Adopting a Megatrend: The Time for Taking Giant Steps to the Cloud Is Now (Part 1)
It seems logical to me that an IT thought leader like Stephen Sinofsky included cloud in his list of IT megatrends for 2014. And I wasn’t surprised to see cloud in the list of megatrends mentioned in a recent ITworld blog post focused on which technologies and trends IT professional hopefuls should learn about and follow.
Oddly, other lists of 2014 technology megatrends I perused seemed to ignore cloud completely. Is that because hailing it as a megatrend is already considered passé? Or maybe it’s just that the list compilers failed to consider how strong a joist cloud will be in supporting at least one of their predicted 2014 megatrends.
Megatrend or not, it seems pretty clear that cloud adoption has reached critical mass. Meaning companies can no longer afford to dawdle in adopting cloud if they hope to take advantage of the chain reaction of business benefits its adoption sets off. Put simply, companies that don’t adopt cloud soon risk never catching up.
Trend meets reality
A paper from the advisory organization capioIT articulates both points – cloud technology as megatrend and the need for accelerating cloud adoption – but paints both into the current picture of business reality with more well-defined perspectives. These in particular:
- Enterprises are seeing the benefits of cloud as revolution, not evolution.
- Cloud is no longer just hype. Along with mobility, social business, analytics, and business engagement, cloud is one of five strategic megatrends that will sustain the technological credibility of 21st-century organizations.
- “Cloud Wars” is over. The clear winner in the public-versus-private cloud war is the hybrid cloud deployment model.
- Benefits of cloud investment have matured.
Get the broader, reality-based perspective on the transformative nature of cloud technology by reading the capioIT paper,”SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud – Bringing the Revolution to Your Organization”. To download it, go here and click on “Learn how cloud enables organizational revolution“.
What constitutes a giant step? Stay tuned.
Part two of this blog will explain what taking a giant step to cloud technology really entails and how a variety of companies took it with SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud.
Hi Ido,
I look forward to your next blog, because, everybody is saying go to the cloud, but nobody is mapping out a nuts and bolts strategy for how to get there.
I've blogged two such strategies here and here.
Looking forward to your advice on what taking the step to the cloud entails.
As you will see from my blogs, I am cautious to recommend a giant step, instead recommending dipping toes in via the SAP Hana Cloud Portal, or alternatively for the larger steps, looking for SAP to take the lead and provide a SAP Passage program as they have done in the past.
Best regards,
Andy,
Hi Andy,
Thanks for your comment, and for the links to your blogs.
The move to the cloud is certainly not an easy step, especially for customers with big, mature SAP environments. There are many potential risks associated to it if not done right.
A clear road map, proper testing and a trusted partner who has experience in all the parts involved is therefore critical.
It is in essence a real revolution companies need to go through: for some punctuated by small technical steps that you nicely suggest in your blogs, for others maybe opting for a more aggressive approach.
Either way, it is a giant change of mindset that is happening. Many big and small companies are getting ready to go through this shift with all the potential risks and benefits involved, even for some of their core applications.
Best Regards,
Ido
Hi Ido,
yes, regarding the more aggressive approach, the second blog in the series addressed
that challenge, recommending SAP to introduce a Safe Passage program for customers
migrating from on-premise to the cloud.
With all these people blogging the virtues of moving to the cloud we have yet to see the same people offering strategies for how to get there, this is the gap in the market which SAP should be filling.
How to move to the cloud, a step by step approach.
When SAP starts publishing guidance on how to move to the cloud, the steps involved, the Safe Passage program, I am sure, more customers will begin moving down that path.
It is clear to see what a potential revenue pillar cloud is for SAP, and if SAP want to realise that revenue pillar they need to start holding their customers' hands on that journey.
Best regards,
Andy.