Change is the new consent in an uncertain and unstable business environment. Today, the digital-first ecosystem has entrenched itself. But the technology remains in constant flux. New tech stacks and innovative tech-based models render incumbent models obsolete in a short while. Businesses have to reimage and reinvent themselves. But such digital transformation cannot be a one-off effort in a constantly changing world.

The cloud enables sustainable change. Migrating to the cloud has been increasing over the last decade, and the pandemic gave it a turbo boost. Timeless brick-and-mortar channels ended abruptly. Businesses had to set up online sales channels and migrate to online working models within days or face closure. But companies that undertook these tasks successfully cannot rest on their laurels. The next disruptive change in the ecosystem may be just days away.

Enter the cloud continuum. This seamless integration of various cloud capabilities and service future-proofs the tech platform.

The first generation of the cloud was static. Enterprises choose a private cloud, a public cloud, or a hybrid cloud model. Today, the cloud has evolved into a dynamic continuum of capabilities and features.

The cloud continuum represents an open framework with varied ownership and location. It co-opts various cloud capabilities and services, including private cloud, public cloud, hybrid models, edge computing, and multi-clouds. It also co-opts myriad “as-a-service” offerings. Cloud-first networks, powered by the latest hyper-connectivity options such as 5G and software-defined-networks (SDN) standards, integrate everything seamlessly.

Conventional cloud migration shifts applications and databases from on-premises to the cloud. The cloud continuum approach goes the extra mile. It visualises the path from on-premises to cloud migration and applies the best cloud model for the whole technology stack.

Today, most businesses use a combination of public, private, and edge-based clouds according to their needs. 87% of the enterprises have hybrid clouds. The hybrid cloud market size was $52 billion in 2020 and will touch $145 billion by 2026. But other cloud stacks, especially edge computing, are becoming popular.

Adopting the cloud continuum delivers several benefits for enterprises over the conventional cloud.

1. Optimised cloud usage

The cloud continuum makes enterprises agile and flexible. It ends silos in cloud adoption and enables companies to optimise the full benefits of the cloud.

Businesses often compromise on their work models owing to the rigidity of their infrastructure. They restrict innovation and limit personalization based on limitations in technology.

The cloud continuum allows businesses to select the best tech stack for the purpose. Businesses may reimagine their work to accommodate changing customer preferences or technology upgrades. They may change the technology stack as they please to deliver exceptional experiences to customers.

Cloud Continuum allows businesses to gain a substantial edge over their competitors in the market. Enterprises adopting the cloud continuum become trailblazers who leverage the best cloud-based technologies. They make their factories smart, ensure efficient supply chains, and deliver sustainable products. Businesses with multiple cloud stacks, which the cloud continuum enables, enjoy 1.2x to 1.7x cost reduction compared to enterprises who use only one kind of cloud.

2. Future-proofing the technology

The constantly changing technology makes the business environment too challenging for most enterprises. Adopting new technology involves changes, and change is disruptive. By the time the enterprise settles down with new technology, changes in the external environment force change again.

The cloud continuum makes the business infrastructure future-proof. The open nature of the cloud continuum makes it flexible. Enterprises can add new stacks or applications without interruptions to their workflows. They may select any model that suits their immediate needs and change it easily. The continuous re-alignment facilitated by the cloud continuum enables the enterprise to always remain aligned with objectives. Major disruptive changes need to happen rarely, if at all.

3. Enabling Innovations

Cloud continuum delivers enterprises a robust and flexible platform to launch innovations. It gives enterprises an easy way to experiment with different ideas and permutations and speed up the adoption of a good idea.

Enterprises adopting the cloud continuum approach are 2x to 3x times more likely to innovate and re-engineer their knowledge base.

4. Develop a technology-first work culture

Cloud adoption is only the first step towards enterprise agility. Enduring success comes from having a technology-driven team and making the best use of technology in all processes.

Forward-looking businesses leverage the cloud continuum to build up a competitive ecosystem. They identify gaps in the supply and production chain, assess weaknesses in the workflow, and co-opt the best stack to address these challenges.

Consider the example of an installation and service team. The technicians’ work takes place in remote customer premises, beyond direct supervision. Integrating a cloud-based field service management suite offers complete visibility and enables managers to exercise real-time control. The smartphone app of the suite uses GPS to track field technicians in real-time. APIs link the cloud-based field management suite to the CRM, accounts, and HR database, enabling seamless workflows. As technology improves, it becomes easy to adopt IoT-based automated service scheduling and other new-tech-based innovations without further disruptions.

How to get the best out of the cloud continuum

Successful adoption of the cloud continuum requires:

• Having a clear strategic vision for the company and a sustainable action plan to realise the strategy.
• Setting baselines for activities targeted towards the goals. This includes changes in workflow and employee skills upgrades.
• Overhauling security protocols to ensure robust cyber security and compliance. 
• Robust data access protocols and back-ups. The movement of data across open and shared ecosystems comes with a higher risk of data loss and theft. The onus is on the enterprise to classify sensitive data, manage data access, and ensure secure cloud configurations. 

With such a framework in place, the enterprise may use the cloud continuum to reach its goals quickly and easily.

Here are more inspiring ways on how to optimise cost and make multi cloud strategy a success.

Accenture’s 2020 survey “Sky High Hopes: Navigating the Barriers to Maximising Cloud Value” reveals only 45% of IT leaders as satisfied with the benefits accrued from the cloud. Departmental silos corner the lion’s share of the innovation benefits, bringing down the value of the cloud. Adopting the cloud continuum will enable enterprises to make their cloud more broad-based and extend its benefits to all levels. It is the best tech investment our company can make to ensure long-term sustainable gains.