Cloud computing has grown rapidly overseas and is beginning to take off in South Africa. This is technology which puts small and medium businesses (SMEs) on the same IT footing as the larger corporates and multi-nationals. Normally entities with large amounts of cash available have been able to get a technological advantage over SMEs – but the Cloud makes technology accessible and affordable to SMEs.
How does it work – an example.
Take a start up company called Climate Corporation which writes crop insurance for farmers. Every day it runs about 10,000 weather simulations, yet it only has a few desktops and cannot afford a large IT infrastructure. It rents data storage and computer server time from Amazon Web Services (AWS) at a small percentage of the cost of setting up these services themselves. AWS has spare capacity which it rents out to third parties.
Cloud computing includes not just storage and capacity but software as well – the complete IT package, and the customer pays on a usage basis only. More and more companies are renting out their IT platforms and as this trends mushrooms, so standardisation of services offered has emerged.
Experts compare the Cloud to utilities such as electricity. Initially, it was only available to the wealthy and large businesses, but the setting up of the electricity grid made it accessible and affordable to the general population.
What does this mean to you?
The Cloud is the next great wave of technology. As we have seen, it is a great leveller and gives SMEs the ability to compete with multi nationals and large entities. The onus is now on you to get to grips with the Cloud and see how it can enable your business. The earlier you get in, the better your chance of getting the edge over your competition.
Have a great October!
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