CIOL brings you a series on various IT/software products that Indian small and medium enterprises (SME) can make use of, to increase their productivity and cut down costs
BANGALORE, INDIA: In a seminar in Piscataway, US, a top scientist with the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) said, “If you’re a sizeable enterprise and you’re not doing business in the cloud, you’re making a mistake. Businesses will soon realize that it’s not a question of ‘if’ they should move to the cloud, it’s a question of ‘when'."Well, 'Cloud' is no more an unfamiliar word. The term has been making quite a buzz across the world for the past several years, with more and more businesses widely adopting it to boost their competitiveness. It seems that the initial apprehensions over this cutting-edge technology are fast dying down, as many enterprises – micro, small, medium or large – are actively looking to implement it to save on costs and accelerate growth.
Precisely, as a futu
re technology cloud is here to stay. Cloud offers a lot of room for innovations. It helps enterprises reduce costs attached to IT infrastructure on their premises, such as servers and data centres, as cloud providers will take care of that.
There are mainly three kinds of cloud solutions – Public, Private and Hybrid Clouds. Depending on the business model, an enterprise can deploy cloud.
However, there are lots of misconceptions around this technology, especially in the Asia Pacific region. Security is the primary concern for many customers while some others believe that it is a job eliminator. However, studies show that cloud technology is a job creator and is one of the best technologies available now.
“When ATMs came to India, many people were doubtful about the security of their money parked in that. However, it turned out to be huge success and has become an inevitable part of our life. Similarly, the concerns over the security of cloud is just unwarranted. It is just a misconception. If there is trustworthiness between a customer and his vendor, both are going to gain a lot,” a senior executive with a software company told CIOL.
In fact, a Microsoft-commissioned study predicted that cloud computing would generate nearly 14 million new jobs worldwide by 2015. Out of this, two million jobs would be generated in India. Since the Indian market offers huge opportunities to these companies, they are looking to cash in on it by providing cost-effective solutions to as many customers as possible. Some provide trial for a year or so before the customer goes for a full-time implementation.
They are investing massive amounts to educate Indian enterprises about the benefits of implementing various cloud solutions in your businesses.
However, the Indian scenario is a bit different. Enterprises in the country are still hesitant to adopt cloud solutions, for they believe that they are compromising on the security of their data. They feel that their data might be stolen, if they are putting it on the cloud. Not even a single provider has come out with a concrete solution to address their issues, though some enterprises are coming forward to adopt cloud services to save costs associated with deploying IT infrastructure.
“Cloud is still in its nascent stage in India, and enterprises are not yet ready to adopt this technology. It can help them save massive amounts. Despite all efforts made by cloud vendors to educate enterprises, many of them are afraid of testing and implementing this technology,” the company executive concluded.
