Cloud services have benefited from widespread adoption across the globe, but not every business is able to fully utilize the technology. For example, underutilization is a prominent issue for Australian organizations, ARN reported. NSC Group founder Craig Neil explained that business leaders may not have a comprehensive knowledge of how to optimize cloud infrastructure or the potential benefits of leveraging cloud and unified communications technology.
Many businesses have a basic understanding or know of some benefits. For example, cost savings is a common motivation for shifting assets into cloud storage environments. The truth is a little more complicated, as the cost of leveraging cloud infrastructure will depend on the model an organization uses and the types of applications and data it hosts. Neil also suggested that cloud services could better meet employee and customer demand for rapid deployment of IT services due to scalability.
Optimizing cloud use in an enterprise environment requires business and IT leaders to address issues outside of the purely technological factors that are often considered. The news source suggested it would be beneficial for IT to collaborate with business units in selecting a service to ensure the provider can meet user demands.
Many cloud deployments do result in lower long-term costs when compared with traditional hardware, but that is not the only pricing advantage the platform offers. As Seeking Alpha contributor Paulo Santos recently noted, companies often find it attractive to move away from fixed costs and pay for the IT resources they use rather than make large upfront investments that are underutilized following initial deployment. While the cloud market's upward trend may affect traditional software vendors, it may be beneficial for these companies to expand their offerings to include cloud-based services.
"[I]t should also be said that there are no barriers to moving towards provisioning software as a service, so it's not impossible for companies to transition successfully," Santos said. "There are no barriers, other than the fact that software as a service is sold as a kind of rental, and the in-premises software companies might be used to seeing its software being paid in full upfront."
