Why Move Your Software to the Cloud?
If you are a person who markets, sells, architects, manages, or engineers a software application that runs on a customer's computer or server, this article is for you.
You may have heard that running software in the cloud is a fancy trend that you might want to follow.
But why would you want to move your software to the cloud? Maybe you shouldn't! The only reason to move to the cloud is if it allows you to stay relevant to your customers and stay competitive in the market. If the answer to that question is no, then you shouldn't do it.
So how does moving to the cloud help you stay relevant and competitive?Three main reasons:
1. Cloud makes deployments easier and faster which gives your customers more features more quickly
2. Cloud allows you to gather data on what features your customers are using which shortens the feedback loop on what your customers want
3. Cloud allows you to use flexible monetization and commercialization optionsLet's look at each of these points more closely.
First, the cloud makes deployments easier and faster which gives your customers more features more quickly. Being on the cloud allows your software development team to use all the DevOps and Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery breakthroughs of the last 10 years. These are the techniques that allow Facebook and Amazon to deploy every 12 seconds. Being on the cloud means that your customers immediately get your new features without you needing to send them a file to install. If you are still sending them a file to install they might never get around to installing it. Also, packaging and testing could take a lot longer than it does with Blue-Green Deployment. This technique allows you to keep your current working version of your software running, and simultaneously deploy another instance. You can automate testing on your new deployment to ensure that it works perfectly before switching your customers to the new version and decommissioning the old version. If anything goes wrong, which you can also automatically detect, you can redeploy the previous solid version of the system.
Second, the cloud allows you to gather data on what features your customers are using which shortens the feedback loop on what your customers want. Having data in real-time of which features your customers are using allows you to work strategically. You can decide which features to continue investing in and which ones your customers need more training on. You can also learn new things about how your customers use your software so you can develop and pivot.
The data you gather can also be anonymized easily in the cloud. Anonymized data means that all unique fields that could infringe on your customers' privacy have been removed. This data can be used for various new features including allowing your customers to know if they are doing better or worse than other users. For example, a family budgeting software (think Mint from Inuit) could let a customer know that they are spending more on restaurants than similar families. All the anonymized reports can be automatically done with no extra work for your customers or your technical staff. Customers might even be willing to pay extra to know these kinds of benchmark statistics.
Finally, the cloud allows you to make flexible packages with fewer features or less usage to allow for a land and expand strategy. Many customers want to start off small with a software package and pay a very small amount. Think of a project management system. The customer might just want to get one project on board and not pay a huge amount for a large system. The cloud allows features to be turned off and on easily. The customer can only see a small number of features for a low cost. As the customer sees the value in your software they can upgrade. As they upgrade they can get more and more features. No special work on your engineers' side has to occur. Instead the features can be automatically enabled when the customer upgrades. There are many ways to set up monetization and commercialization.
Check out some of my other articles on these topics.
If any of these seem like they would help your company, please let me know. I can talk to you more about your specific situation. Going to the cloud is a big move and might not be smart for everyone.
Find me on LinkedIN.
