The cloud can play a vital role in delivering more efficient business outcomes and should form a key part of any organisation’s transformation journey, according to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) experts Thomas Duryea Logicalis.

A successful transformation can reinvent an organisation and prepare it for new business opportunities by creating more efficient operations and cultivating a culture of innovation, says Toby Alcock, CTO, Thomas Duryea Logicalis.

It also provides businesses with the capabilities to improve industry standards, address challenges from different angles, become more adept to meet the varying demands of customers, and improve the company’s services, employee morale, and finances.

“Transformation should look to improve a company’s ability to innovate,” Mr Alcock says. “An innovative company is also more resilient to change, being able to adapt processes or operations quickly and with little disruption, to meet industry or societal challenges.

“However, achieving a highly successful level of innovation can prove to be difficult without an aligned business strategy.”

Business transformation is intrinsically linked to the technologies and platforms of the business, so organisations should align technologies with business goals.

Cloud technology plays a pivotal role in successful transformations and can see businesses thrive and grow -- however, this depends on the business mindset and approach to cloud, Mr Alcock explains.

Organisations are currently going over budgets on cloud spend by an average of 23 per cent, he says.

And up to 30 per cent of the cloud spend is wasted through inefficiencies or focusing on performance metrics not related to transformation goals.

“Cloud can deliver business advantages beyond simple cost efficiencies and flexibility,” Mr Alcock says.

“However, to achieve this, organisations need to evaluate cloud with the right mindset and the right goals. By evaluating decisions this way, businesses are more likely to grow a thriving culture of innovation within that will power the business.

He outlines three ways the cloud can contribute to achieving business transformation goals

1. Optimising operations

Data is one of the most valuable assets to a modern company, providing insights and visibility into operations, customers, departments, and spending. Using a data fabric architecture and services mean that organisations can leverage on-premise and multi-cloud environments to manage the data and avoid siloes. Crafting a cloud approach can future-proof teams, providing employees with streamlined processes for better productivity, and alter business models to map to market dynamics more precisely.

2. Innovating customer experiences

Customer expectations are higher than ever, which means businesses need to deliver an exceptional customer experience to maintain competitiveness. Cloud-based platforms play a key role in this; they can help provide innovative customer experiences through delivering customer-facing apps and backend systems that leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), for example. These technologies would be impractical and expensive to leverage without the flexibility of cloud. With them, organisations can communicate with customers in new ways to deliver exceptional experiences.

Cloud-based platforms also provide businesses with data analytics and insights to help make the right marketing decisions and deliver individualised interactions customers. Because cloud-based technology is more affordable than the monolithic, on-premise solutions traditionally favoured by large enterprises, smaller organisations have an opportunity to level the playing field.

3. Employee flexibility and productivity

Cloud is a crucial element for distributed workforces, providing a necessary conduit for remote workers to access the tools, systems and information they need from anywhere. Without the restraints of a physical office, organisations can reduce real estate and office costs, as well as hire talent from anywhere around the world.

A cloud solution lets organisations be more flexible when it comes to employees, which can deliver many benefits including improved productivity and expertise. It is also scalable, which allows fluidity in adapting to situations and challenges that may occur.

“When organisations switch to a growth mindset and focus on achieving business goals, this is when transformation truly occurs,” Mr Alcock says.

Thomas Duryea Logicalis is a leading Australian ICT consulting, professional services and managed services company.