By David Johnson, Director of Director of Strategic Architecture EMEA

The global pandemic has had a profound impact on how businesses function. In a world that now embraces flexible working policies, organisation’s priorities have changed with more importance being placed on data access and business intelligence. Due to the recent acceleration of cloud adoption, the majority of organisations currently use a multi-cloud strategy, with many of those being a hybrid cloud strategy.

Harnessing the power of the cloud

Cloud computing is growing rapidly. Research from Gartner predicts that by the end of 2025, as many as 85% of businesses will be using cloud computing, and 95% of digital workloads will be deployed on cloud-native platforms. This migration to the cloud is part of organisational efforts to reduce the cost and complexity around infrastructure whilst increasing flexibility, consistency and security. However, this move isn’t easy due to many organisations having their own existing data systems and processes in place. This means that it can take a while for companies to integrate cloud environments to harness a workforce’s potential.

Having cloud software is valuable to businesses as it provides them with more flexibility in comparison to hosting on a local server. This flexibility is ultimately significant in relation to providing business leaders with more freedom and time to delegate towards making impactful business decisions and overall improving the efficiency of the organisation.

One way to begin to leverage data is through software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms. The relevance of SaaS platforms, such as Domo, has grown in a post-covid world due to their ability to pull in and integrate data from multiple internal and external sources, allowing for fully seamless operations. Being able to integrate data from various sources is especially valuable when considering flexible working models that businesses are increasingly adopting. 

How a multi-cloud strategy impacts your business

As business functions and processes are streamlined, cloud computing systems have begun to transform business innovation. According to a recent report, the top cloud initiatives across all organisations in 2022 are: optimising existing use of cloud, migrating more workloads to cloud and a move from on-premises software to SaaS processes. Not only does this research give valuable insight into how businesses are using cloud systems, but it also demonstrates the mass adoption of cloud services across organisations. The data also indicates that small to medium- sized businesses (SMBs) are spending more on cloud software, with a 39% increase in spending, meaning that 53% of SMBs are now spending $1.2 million annually on cloud software. 

A multi-cloud strategy implements more than one cloud, which are sourced from different vendors. With flexible working becoming the norm, cloud computing is key in allowing businesses to gain the level of perspective needed to function effectively. They provide businesses the ability to access more data faster, benefit from the enhanced data governance and empower employees more. It is through this that multi-cloud strategies provide organisations the ability to better understand, integrate, and analyse their data to then efficiently deploy actions, which is integral in the digital age. For example, our pre-built and custom connectors at Domo allow users to access and integrate all cloud data with ease, giving users the freedom to create a cloud architecture that benefits your team and meets your specific needs.

When data is stored in the cloud, users can install tracking mechanisms which build customised reports to analyse information which in turn helps with building a better understanding of internal processes. Ultimately, by having a visual display of performance, it is easier to understand the function of the organisation and implement effective changes to improve it. 

How these trends will continue in years to come

According to Tech Journal, cloud computing will be worth $68.5 billion by 2025, which is a 15% year-on-year growth. As we move further into the digital era, it makes complete sense that cloud adoption will increase to become a fundamental aspect of businesses, especially with remote working. There are many reasons why cloud adoption will increase amongst organisations, but collaboration, governance and data storytelling capabilities are the leading factors. On most days, we can’t walk over to a colleagues’ desk to ask a question, so being able to access a platform where employees can co-create is essential to most organisations. This is where the collaboration software and collaborative BI capabilities become even more powerful in nature. Domo’s business intelligence and analytics layer turns data into live visualisation and real-time metrics, which becomes instantly available on any device and drives informed decision making across businesses.

The global pandemic was an unprecedented shock, which completely redefined the way the world functions. However, it has birthed a new culture which embraces the power of technology and facilitates explorative and collaborative work. The power it brings to organisations is unparalleled, and is something which we only see as being embraced by more organisations. However, with more organisations relying on cloud systems, the technology needs to develop to cater towards increased usage and improving safety in order to create a long-term and sustainable future for this software.