Carving a Cloud: Finding Your Niche across 5 Industry Verticals
Cloud adoption as a whole is on the rise, with cloud services accounting for 34 percent of enterprise’s total IT budgets in 2017, according to a recent report by 451 Research.
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Cloud adoption as a whole is on the rise, with cloud services accounting for 34 percent of enterprise’s total IT budgets in 2017, according to a recent report by 451 Research.
But what are the most promising industry verticals in terms of cloud adoption? As you narrow your focus and seek to differentiate your cloud service provider from the pack, click through the slideshow for 5 industry verticals and the cloud opportunities each one presents, based on analysis by The Economist Intelligence Unit and VMware.
According to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) report, “Ascending Cloud: The adoption of cloud computing in 5 industries”, there are two main trends driving cloud adoption in banking. First is adoption of cloud for back-office and selected customer operations by traditional banking institutions. The second is Fintech, which describes an emerging financial services sector that disrupts incumbent financial systems.
Seventy-four percent of senior executives surveyed by EIU said that in five years cloud will be a major factor in banking.
Opportunities:
According to the report, cloud is a very important factor in supporting new ways to make payments, lowering banking costs, banking for remote populations, new ways of saving, and new ways of lending.
A report by the Cloud Security Alliance says that most financial institutions (61 percent) are still developing a cloud strategy within their organization, but most common strategies use hybrid cloud deployments.
In retail, cloud is helping to increase access, lower prices, and reduce costs for the customer. Cloud also has an important role in e-commerce.
Seventy-percent of senior decision-makers surveyed by EIU expect cloud to be a major in factor in retail in five years.
Opportunities:
According to the report, cloud is a very important factor in reducing costs of goods and services, helping grow new companies, increasing access to retail and making goods more available, while making shopping more convenient.
Gartner says that SaaS has taken hold in retail as IaaS and PaaS struggle to gain acceptance. The adoption of SaaS is tied to “a classic retail adoption pattern of going after functionality that impacts customer experience rather than investments in non-differentiating infrastructure. ”
Education has shown a slower cloud adoption rate than other industries partly because of a less competitive environment and traditionally slower rates of technology adoption by government.
However, 67 percent of respondents believe that cloud will be a major factor in the education industry in the next five years, as compared to only 20 percent who say cloud will be a major factor in one year.
Opportunities:
Cloud will play a very important role in higher education, education for remote areas, and continuing/adult education. Cloud technology will also support the “back office” – handling payment of tuition and fees, monitoring students’ progress, and managing testing and accreditation.
The growth in manufacturing cloud has a lot to do with the extensive investment in the Internet of Things, which is largely cloud dependent.
Opportunities:
Cloud is a very important factor in supporting production processes, improving supply chain management, enabling design and prototyping, and inventory, orders and distribution.
Plex, a provider of cloud ERP for manufacturing, released a report this year that found cloud technology improved manufacturers’ ability to manage their changing business needs. Sixty-four percent of respondents better managed fluctuating customer demands, and 55 percent achieved stronger management of their global supply chain.
Research indicates that cloud will have an impact on the delivery of health services and improve the doctor-patient relationship. Cloud will support remote diagnostics and treatment, and the extensive data requirements of preventative care, according to the report.
Sixty-one percent of respondents said that cloud will be a major factor in healthcare in the next five years.
Opportunities:
Cloud will be important in supporting the centralization of health records, supporting preventative care, and providing care for low-income populations.
Monitoring of health data generated by wearables will also become more valuable as chronic conditions such as heart disease and Alzheimer’s increase in prevalence, according to EIU. These progressive diseases benefit from a daily monitoring approach which can help provide more predictive care for patients and reduce lines in ER.
Research indicates that cloud will have an impact on the delivery of health services and improve the doctor-patient relationship. Cloud will support remote diagnostics and treatment, and the extensive data requirements of preventative care, according to the report.
Sixty-one percent of respondents said that cloud will be a major factor in healthcare in the next five years.
Opportunities:
Cloud will be important in supporting the centralization of health records, supporting preventative care, and providing care for low-income populations.
Monitoring of health data generated by wearables will also become more valuable as chronic conditions such as heart disease and Alzheimer’s increase in prevalence, according to EIU. These progressive diseases benefit from a daily monitoring approach which can help provide more predictive care for patients and reduce lines in ER.
Do you have a unique story about finding your niche? Please share it in the comments.
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