2020 has been a year of realizations. A global pandemic brought unexpected new challenges to industries and closed down many businesses. Remote work was not even a possibility for corporations before but today, many businesses have employees that work from home. People got accustomed to life under new conditions, and the extra time spent at home led to lifestyle changes, which also impacted consumer habits and our relationship with work and our personal lives.
A common denominator, and a detail we can’t ignore, is how everyone took advantage of available technology to ensure that life goes on. These technologies, from video conferencing applications to social media platforms used by micro to small enterprises, are all powered by cloud computing technology that enables content to be delivered at a scale that meets growing consumer demand. Thanks to the cloud, apps and services exist to help many businesses navigate the uncertainties of the pandemic by taking advantage of the cloud’s affordability, flexibility, and scale—something that traditional IT setups simply can’t achieve.
Cloud computing is no longer just an industry buzzword—it is now a reality in today’s businesses, especially now that restrictions have forced us to adapt to changing times. Industries across the board are already leveraging technologies that allow them to connect and remain productive through the power of the cloud. Those who have integrated cloud technology in their business operations as part of their overall strategy are most likely to thrive in the new normal.
As we begin the year with the hope that things will get better, we also approach with caution for the things that are yet to come. Discovering how the cloud can help your business in 2021 will explain why it’s time to truly make the cloud your business priority.
The catalyst for digital transformation
Just a few years back, the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” or Industry 4.0 was more or less a pipe dream laid out by visionaries who had a vision of what the future of work and business would be using then emerging technologies to accelerate our lives. Moreso in the Philippines, where technology, research, and development are adopted at a much slower pace. With COVID-19 in the picture, the challenges the world faced impacted industries big and small, forcing everyone to adapt to economic uncertainties in their way, all while maximizing resources they could get—including cloud technology itself.
Digitally native businesses and services, like Lazada, Grab, and GCash, emerge as winners in this current scenario as restrictions allow for the rapid adoption of digital technologies as a response to social distancing guidelines. Productivity apps like the video calling application Zoom have quadrupled its year-on-year earnings due to work from home trends. With increasing time spent on the Internet and social media (the Philippines reported as the top country), more and more businesses and consumers are relying on digital technologies to supplement their way of work and life. All of these could not be made possible without the cloud-based infrastructure that allowed these services to grow and scale quickly, all while delivering quality and reliable service that is expected from a digital platform.
A new normal requires a brand new playbook to manage today’s crisis and prepare for a future where your business can thrive. This means looking into what technologies you can leverage in particular to enable your businesses to do much more for less, and it may accompany your cloud computing prospect in ways you might not expect:
The cloud’s secret ingredient: machine learning
As businesses become even more competitive in today’s tougher landscape, the need to provide more services for consumers has exceeded what some businesses can provide. This can lead to the loss of business opportunities. As consumers demand personalized products and services that cater to their changing needs, businesses have to keep up all while staying afloat in this pandemic-stricken reality.
Once a thing of sci-fi movies and futuristic films, machine learning is the secret ingredient that can spell success for businesses. If cloud computing gives you the resources to conduct your business operations with ease and scale when you want to, machine learning utilizes that power to help you do more and be smarter about the way you do work. When implementing machine learning and artificial intelligence to your workloads, you can potentially save weeks of big data analytics, forecast scenarios much quicker, and allow your manpower to do more with fewer resources. It’s a win-win situation, especially when optimized and maintained correctly with your cloud computing setup.
Both these technologies, available to those willing to integrate them, can help businesses be more agile and responsive to market trends. For startups and small businesses with innovative concepts, these technologies can accelerate product development and help bring their solutions to market much faster. By then, the market will benefit from an even more digital future.
5G and the road to a more connected future
Another technology that will fly under most businesses’ radars is 5G. 5G is the next generation of internet connectivity that shouldn’t be ignored just because it may seem that it only benefits end consumers from the get-go. Marketing campaigns from major telcos may focus on increased speeds, and more bandwidth to support consumers’ increased internet media consumption habits (think Netflix downloads, online gaming). But 5G also means big things for those looking to make full use of the cloud and other internet technologies to conduct business.
5G is already transforming industries across the globe, especially in Asia where the new generation is allowing different countries to make use of the Internet of Things to create smarter industries, from agriculture to logistics. For the IT sector, 5G provides the speed and stability that gives the cloud a boost to conduct machine learning and big data analytics workloads, allowing greater efficiency. As it continues to shape Asia as a more connected region, 5G is poised to bring us into the future where everyone is more connected than ever before through new and improved apps and services powered by cloud computing and machine learning technologies. If the internet is the path that allows these technologies to reach businesses and consumers, 5G becomes the turbo-powered highway that allows for even greater possibilities.
Easing into a cloud-powered reality
The case for the cloud is always challenged ultimately by those who find the whole shift daunting—cloud computing itself is a myriad of concepts that are dizzying to the average person. Making the shift takes commitment, an organized plan, and a clear understanding of what the cloud can and can’t do for your business. It is also not necessarily cheap to transition to cloud computing, as it is an investment that will pay itself over time when managed and maintained well.
Thankfully, there are many ways to ease into this new cloud-powered reality. Over here at Apper, we specialize in helping businesses understand the capabilities of the cloud while also offering services to help IT teams become more competitive cloud computing engineers. Our team of certified experts can also manage your services for you, freeing you to do what you do best: managing your business. Whatever step you take, we are here to help you make the proper decisions by bridging the knowledge gap between business and the cloud, maximizing your cloud computing investment.
Shifting to the cloud doesn’t have to be difficult, and with a multicloud solutions company like Apper, we can help your business grow and thrive as we venture into the year ahead. If 2020 was a year of realizations, 2021 can be a year of taking action. Discover how you can leverage the cloud for your business and talk to us at Apper today.
Mosselle Cruz
Marketing and Partnerships Lead
Mosselle is an experienced tech startup country launcher and marketing professional with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and Tech Startup industry. She has helped ASEAN tech brands expand to the Philippines since 2015. She has worked with FinTech and HRTech startups during their early phases, setting up groundwork for the local teams to drive growth and jumpstart operations.
