MAKE THE CLOUD WORK

FOR YOUR BUSINESS

By doing away with typical IT constraints, cloud computing frees
a business to pursue growth and innovation.
by Marcus Cheng Mun Yip

CLOUD AS THE NEW ENGINE OF GROWTH

Cloud computing is s t r a t e g i c . C l o u d c o m p u t i n g i s a b s o l u t e l y a b o u t m a k i n g I T w o r k m o re As organisations move
effi c ient ly for y our bu si n e ss. It e n a bl e s c on ve n ie n t o n - d e m a n d n e t w o r k a c c e s s t o a forward with their adoption
shared pool of con f i g u r a b l e c o m p u t i n g re s o u rc e s s u c h a s n e t w o r k s , s e r v e r s , s t o r a g e , of cloud, whether they
applications and s e r v i c e s t h a t c a n b e r a p i d l y p ro v i s i o n e d a n d re l e a s e d w i t h m i n i m a l are starting a from proof
management effort o r s e r v i c e p ro v i d e r i n t e r a c t i o n . I n s h o r t , t h e c l o u d i s t h e n e w e n g i n e of concept or are looking
tha t all dynamic, t h r i v i n g c o m p a n i e s a re u s i n g t o d r i v e b u s i n e s s g ro w t h . T h e v i s i o n i s to expand their breadth
straightforward: by re m o v i n g t y p i c a l I T c o n s t r a i n t s , f o r e x a m p l e , l i m i t e d I T m a n p o w e r of options with a private
resources, costly e q u i p m e n t , c o m p l e x m a i n t e n a n c e , a n d s e c u r i t y c o n c e r n s , c l o u d or hybrid cloud, they
com put ing frees a c om pa n y t o pu rsu e grow t h a n d in n o v a t io n . stand to gain tremendous
benefits such as increased
Heres how some companies are embracing cloud as they start to reap the cost savings:
application availability,
Many businesses invest heavily in an IT system and then proceed to house it in an unsecure
better application
office environment with little resources to handle this system. W ith a cloud service, instead performance, and increased
of upfront investments, the business pays only for the resources it uses and enjoys peace IT staff efficiency.
of mind knowing that experts are handling the system. In other words, a company is able to
transform its existing CAPEX into OPEX.

In another scenario, businesses typically utilise e-mail servers on their premises to handle
their messaging needs. In a private cloud environment, that server would be hosted in
purpose-built data centres with full-fledged security controls, governed by a Service Level
Agreement that offers 99.5% uptime, highly available power and cooling, and quite often,
energy-efficient technologies that produce cost savings on the bottom-line as well.

According to a forecast from International Data Corporation (IDC), worldwide spending on

hosted private cloud (HPC) services is expected to exceed US$24 billion in 2016. HPC
spending will experience a compound annual growth rate of more than 50% over the 2012 - 2016 forecast period
as companies and IT providers look to the cloud as a means to transform their efficiency. Along the way, HPC
services will become the backbone of a new set of infrastructure services, transforming existing provider models
for IT outsourcing, hosting infrastructure services and other key IT industries.

In the coming years, the drive for cloud adoption will shift from economics to innovation. With the cloud forming the
core for business-as-a-service offerings, leading-edge companies will expedite its adoption and invest increasingly
in cloud services as the foundation for new competitive offerings, thus boosting the clouds strategic value beyond
CIOs to CXOs.

ENABLE BUSINESS AGILITY WITHOUT COMPROMISING SECURITY

Organisations on the cloud can be free to capitalise on opportunities as they arise. For example, with an Infrastructure-
as-a-Service (IaaS) solution on a private cloud platform such as Acclivis Stratum, companies will be able to access
new capabilities for their businesses, reduce costs as cloud solutions offer economies of scale, boost security
features, and gain access to IT management expertise.

Businesses are also able to increase or decrease IT expenditure to meet business needs and demands. In this case, it can
add collaborative working as a new capability by utilising Acclivis Stratum. Even a micro-business can access these kinds
of tools to leverage on a complete security system, enhance costs savings, and stay competitive in the market.

As organisations move forward with their adoption of cloud, whether they are starting from proof of concept or are looking
to expand their breadth of options with a private or hybrid cloud, they stand to gain tremendous benefits such as increased
application availability, better application performance, and increased IT staff efficiency.

However, business leaders who think about cloud computing as strictly another IT solution will miss a considerable
opportunity. Those who do see the possibilities, however, understand that a broader cloud computing strategy is
about enabling business agility without compromising security.

Marcus Cheng is the CEO of Acclivis Technologies and Solutions Pte Ltd, one of the leading enterprise cloud
providers in Asia Pacific. As CEO of Acclivis, Mr Cheng is responsible for the companys growth and operations
in Southeast Asia including the day to day management of the Singapore and Indonesia offices, and its continued
development in the Asia Pacific region.
Prior to his appointment as CEO, Mr Cheng was Director of Sales at Acclivis (20092013) where he was
responsible for overseeing sales operations in both the public and commercial sectors in Singapore. Prior to this,
he served as Client Systems Manager at IBM Singapore (20052009), where he was two-time award recipient of
IBMs Hundred Percent Club, and a recipient of the IBM Global Race for Success Sales Award.
With more than 10 years of regional experience in the IT industry, Mr Cheng has been featured in major media
publications in Singapore and is a highly sought-after speaker for IT and entrepreneurship events.