The cloud-first strategy has been promoted in almost every industry in the last two years. Moving to a cloud environment has become necessary for companies looking to thrive during the pandemic as they increasingly work remotely and lack access to data centres.
With the new trend, more companies have adopted a cloud-first strategy.
These include companies from established manufacturing, retail, and healthcare industries. This approach gives them greater flexibility and efficiency at a time that has been highly uncertain for the world and, by extension, the economy. But how did the companies in these established industries make this remarkable change? And what is the impact of the cloud-first strategy on your operations and your customers?
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Cloud-First Strategy Advances Regulated Industries
Healthcare is an excellent example of an industry capable of transforming society. At the same time, however, it is often hampered in its efforts, partly due to the sensitivity of the data it processes. It can help healthcare leaders balance progress and change with efficiency and safety.
In India, for example, the government has launched a new project, eHealth Infra, to provide the underprivileged with access to public health insurance. In the past, concerns about regulation and privacy would have hampered such efforts.
However, private cloud services have eclipsed many of these concerns. As a result, 26 states have joined the project, covering 45 to 47 percent of India’s population, allowing citizens to sign up for the service reliably.
The financial sector is another industry that often struggles with strict regulations and outdated technology due to the sensitive data it handles. However, since digital fintech began using their cloud-born speed to offer their customers next-generation services, incumbent financial institutions have had to rethink their strategies in favour of cloud-first.
This allowed them to work with a higher level of efficiency and safety. And offer their customers the same high-quality experience that the new generation of cloud-born fintech provides.
Physical Companies Go Virtual For More Efficiency
Companies are finding new ways to adopt a cloud-first strategy even in the highly physical manufacturing world. Manufacturers must keep track of many moving parts, from assembly on the factory floor to the timely delivery of raw materials.
And while some operations are off-site, in the case of manufacturing execution, the workloads need to be closer to the factory floor. So in these cases, a distribution channel of technology platforms is required to leverage edge computing. And at the same time, bringing cloud technology closer to on-site use.
By using cloud tools to streamline operations and get all of these disparate measures together into a single view, a manufacturer can dramatically improve the efficiency of their operations and reduce production times, helping both businesses to expand sustainably.
Implement A Cloud-First Strategy In Practice
The benefits of a cloud-first strategy are numerous. But it’s also essential to see how companies work with the cloud to reap these benefits. The company was looking for a solution for the growing number of data and applications. These occurred both physically and digitally in the course of the rapid expansion of the company.
The company also wanted the flexibility to handle spikes in traffic during discount sales, festivals, and holiday periods. At the same time, the system’s security should be maintained, and the operation and maintenance costs should remain controlled.
By moving most of its processes, including critical workloads, to a private cloud, the retailer could meet these requirements and achieve increased performance, security, and instant scalability.
Adapt Cloud Solutions To Specific Requirements
In addition, with the help of a partner who tailored the cloud solution to the company’s specific needs, secure high-speed IP and VPN connections were created between the retailer’s various locations, enabling fast data archiving, billing, and real-time backup. Enable services to protect against data loss.
Since implementation, the retail company has had a high-performance, secure, private environment with a 99.9 percent uptime guarantee. If necessary, he can immediately provide additional resources to open new branches within a short period.
And thus better cope with the associated exponential data growth. And thanks to the 24-hour maintenance and support that the cloud provider offers 365 days a year, another benefit that derives from this service, additional resources to handle seasonal traffic peaks can be easily sourced when needed.
Implement The Paradigm Of A Cloud-First Strategy
One of the most potent factors driving organisations to change is their customers. Today we live in a world where the internet has to come first for reasons of accessibility. And that affects all companies and institutions that the public interacts with.
However, companies looking to make this transition need to be aware that there is no one-size-fits-all strategy for established industries. Every business needs to look inward to see how it can benefit from a cloud-first approach. And look outward to find a partner to help make the transition as smooth as possible.
We all know that cloud technology will be part of the future of every business. However, the true winners of the coming years will be those companies that not only figure out how to optimise their current operations with a cloud-first strategy.
