Our countdown to the end of the year continues with what we think is a trend that has carried over from the past year- and is only more likely to gain momentum in the next year
4. Cloud Computing- By now, nearly everyone understands what cloud computing is- and the software and hardware world is seeing its benefits even as we speak. Smaller companies are investing lower sums than ever before on software- opting instead to use SaaS (or Software as a Service) , paying by usage rather than annual licensing costs. Security in the cloud is continuously improving, increasing customer satisfaction and increasing RoI from these services. In fact, customer satisfaction with SaaS has been steadily increasing since 2008, based on industry surveys
The next generation of Cloud Computing is likely to be all about analytics. A big driver of companies’ hesitance to adopt BI and analytical frameworks is the cost of data storage and servers from Day 1. No one wants to spend for growth today- or put differently, if I have 10 customers today why should I buy servers which store transactional details for thousands? And by the time I have 1000s of customers,is it too late for me to invest in a database structure? But with cloud computing, you ‘Pay-as-you-go’ meaning for 1 customer record today, and (hopefully) a million a few months from now! This also puts the imperative on companies to invest in smarter database structures that save them money from Day One instead of ungainly table structures.
How does this help analytics? As we all know Analytics is 8 parts data and just 2 parts inspiration and statistics- and with it becoming easier than ever before for even the smallest of companies to maintain and preserve data, the possibilities for BI and analytics are endless.
Expect more unorganized and smaller companies to start using analytics in 2011!
To find out more about cloud computing, watch this excellent primer
Visit earlier instalments in our annual countdown here