Analysis of Cloud on small/ mid size businesses

When applying the Cloud, two key questions to ask is whether the company can increase productivity and whether this new trend can assist the company in developing competitive advantage.

In the past, companies focus on increasing product quality and reducing associated cost. Now, as industries move to perfect competition and globalization, the dynamics of competition has intensified significantly. The revolution of Internet communication, affordable mobile devices and accessible platforms has all led to the age of the Cloud. Companies like Google, IBM, Microsoft and Apple are all investing heavily in order to maintain competitiveness. At the same time, company with fewer resources also took advantage of the trend and prospered. For example, Facebook and Alibaba in China.

Cloud Computing is disruptive not only in its ability to reduce cost (eliminate the need for system maintenance/ upgrades), but also breaks the time and geographic limitations. However, companies must keep three core values in mind: leading products, efficient operations and healthy customer relationships. For small/ mid size business, I recommend that they outsource their IT when initiating the Cloud. With limited resources they should focus on their core competencies. Cloud computing should not serve as a competitive advantage itself, but instead a way of enhancing efficiency.