit growth. 

The new normal that this crisis initiated of decreasing business interaction poses both a risk and an opportunity. In our modern digital age isolating your business looks like a limiting decision. An organization that enters a lethargic state without taking action to tackle the unexpected can find itself losing competitiveness in the marketplace. These types of situations can lead to inefficiencies and the stalling of growth. 

Rapid cloud adoption

The challenges of this new situation have forced organizations to embrace new internal working practices. In-house business processes require change, but there is also pressure to offer products and solutions through digital channels. According to a LogicMonitor study, 87% of decision-makers consider that the coronavirus pandemic is accelerating their transition to the cloud. The research suggests that in five years’ time, nearly 95% of workloads will be on the cloud. The data shows an interesting view for the APAC region where the expected 95% of workloads will be on the cloud by 2022. This analysis highly differs from the same one conducted in 2017. The respondents of 2017 have been skeptical about the shift to the cloud.  As for the 95% workload threshold, the projections were for decades. 

This deviation between the two studies shows an increase in the importance of the cloud for small and large enterprises. This trend has two sides, one is the acceleration of cloud adoption within organizations and the second is a market demand that service providers have to supply.

Looking at the first side, the recognition of the values that the cloud provides is accepted. Before this troubled time, decision-makers were speaking of the cloud as a strategy for the future. Now, management teams are taking an active role to gear up for the transition as fast as possible. The reasons are obvious, the flexibility, and elasticity of the cloud are both a productivity boost and a hedge against risk from future black swans. Cost savings is not something negligible as well, maintenance of servers and space is a capital burden. The need for upfront investment is something that the cloud can solve. Providers can charge against different stages of resource consumption, monthly, quarterly, etc. The cloud can provide a sustainable competitive advantage for organizations. Once everything infrastructure-related is outsourced it unties the hands of technical staff for higher-value activities.  

How can service providers meet the business demands to go digital?

A key challenge that service providers face is can they answer the market demand with the current solutions that they have? How big are the risks and potential profits of adding cloud services to their portfolio?

These questions are now arising in the minds of leaders that are market-driven. The options are limited, there are few actions that can be taken. One is to do nothing and stagnate. This will likely lead to client churn due to the better economic and operational choice that the cloud provides and that other service providers will be offering. The “do nothing and wait” direction points to a losing position and possibly a missed business opportunity.

Another option that can be adopted by service providers is to deploy their workforce and invest in a proprietary cloud solution. This alternative might seem very tempting but the risk is high. Retaining the full operational responsibility exposes service providers to high risk and even if achieved, is almost impossible to do at a competitive price without a huge initial scale. Delivering a cloud service at a quality level that is competitive with the largest players in the cloud space and to do so at an attractive price level to customers is a unique challenge. There is, however, a third option that delivers fast time to market at low risk with high margins for the service provider, all at competitive prices and quality levels.

Cloud-as-a-Service: a fully managed drop-in cloud solution

In its years of operating, CloudSigma has built and brought a third option to service providers. A scalable solution that can meet the market demand and match the business opportunity in a partnership model. The Cloud-as-a-Service model represents the most attractive path to delivering a successful cloud offering that can extend the existing portfolio of a service provider.

digital business featured image

The Cloud-as-a-Service solution is something that is both low risk and high reward. This model has proven again and again that it works well for service providers from around the globe.

Firstly, it is very fast to market compared to an in-house build-up strategy with high confidence of meeting the defined delivery deadlines, unlike in-house development that can often suffer protracted delivery delays. No one can build a cloud in two months and be live on the market. Secondly, this solution is a service which means no associated ongoing costs. An original model of aligned business interest ensures success for both sides. Cloud-as-a-Service is founded on joint business development strategies and leverages both organizations’ expertise and strengths. 

Service providers that want to meet the market demand for the cloud can do so with Cloud-as-a-Service. Adding cloud services alongside existing product portfolios is how CloudSigma empowers its partners. This enablement has high revenue potential and is already in use by telecommunication companies, data centers, and IT providers on a global scale.

Building and maintaining a cloud with high quality of service is not a trivial task. The Cloud-as-a-Service approach enables service providers to meet the growing demand from businesses to go digital. A cloud that is enterprise-grade, customizable, stable, and ready for deployment in under two months is increasingly becoming the preferred choice for many service providers.

Dc6a260e1cece247741e591e933c58fd?s=80&r=g

About Zhenya Mocheva

Zhenya is a Digital Marketing Expert at CloudSigma, focusing on brand strategy, social media marketing and digital marketing campaigns. She is passionate about the continuous innovation within the digital environment and the endless growth opportunities that inbound marketing brings.