Becoming a Cloud-Native Business

The progress of technology has forced many businesses to improve just so they can keep up. Robots and automation are driving some of this pace, but there are far more sophisticated options only the Internet and similar technology can provide. Businesses are moving their entire structures to the cloud to become more high-tech and speed up their manufacturing. Becoming a cloud-native company is not an immediate or easy task, but the long-term rewards are worth the price.

Many consumers already do most of their business online anyway. Becoming cloud-native shouldn’t be a company’s first step into online business, but rather the goal.

What Is Cloud-Native?

A cloud-native business is one doing all their operations in the cloud, meaning resilience, instant communication and a much larger customer base. Cloud-native is more of a corporate strategy than a business model. Operating in the cloud means allowing infrastructure as a service and having a solid IT department.

Every company has different needs to meet. A business can change the structure of the cloud around as they see fit to maximize their goals. Obtaining the right structure from the cloud takes thought and care, which is where IT comes in.

DevOps

Development and operations are two separate groups in a company. They follow two different paths, which eventually converge to provide the delivery of software services to production. In a cloud-native business, everything is about speed. Because of the high demand to move faster, development and operations have to merge into one team to meet goals.

DevOps is the combination of development and operations necessary in a cloud-native business. Investment into DevOps is required for success, which companies can achieve through team collaboration and automation. Automation, in this case, means to deliver, operate, monitor and manage software automatically so the DevOps team can do their best job.

Time Is Money

Being cloud-native is all about the speed of the job. Agility is the most significant selling point for becoming cloud-native and puts the company ahead of its competition. Getting a service or product from the drawing board into a customer’s hands with no problems in record time is the dream.

Accelerating time to market means the company creates a wider profit margin and earns more revenue. Monetizing APIs on apps deployed and developed faster than ever before also means reduced operating costs. At the same time, customers will come to expect quick service and will react badly if the system ever becomes unexpectedly unavailable. Great power comes with great responsibility.

Better Customer Experience

The customer service a cloud-native business provides is just as much of a benefit as the agility. Employees and customers alike enjoy streamlined communication. And, because transparency is much easier to implement through the cloud, companies can keep track of how their business is going and where they are spending money.

Cloud-based solutions dramatically shorten response time to problems, complaints and questions. While a social media presence is almost necessary for the modern day, people most often want to go through official channels to speak to the business directly. Customer feedback is critical for a business to stay afloat.

Stay Ahead of the Game

Cloud-native business is a new way to promote healthy competition in the business world. Most businesses are looking to the cloud to get ahead of their peers, but a lot of businesses are switching or have already switched to the cloud. A competitive atmosphere increases technological advancement and better customer experiences.

Big companies like Netflix, Amazon and Google were some of the first businesses to become cloud-native. Strategic decisions by CEOs have higher expectations because of the stiff competition. Power might be hard to grab for even this early into cloud-native business’ conception, but the sky is the limit after they meet their goals.

The Setbacks

While cloud-native businesses seem like the best idea for the future of commerce, some companies fail to make the switch. When asked about barriers to the transition, 70 percent of CEOs cited a lack of skills, cultural issues, technology and cost for the biggest drawbacks.

Becoming cloud-native might benefit most businesses, but not every company has the resources to make it a reality. For instance, IT is an important cost center for making the transition, and CIOs need more power to get the job done. Not every company is in a good position to make those kinds of changes.

Advancement Means Opportunity

While not every company is in their best position to become cloud-native, switching to the cloud is good for business as a whole. Stronger competition combined with better customer experiences makes commerce better for all sides, not to mention the higher revenue a company receives. If the resources are there and the employees are up to the task, going cloud-native is the best option available. Not doing so may mean the end of some businesses very soon.

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