Cloud and Data are two fundamental pillars of digital transformation that can drive an organization’s growth and sustainability. International Data Corporation has in fact predicted global Cloud spending to soar to $1.3 trillion and data to surge to 175 zettabytes, both by 2025.
The convergence of these two forces is creating a seismic shift in the way businesses operate, empowering them with the ability to store, process, and analyze massive amounts of information in real-time and at an unprecedented scale. As businesses recognize the combined power of Cloud and Data, the demand for these services is also going through a historic upsurge, shaping the next frontier of the digital era.
Cloud and Data in the business landscape
The adoption of Cloud and Data provides businesses the ability to respond rapidly to ever-changing market conditions, innovate at scale, and create hyper-personalized experiences for customers. The sheer volume of data generated today is rich with insights which companies can use to bring superior value and experience to their customers. At the same time, the magnitude and diversity of data necessitates robust storage and processing capabilities. Cloud and Data complement each other as enterprise technologies, and this is why innovative companies like Netflix and Airbnb have long leveraged their combined powers to dominate the market.- Netflix. Netflix relies on Cloud computing to facilitate its massive operations, covering streaming content to 220 million subscribers worldwide. The company leverages Cloud to manage and protect content, and ensure seamless entertainment experience for its viewers. Moreover, Netflix uses big data to measure and translate clicks, pauses, and plays into subscriber preferences and behaviors. By deeply and quickly understanding what the customers like to watch, it is able to provide personalized recommendations and make data-driven decisions to produce content that will most likely lead to success.
- Airbnb. It is important for Airbnb to have a robust and reliable Cloud computing infrastructure that can handle massive influx of data with its 150 million users and 6 million real estate listings. Its Cloud computing needs scale up and down quickly, catering to its peak and off-peak seasons, without loss in performance or speed. At the heart of Airbnb’s operations is data analysis. Through data, Airbnb matches renters and hosts according to their preferences and improves the likelihood of bookings. It also implements smart pricing that allows hosts to adjust their prices according to the demand. These features require high performance infrastructures in order to run seamlessly for clients everywhere — something that the Cloud effortlessly offers.
Benefits of the Cloud-Data Confluence
A range of possibilities arise when Cloud and Data are jointly utilized by businesses. On one end, businesses harness the power of data to make informed decisions, predict trends, and enhance customer experiences. On the other, Cloud creates the capacity for data processing that is fast, cost-effective, and scalable. From an enterprise technology standpoint, here are the benefits:- Scalability. Cloud platforms allow businesses to store and manage growing data as needed. Adjust cloud storage and cloud compute settings in response to changing data volume, business strategy, and budget.
- Cost efficiency. Whether data volumes scale up or down, businesses only pay for the storage and compute power that they need, eliminating upfront investments that are usually associated with on-premise data centers.
- Real-time data analysis. Cloud platforms enable real-time data analysis, which is important in gaining immediate insights to data and in responding in real-time — a critical competitive advantage to any business in driving revenue.
- Enhanced collaboration. With data stored in the Cloud, team members can access, analyze, and collaborate on a single and updated source of truth from anywhere in the world.
- Improved security. Reliable Cloud providers invest in security measures to protect their client’s data, including encryption, access controls, and regular security audits.
