Authored by: Praveen Kumar, General Manager, Asia Pacific, ASG Technologies

Companies are adopting the cloud for its low-cost, scalable storage, the flexibility of infrastructure on demand and to increase the speed of new application deployment. The major cloud providers, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure, are racing to avoid commoditisation by differentiating their offerings with unique capabilities to provide value to their customers and to drive growth. Amazon announced more than 20 updates to AWS in February alone, and Microsoft has posted even more updates and enhancements, many of which drive flexibility of deployment, scalable performance and storage and security.
 
This activity is pushing the global services market to grow about 18 percent this year compared to 2018, according to Gartner estimates. North America is the strongest market for cloud services, but the Asia Pacific region is slowly gaining ground. The Asia Cloud Computing Association notes that Malaysia ranks eighth in Asia in cloud readiness, and research found that cloud use is still not common among SMEs in Malaysia. Companies that are using cloud services are mainly using cloud storage. As the adoption of cloud increases across the region, business models will also change in favour of cloud-enabled models bolstered by the services economy.
 
For organisations making the cloud a standard part of the IT infrastructure, the most frequently asked question is, “are we getting the most from our cloud deployment?” If your business applications don’t take advantage of cloud capabilities, or haven’t been designed for the cloud, you aren’t realising the full benefits of cloud innovation. To ensure that your organization is prepared to take full advantage of all the benefits the cloud offers, add the following steps to your list when selecting and deploying applications in the cloud.

Pick an application that’s been built with modern cloud deployment in mind
Organizations need products that enable them to leverage all the benefits of their cloud platform of choice. For example, content services platforms run from the cloud need to meet customer needs for content management and delivery to make the most of its native cloud capabilities. Modern application platforms are being developed to capture and manage content in hybrid environments - while ensuring its security and handling in compliance with regulations.

Choose a product that isn’t just “cloud-friendly,” but one that delivers the full value of the cloud
Organizations should not settle for a product that simply coexists with cloud platforms. Instead, seek one that can be fully integrated with cloud provider capabilities. Cloud products should integrate seamlessly with the cloud capabilities provided by AWS and Azure so that companies can leverage the capabilities available to them for the greatest return on their investment these products the cloud.
 
Be sure you can move to the cloud at the pace of your business
The cloud providers will continue to innovate and deliver new capabilities that will benefit customers and software providers. Applications need to keep pace with this change so that organizations can enjoy the full value of the cloud. As Asian companies continue the transition to the cloud, it is important for these applications to have the flexibility to transition with them.