With SAPPHIRE NOW only days away, I can’t help but wonder what to expect at this year’s event. Aside from a rocking concert with Jon Bon Jovi, I predict that there will be one underlying theme appearing consistently in keynotes, forum sessions, and show floor conversation.
This theme, of course, is that SAP is the cloud company powered by SAP HANA. Talk of the cloud is buzzing through the majority of businesses worldwide because the benefits are countless. To name a few, cloud computing offers businesses:
- Greater Flexibility and Agility
- Cost Savings
- Competitive Differentiation
- More Business Process Innovation and
- Faster Deployment
What’s even more significant is that a whopping 91% of companies believe that the cloud will have a major impact on their organization in the upcoming years.
As Tim Minahan notes in his blog, 2014: Forecast: Business Gets Strategic About the Cloud, IDC predicts that spending on the cloud will increase at five times the pace of overall tech spending from 2013-2017. This is already apparent as over half of US businesses are presently running some form of cloud computing.
But what about the companies who haven’t transitioned yet?
Next week while I perambulate the SAPPHIRE NOW show floor, I will interview attendees randomly to ask the pressing question: What is your general conception of the Cloud?
My curiosity level has peaked, and I’m determined to get some answers.
Personally, my opinion is that some companies are weary of security issues in the cloud. But data in the cloud can be protected by enforcing passwords and single sign-on policies, as well as by choosing data storage locations with strict regulations or opting for a private cloud deployment or a private edition of a public cloud.
My second theory is that companies don’t fully understand the different options available: private, public, and hybrid cloud? Do they fully understand the power of SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud? Or the option of SAP Managed Cloud as a Service?
What do you think? What’s the biggest conception around the cloud? And what are your predictions for next week’s event? It’s the largest SAPPHIRE NOW yet, and I can’t wait to be a part of it.
If you’ll be in Orlando with me next week, check out the sessions planned on SAP Cloud via the SAPPHIRE NOW Agenda Builder and assemble your schedule today.
Interested in more cloud related articles? Here’s my list of favorites:
What is Cloud Computing? An Awesome Answer in 78 Seconds (Video)
2014 Forecast: Business Gets Strategic About the Cloud
6 Benefits of Cloud Computing—If You Haven’t Considered It, You’re Way Behind
Public, Private, or Hybrid? What Are Your Cloud Choices?
Stay tuned next week when I blog on the answers from my interviews, and follow me on twitter @CMDonato and on LinkedIn.
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