The benefits of the integration of cloud technology for Irish-based and international businesses were discussed at a conference held in Dublin today.
Speaking at the Transitioning to the Cloud conference, which took place at the Burlington Hotel, Dublin, a range of speakers from Microsoft and leading Irish firms discussed Irish businesses and the cloud and how early adoption to the cloud via Windows Azure has helped them achieve success.
Clare Dillon, developer and platform group lead, Microsoft Ireland, said: “The cloud represents a huge opportunity for Ireland. It has levelled the playing field for small companies. Global market access for small companies has been made easier,” she said, adding that it was a golden opportunity for start-up companies and more nimble Irish companies to achieve success.
Dillon insisted that no obstacle should prevent smaller, more nimble companies from converting to the cloud – even IT concerns.
“It’s a golden opportunity for Irish businesses. There won’t really be a stumbling block to smaller companies migrating to the cloud … IT can now be advisers to small businesses more than their traditional roles, telling them what applications to use to better focus on their growth. They will become more IT enabled,” Dillon added.
The first half of the conference focused on demystifying the cloud, discussing the economic opportunities around cloud computing and how integrating a cloud solution decision largely depends the customer’s desire to save money.
“Companies’ reasons for migrating to the cloud are predominantly about saving money. There is benefit to everyone in the cloud ecosystem and there is no need to be scared,” said Ulf Avrin of Tellus International, who spoke at the conference.
Benefits for smaller customers
“For the first time, companies have to care whether or not customers succeed. This is a total and welcome change of mindset. We already have a pedigree of providing good customer service in Ireland and this will help us build on that,” added Dillon.
A number of Irish companies, including HR Locker, Avida and NewCode Technologies Ltd, that were early adopters of the Windows Azure Platform, spoke at conference and reiterated how essential the cloud was to their business success, scalability, ease of deployment, lower costs and reliability of the platform.
Other topics covered in the morning session were the transformational qualities of the cloud, what level of effort there is transitioning to the cloud, what are the payoffs and where can a company start.
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