In my previous article we examined the challenges and opportunities of cloud adoption for the SME sector. SMEs, being cost sensitive, are bound to adopt cloud computing technology widely over the next three to five years.

The key benefits of cloud adoption among SMEs are:

• Reducing IT labour cost by up to 50% in configuration, operations, management and monitoring
• Reducing server and application provisioning cycle times from weeks to minutes
• Improving quality, eliminating up to 30% of software defects
• Lowering end-user IT support costs by up to 40%.
  
  

Indian companies are increasingly embracing cloud computing for its efficiency in terms of delivering faster results, leveraging existing infrastructure, improving administrative processes, most importantly scalability, and on-demand provisioning of resources.

Although India is still an evolving market in terms of overall cloud adoption, recent trends and surveys show an increased activity in the field. Indian companies are increasingly embracing cloud computing for its efficiency in terms of delivering faster results, leveraging existing infrastructure, improving administrative processes, most importantly scalability, and on-demand provisioning of resources. These attributes make cloud computing a perfect model for running businesses.

The above coupled with low cost; high flexibility; nil down time; storage on demand, as per need; high level of automation, should make cloud as a preferred solution for the SME.

Also read: How is cloud computing supporting organisations during Covid-19?

Some other observations, during our interactions with the SME owners are as follows:

• Cloud computing is a new entrant to the technology arena which in form of Platform as a Service, Software as a Service and Infrastructure as a Service promises real reduction in cost of operations in a business. This eliminates the need to purchase expensive software, development platforms and setting up complex ICT infrastructure.

• Cloud computing as a technology has created a niche for itself in the SME sector. The sector understands the overall tangible advantage it offers for their growth.

• While the SME owners have adequate awareness of the benefits of Cloud technology in their organisations, only a few know the actual benefits of cloud computing beyond the basic description. We strongly feel that the cloud computing has not gone past the awareness phase.

• Most of employees at the SME, even if they were aware of the cloud platform, were not comfortable with adopting cloud-based applications. The reasons varied from total lack of understanding to concerns on data security.

• A high number of SME customers still assume that cloud services were only for larger companies.

• There continues to be much confusion on the Private vs the Public cloud.
  
  
• Many SME have adopted a wait and see attitude as far as adoption of cloud computing is concerned.

• Many SME owners rue the half-baked solution being pitched to them.

We feel that much more needs to be done, by the cloud vendors in terms of explaining the business benefits to the SME. Maybe then can we dream of taking Indian SMEs, there are almost 45 million of them, to Cloud.

We are sure, the SMEs themselves, will be on cloud 9!

Also read: One small step by the SME owner…a giant leap for the economy

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