by Hovhannes Avoyan
| Oct 16, 2009
Are you an IT manager at a small business? Chances are you’re wearing many hats, one of them being IT. If that’s the case, then cloud computing may be right for you. It’s not just for huge enterprises, you know.
That’s the assessment of a recent article taking a look at the state of cloud computing in India. Even though the story focuses on that country, I think the points are pretty valid for small businesses everywhere.
Cloud computing offers flexibility and cost effectiveness that makes it perfect for small businesses. The reasons: Small businesses have a smaller employee base and lesser resource requirements than big companies. But their big challenge is capital investment – raising the money needed to expand infrastructure. “Cloud-based solutions such as SaaS and Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), which cater to specific requirements, fit the bill for adoption by such organizations,” says the article.
Both small and large companies, too, can depend on cloud computing services for application development projects.
Ironically, it might even be easier for smaller companies – rather than large enterprises – to jump hurdles to cloud computing, according to the story. Why? Big companies already have a large amount of legacy infrastructure, so, until cloud computing is commoditized, “they can’t shift from an all-on-premise infrastructure to an all-on-cloud infrastructure.” So to speak, they’re dipping their toes in and using the cloud for certain aims, for example, data storage.
Also, for smaller firms, there’s the attractiveness of cloud-based apps. The story pointed out that, traditional outsourcing providers are now offering cloud environments where SaaS providers can come onboard and provide services. This is not only a good fit from the perspective of the cloud provider, who has the reach and managed services capability and can use the complementary services from SaaS providers, but it also means cheaper computing for small businesses.
These are interesting angles on how cloud computing can help small businesses, and I’m happy to share the article.
