The cloud as a catalyst for organizational change

The adoption of cloud technologies is already considered inevitable by most of the global market. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic crisis have acted as a catalyst for greater and faster change, forcing organizations to seek solutions that ensure business and process resilience. 

In the current pandemic context, the benefits of adopting the cloud have become evident to many organizations, since it plays a crucial role in the response of information systems to the peaks of effort resulting from both the increase in demand for digital products and services and the transition to new models of remote work, which are much more demanding in terms of communication. The flexibility of the cloud also enables organizations to easily and cost-effectively create additional services or products to ensure business viability.

As it is not yet clear what the coming months of 2021 will look like, questions are being raised regarding the continuity of telecommuting or conducting business primarily online - companies need to find alternatives that allow them to remain agile, responsive, and adaptable. The cloud provides the agility and scalability that will help organizations better manage such crises and adapt to business needs, both in times of downturn and in times of recovery and growth, which we hope won’t be long in coming.

It is therefore expected for the cloud market to continue to grow. According to a recent Gartner study, worldwide spending on public cloud computing services is forecast to grow 18.4% in 2021 and will continue to grow until 2024. In fact, the same Gartner survey data shows that nearly 70% of organizations using cloud services today plan to increase their cloud spending as a result of the disruption caused by COVID-19. Even more startling, a recent Forrester study predicts that the global public cloud infrastructure market will grow 35% in 2021.

While some organizations quickly understand the benefits of adopting the cloud, many others have complex needs with IT environments that require careful planning and management. The IDC white paper 'Train to Accelerate Your Cloud Strategy', sponsored by Amazon Web Services, states that training is the best way to accelerate cloud adoption, as it provides the deep understanding of cloud technology that more complex environments often require. In addition, the research also shows that organizations that invest in "comprehensive training", which includes both cloud fundamentals training for a wide range of stakeholders and deep cloud training for key technical teams, benefit the most, becoming more productive, more cost-efficient, more creative, and 80% faster to adopt the cloud. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the benefits of adopting the cloud, reinforced by training at various levels of the organization, and has also demonstrated that this is a step that all organizations should consider if they want to be ready for the constant changes in the market and the potential adversities that may occur. 

Article published on IT Channel on May 17, 2021