Allen Xavier, Country Manager, Applications, Oracle Philippines
By Allen Xavier, Country Manager, Applications, Oracle Philippines
Cloud computing adoption is accelerating throughout the Asia Pacific region, particularly in the Philippines where the recognition and acceptance of the technology is also becoming increasingly prominent. As evidently depicted in the Asia Cloud Computing Association’s Cloud Readiness Index 2014 (ACCA CRI), the Philippines is one of the countries in the region that is consistently improving in ACCA’s assessment. This readiness and favorable reception of cloud computing by both local and international enterprises is feasibly related to the country’s steady progress in cloud-friendly industries such as the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) market.
This tremendous uptake across the enterprise saw the proliferation of dedicated cloud solutions geared towards specific niche areas such as Sales Force Automation, Service, Recruiting, Marketing, Social Talent Management and Financial Services. This rapid adoption by organizations has allowed for key business benefits to become more widely known – in particular, the cost savings and the ease of access – even top executives are beginning to recognize that cloud reduces complexity, simplifies deployments, and lowers development costs.
However, perhaps the biggest benefit is that cloud enables enterprises to deliver new IT services more quickly, thereby allowing organizations to better serve their markets and customers. New applications can be turned on quickly in the cloud, enabling top executives to capture market opportunities as they arise, when they arise. And by smartly applying cloud where it makes sense, IT departments can focus their resources on longer-term, transformational projects
Indeed, as the global economy becomes increasingly dependent on information and computing technologies, it has inadvertently also led to the rise in potential of cloud to stimulate greater competition and enhance value add.
Nonetheless, one size of cloud isn’t necessarily the best fit for all. Each nation and locality has its own unique political and social context, which businesses must take into consideration as they implement new technologies and roll out new services.
For instance, while an executive might interact with a service solely as a user via a Web portal, there are numerous possibilities for customization, as well as many decisions to be made before he or she even gets to the point of clicking through the browser. Those choices, made typically with assistance from (or even ownership by) the IT department, tend to be strategic in nature.
First, an organization must determine its requirements. Are its needs limited to elastic compute capacity, to support a growing business? Or is online storage also necessary? Should you run mission-critical software in the cloud, or instead use it to essentially outsource non-core IT?
The cloud consumption model is also a significant consideration. Is the way to get up and running quickest – by accessing applications in the cloud via the Software as a Service (SaaS) model – the best fit for your business? Perhaps your organizational requirements point towards Platform as a Service (PaaS), which provides an elastically scalable platform for consolidation of new and existing applications. Or maybe the on-premise cloud model of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), where an Oracle Engineered System is deployed in your data centre and paid for according to a monthly pricing model, is the best fit.
Fundamentally, while local support is important in choosing a cloud provider, national regulations, such as rules regarding the physical location of data, may also impact consumption choices. To support such needs and ensure superior service, Oracle has launched facilities throughout the region, including new data centers in Singapore and Sydney.
Indeed, cloud applications have the power to dramatically improve business performance while reducing costs, but only if companies are able to make selections best aligned with their respective requirements. Subscribing to a cloud service may be relatively straightforward, but how this application fits in with the rest of the enterprise must be thought through in detail.
