Agile Business Change Blog Thoughts on Agile Strategic Business Change and Agile Delivery

23

JAN

The Rise and Rise of the Cloud

23 JAN 2012 | Posted in business strategy, cloud computing | Author Rob Smith | 1 Comment

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Back in June 2011 I presented on Future Technology Trends at the Iris NFP conference and one of the major themes was the emergence of cloud, which I predicted would shape the future for many organisations. Since that date I have been astonished at the speed at which cloud technologies have bridged the chasm from early adopters to mainstream. 

The recent press release from BBVA announcing their migration to a cloud platform for internal communications for their 110,000 staff is clear confirmation of this; demonstrating that the cloud can meet the security demands of the most demanding and regulated industries.

The importance of the cloud cannot be overstated. It removes capital expenditure, shortens lead times and offers economies of scale whilst removing the commoditised complexities of diverse technology platform, resilience, 24 x 7 support, business continuity and disaster recover.

IndigoBlue has leveraged these benefits first hand: we have enabled Big Society Capital to become fully IT operational within 4-weeks of start-up with no internal resource requirements; we have recently completed a technology strategy for a global digital organisation, which is reliant upon a cloud SaaS solution; and we have seen two organisations reduce operating costs by more than 25% whilst increasing service levels.

I, like many, originally held misgivings regarding data protection and security in the cloud but these no longer remain. The cloud is a powerful business tool that must be taken seriously.