Cloud computing offers silver lining

Growth plans shouldn’t be put on the backburner despite a difficult economy, according to Chris Papa, managing director at computing firm Qubic. Instead, companies should employ much smarter IT strategies that will help them to enhance performance and innovation:

With the Bank of England already announcing a lower growth forecast coming close to zero % from about 0.8% as predicted in May, businesses are finding it increasingly difficult to cut costs to stay competitive in the challenging business environment.

The business experience during recession depends on the sector, capitalisation, investment and protective actions taken. The need to reduce costs and to maximise productivity has been a positive outcome and those that have trimmed their cost base and continued investment, will come through the recession well placed to grow market share.

Cloud computing is a solution for businesses aiming for growth, even in a difficult business environment. It offers a host of business models that companies can adopt depending on their IT needs and thus eliminate the need for IT investment running to thousands of pounds.

According to KPMG’s latest Technology Issues Monitor, the market for the software as a service model in cloud computing technology, which provides businesses with on-demand software, and eliminates the need to install and maintain programmes or pay for licences, is projected to reach $14.5 billion before the end of 2012. Clearly, the expectation is that more businesses will wake up to the benefits of the cloud before the year is out.

Businesses are analysing the ROI on their investments in much more detail and the cost centres which do not generate any return are being done away with. In such a scenario cloud computing can help by eliminating the need for costly IT investment in favour of pay-as-you go IT delivered over the cloud for a small ongoing cost, enabling companies not only to continue trading in these tough times, but to excel.