Is Cloud Sameness Dangerous to Competitive Advantage?
Grazed from SmartDataCollective. Author: Paul Barsch.
The rise of public cloud computing is awe-inspiring. Companies like Amazon, via Amazon Web Services, are “turning virtual iron into gold” with exponential growth in revenues and operating income. However, as more companies turn to cloud computing, and use the same applications available from a specific cloud provider, there could be danger of losing competitive advantage wrought by technological advances.
These days, if your company smells of cloud, you’re in an enviable position. That’s because according to the New York Times, in October 2015, companies such as Google, Amazon, and Microsoft added more than $100B to their market capitalization, in part fueled by cloud growth. And while some companies are moving to the cloud to take advantage of cloud benefits of elasticity, pay per use, scalability and more, there are downsides to going “all in the cloud” that are sometimes missed…
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When Microsoft announced earlier this week that it would no longer be handing out unlimited cloud storage to Office 365 subscribers via its OneDrive service, those affected were obviously not enthused. Users who were previously unbounded by the all-you-can-eat buffet that was endless cloud storage will soon be limited to a less satisfying 1TB.
The sky isn’t always the limit. Rackspace Hosting Inc. is finding that out the hard way. Shares in the cloud-services provider have lost nearly half their value over the past six months as revenue growth has slowed and competition has picked up. While it may be tempting to think the worst is over for Rackspace as it reports third-quarter results Monday, it probably isn’t.
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Keeping data safe is important. The task is hard to start and even harder to manage, but it must be done. Anyway, if you are finding data management to be difficult, then you are probably using the wrong equipment. Technology has made it possible for you to store billions of records effortlessly without spending a fortune in the process. Personal data storage should not be a problem. The main problem often lies in the storage of business data. For every business, data is a crucial asset. Businesses that do not keep records of their customers or marketing campaigns are always bound to fail at some point.
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