It may be difficult to remember a time when “the cloud” was not saturating tech news headlines. But when the idea of untethering information from physical hard drives first began to gain traction, many business leaders were skeptical. Today, businesses are no longer asking whether the cloud is right for them. Adoption has soared in recent years with as many as 93% of organizations using at least one cloud-based service. Instead, businesses are asking how cloud infrastructure can be leveraged to improve connectivity and productivity at all levels of operation.
One role in particular stands to benefit from the power of the cloud: the CIO. CIOs of today are bogged down in logistics and systems management in an effort to build more agile businesses. However, as the cloud facilitates seamless access to data and services, it simultaneously frees up the CIO’s time—and resources—for strategic experimentation. And the results are striking: innovative cloud-enabled outcomes are cropping up across industries.
The following industry snapshots show how cloud technology can make any business more flexible, mobile, and collaborative. In short—how the cloud can make any business a Ready Business.
Pharmaceutical
For the pharmaceutical industry, cloud integration has been a recent phenomenon. With product research and development at the center of their success, it is crucial that pharmaceutical companies are equipped with the tools and systems they need.
Beginning in the research stages, labs must record and analyze vast amounts of data with both speed and precision. And the cost of a mistake is not just economic—when developing medication, any error could pose a threat to human health. This is especially true during clinical trials, which require sensitive data to be recorded and shared across locations. Using cloud computing, companies are able to rigorously test products across sites and share scalable results securely and efficiently in real-time.
Cloud technology is no less important during product rollout. For companies to effectively promote and stock their product, they must constantly draw on data from a network of medical professionals and treatment centers. Many of these products are incredibly expensive to produce, and with additional factors to consider in the supply chain—temperature control, expiration, etc.—there is no room for error.
Retail
In order to compete in a crowded market, retailers must be able to pinpoint the needs and desires of their customers using data from past orders, search engines, social media platforms, and even other retailers. Cloud solutions can connect companies to shop floors so that managers or buyers can be alerted instantly when stocks of a particular item are low. This also eliminates the threat of factory overstock, therefore reducing costs and increasing the bottom line.
With the rise of M-commerce, the cloud also means a seamless mobile experience for shoppers who increasingly find and purchase products on the go. And like in the pharmaceutical industry, cloud infrastructure also has a major impact on efficiency in the supply chain. Retail trends such as radical customization or returns-based business models disrupt traditional modes of delivery and require data input and access at every step of the supply chain.
Gaming
The gaming market is anything but played out—in 2016, global gaming was a $99.6 billion industry. With speed, accessibility, and user customization at the center of their products, it’s no surprise that gaming companies have been quick to integrate cloud technology.
What sets one gaming company ahead of its competitors is customer data—and lots of it. Games collect enormous amounts of information from their players including demographic characteristics, interaction behaviors, communication style, customization choices, and purchase history. Many games also mine third-party sites for additional social information to zero in on exactly who is playing. With a deluge of data, developers need suitable information systems.
Here’s where the cloud comes in: Cloud technology provides scalable storage, organization, and analysis of real-time data. By synthesizing this information, gaming companies can tailor their product to niche segments of their customer base. As device use shifts dramatically toward mobile, the cloud frees users from storage restrictions and slow load times.
With players now cloud gaming, the cloud has application even beyond the back-end. Much like the popular TV and music streaming services, many companies are now hosting games on cloud servers. Both players and businesses benefit: businesses increase their own bandwidth and protect themselves from piracy, while players are granted access to their favorite games across all devices.
Building a Ready Business
It’s important for businesses to find an edge wherever they can. With global operations supported by locally managed regional data centers, Vodafone Cloud users can work knowing that their data is not only secure, but compliant. Taking the burden of data sovereignty away from the CIO and the business frees up time and resources for customer-first innovation.
Find out how the Vodafone Cloud can make you a Ready Business today.
This article was produced on behalf of Vodafone by Quartz Creative and not by the Quartz editorial staff.