If you sell for or into the tech space, you probably have “cloud” overload by now with all the news, attention and conversation about what most of us grew up thinking meant pretty, white puffy things in the sky. Today there are public clouds, private clouds, consumer clouds, corporate clouds….. The reality is it means a lot of things it never used to mean – not the least of which are big challenges, and big opportunities for companies and their service providers and partners. Rackspace, an IT hosting company based in San Antonio, TX, commissioned a study by England’s Manchester Business School which was released last week and found that cloud computing allows U.S. businesses to slash information technology costs by about 26%....and that 62% of those same companies say that deploying in the cloud improved their bottom lines. Sound like something that would get your clients listening? The article, though, highlights something we don’t hear as much about. It seems to show that the opportunity is not only getting your piece of the cloud pie (get it? – the pie in the sky – too much?) that’s clearly there, but may more significantly be sticking your fingers in the leftover pie as companies implement cloud solutions and find savings in their technology spending. Manchester interviewed 1,300 companies in the US and UK. Their findings included:
- 68% of US firms are plowing cash back into their businesses – using cost savings to improve and expand product lines, services and other offerings.
- More than 60% are using money saved to hire new employees, give raises and offer bonuses -- employment at the American companies surveyed increased 28%.
- More than half of the start-ups surveyed said they wouldn’t have been able to afford on-premise data centers at the time of their launch.
