If an IT leader works for a company that isn't named Amazon, Google or Facebook, chances are it hasn't gotten a big revenue boost from the cloud. It's much more likely that the company has used the cloud to cut costs, replace a standalone software application or back up older documents.
Research by Accenture, however, shows that 40 percent of all businesspeople with a knowledge of cloud computing believe it will support their product or service innovation in the next five years. If they're right, the cloud will move from its current position, of providing operational benefit, to a new position of strategic value.
Cloud as a platform for new services
Many early initiatives have involved using the cloud as a delivery mechanism for something they already sell to consumers. Take the paid apps that the Wall Street Journal and Time magazine have developed for the iPad. Those organizations had terrific digital news products in the pre-iPad era, but are banking on highly touted iPad versions to bring in new revenue.
Likewise, Best Buy and Netflix have started streaming movies and television shows over the cloud in addition to selling or renting DVDs. Consumers loved the immediate delivery model, and Netflix's revenue in 2010 surged 29 percent, to $2.16 billion (more than tripling the value of its stock).
Now, new cloud services are targeting business customers. Fujitsu has launched an initiative to let local governments in Japan put digital images of worn-out bridges in the cloud, where construction companies can study the images (and other data) and provide the government with assessments. This is a cost-savings to the government, and a potential source of new revenue to Fujitsu. This system may get quite a test in the wake of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in that country.
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Source: baselinemag.com
By: Jeanne G. Harris and Allan E. Alter
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