In a new research report, IT Market Dynamics – Canada’s most widely read IT research organization – uses a survey of more than 300 non-IT business managers to explore the benefits and pitfalls associated with cloud computing.
Cloud and the Canadian SMB finds that many businesspeople aren’t aware of current cloud adoption levels – but they are most certainly aware of the potential benefits that can be obtained through cloud. These benefits vary by enterprise size, with small, mid-sized, and large organizations all seeing cloud as a means of addressing current, pressing business needs.
These benefits, though, can only be realized by SMBs whose management is capable of addressing the real-world impediments to adoption, and particularly, the issue around shifting the sourcing paradigm from “we buy, configure, deploy and support discrete pieces of technology” to “we commingle physical units and cloud-based services, with the attendant requirement to build (or rent) expertise in SLA and license management.” In the research, we see that there is a need for “SLA MaaS” – SLA management as a service – to assist small businesses lacking in-house expertise in SLA and license management.
In the “concluding observations” section of the white paper, ITMD’s Michael O’Neil notes that “As with most IT issues, the means of dealing with this kind of question will eventually become better understood. “Eventually,” though, is a difficult transitional phrase. SMBs who either fail to address adoption issues or avoid adoption altogether will, within a relatively short period of time, begin to fall behind, hampered by relatively higher costs and fewer agility/productivity options. SMBs whose management develops workable answers to cloud adoption questions can gain competitive advantage (or avoid disadvantage) by adopting cloud sooner/better than their competitors. Effective support from peers, service specialists, and IT suppliers will be important to navigating the course – as will the willingness to experiment with new IT and business approaches, and a commitment to staying current with the rapidly-evolving cloud environment.”
