Recent historical events have shifted global business priorities, speeding up the digital transformation process. Remote work across continents and stronger collaboration with all stakeholders, including customers and employees, have spurred innovation and value-driven cloud technology offerings.
While organizations were figuring out the best cloud technology applications and their implications, a new and efficient cloud solution emerged. It’s called the industry cloud.
WHAT IS AN INDUSTRY CLOUD?
An industry cloud provides cloud computing services tailored to a specific industry or business model. Industry clouds are highly curated environments that stack cloud technologies.
THE DRIVE FOR INDUSTRY CLOUDS AND ROLE OF CLOUD SERVICE PROVIDERS (CSPs)
Initial adoption of cloud technology was driven by cost, storage, or processing support. But as more enterprises moved to the cloud, many found that deployment and usage were often erratic or inconsistent.
The need for an industry cloud arose when certain industries realized they needed a more tailored IT solution for security and compliance. And the Industry cloud was born.
According to Gartner, Industry cloud ecosystems and data services are driven by increasing geopolitical regulatory fragmentation and industry compliance.
Businesses today expect the same level of customization in the cloud as they do on-premises. To enable this, cloud service providers (CSPs) now offer a hybrid strategy that includes industry-specific solutions and cloud infrastructure maintenance.
INDUSTRY CLOUDS… SOME EXAMPLES
Today, cloud hyperscalers are partnering with industry-oriented cloud service providers to build specialized environments. Microsoft, for example, has worked with partners to develop supply chain solutions for the industrial industry through Microsoft Azure Cloud. Similarly, Microsoft Azure has now built industry clouds for financial services, retail, and other industry verticals.
In the construction and real estate industries, industry clouds can comprise solutions for model management, collaboration, estimate, scheduling, site management, and more. This level of industry cloud specialization allows firms to focus more on their core business while still being able to derive the benefits of cloud computing.
Salesforce introduced the ‘Revenue Cloud’ this year. The industry cloud is aimed at businesses that need to consolidate customer transactions. The revenue Industry cloud combines CPQ, billing, B2B commerce, and channel software products to offer everything from renewal to revenue recognition (PRM).
BENEFITS OF THE INDUSTRY CLOUD
Businesses prefer industry cloud computing over a “one-size-fits-all” cloud model for a more specialized environment. Besides niche data security, organizations want to closely align with customer priorities, for example, Banking as a Service (BaaS), Agtech Cloud (AgTech), and Health Cloud (Health Cloud). With the rise of mobile devices, the cloud market needs new and efficient apps.
Customizable Offerings
Industry cloud solutions are custom-built beyond security and compliance to address individual business outcomes. These solutions are also critical when integrating public cloud computing with on-premises resources in hybrid architectures.
Product-Centric Approach
Organizations today are becoming product-centric, agile in operations with better time to market, and composable architectures with a pay-per-use model.
Leaner Footprint
Industry cloud solutions are popular for SaaS deployments. As a result, many legacy IT providers can benefit from leaner data center footprints.
Improved Functionality
Industry-specific applications enable higher levels of technological efficiency, functionality, and performance. An industry cloud product for healthcare, for example, could securely manage electronic health records or parse medical images.
Advanced Security
Businesses are increasingly concerned about data security online. Industry clouds offer superior levels of security and compliance over traditional cloud offerings, allowing CIOs to rest easy.
INDUSTRY CLOUDS AND THE FUTURE
The future of industry clouds depends upon the cloud vendors’ ability to customize cloud technologies by business needs. According to Techaisle’s research, SMB and mid-market cloud adoption will increase by 121% increase in the US over the year.
Industry clouds are ready to help organizations leapfrog their digital transformation journey and accelerate technology transformation where it is most needed.
A new generation of industry cloud providers will help businesses innovate faster by providing customized applications and services.
