What Charles Darwin Can Teach Us About Cloud Apps
Meet Mr.
Adaptability Famed English scientist and father of evolutionary theory, Charles Darwin was purported to have remarked that "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives.
It is the one that is most adaptable to change.
" Whether or not Darwin actually said this is debatable, however this quote can teach us a lot about the current state of our business.
In business, as in nature, adaptability is paramount to survival.
We now live in the era of big data, social media, mobile technology, cloud apps.
How are you going to adapt your business model to thrive in this environment? Consider the following exchange between two businessmen.
John: We've been having some trouble with sales of our project management software on Windows and Mac.
Matt: No one seems to want to use standalone software these days.
Everyone seems to be carrying three different devices with them and expect their software to work on all three.
Its getting frustrating! John: How do we deal with this? The marketplace has changed so dramatically from just a few years ago.
How can the gentlemen in the above conversation solve their dilemma? The resounding answer is to move their products to the cloud and adapt their legacy apps to a SaaS (Software as a Service) model.
The 90s were the heyday of standalone software.
However, just like every storage medium that came before, the sun is setting on the era of CD and DVD distributed software.
Software companies such as Salesforce.
com, 37signals.
com, Atlasssian.
com, and Hubspot.
com have successfully employed cloud application development.
Companies choosing to ship their software via physical media or forcing customers to download standalone software to their PC or Mac are going to face decreased revenue and eventual extinction.
Scalability Perhaps the greatest benefit you receive from cloud application development is scalability.
The scalability of cloud infrastructure allows you to add virtual machines and distribute databases with the click of a mouse or even add servers using APIs.
For instance, consider for a moment you have a server which detects a massive traffic spike.
You can program your services to add additional servers on the fly using APIs to handle the increased load.
This is the beauty of the cloud.
Many companies are doing this already with great success.
Netflix is a prime example of this.
They use Amazon's cloud to deliver and scale their services for a massive user base.
However, this capability is not the sole domain of companies like Netflix, but all businesses, small and large, can take advantage of the cloud.
Usage Stats, Feedback, and Customer Support I'm sure you've heard the old saying, "The customer is always right".
What if you could know what your customers want before they ever ask? With cloud application development you can monitor usage statistics and analyze which parts of your app need to be modified or removed.
By seeing how your customers use your app, you can create a better user experience and improve your customer service at the same time.
Customer support integration is one the best features of an SaaS model.
Built in admin features can be used to logon to a user's machine and resolve their issues faster than ever before, earning you both accolades and happily returning customers.
Feature Additions and Add-ons Updating or installing add-ons to desktop applications is often a cumbersome process.
With cloud application development, updates are delivered silently, adding new features and updating easily without the user having to manually download each update.
Additionally, the ease at which add-ons are incorporated often translates to increased revenue and customer satisfaction.
Stay ahead of your competition by offering useful and easy to install add-on features and keeping tabs on usage with an eye towards improving your next release.
Recurring Revenue From a business prospective, the bottom line is the bottom line.
With an SaaS based business model you can charge your customers per user, per month, or per feature.
This allows flexibility for your customers and an easy recurring revenue stream for you.
Available on All Devices, All the Time Gone are the days of working with clunky desktop PCs.
Its rare to find someone today who doesn't have at least two different devices for work.
Most people have a laptop, tablet, and a smartphone to choose from.
This makes it easy to stay connected 24/7.
With this kind of access, people expect their apps to have the same availability.
Thankfully "The cloud never sleeps" and cloud based apps provide the accessibility that your users expect.
Whether Darwin really said it or not, it is becoming apparent that businesses who refuse to move apps to the cloud will be missing out on the terrific advantages cloud platforms have to offer and risking their future.
Adaptability Famed English scientist and father of evolutionary theory, Charles Darwin was purported to have remarked that "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives.
It is the one that is most adaptable to change.
" Whether or not Darwin actually said this is debatable, however this quote can teach us a lot about the current state of our business.
In business, as in nature, adaptability is paramount to survival.
We now live in the era of big data, social media, mobile technology, cloud apps.
How are you going to adapt your business model to thrive in this environment? Consider the following exchange between two businessmen.
John: We've been having some trouble with sales of our project management software on Windows and Mac.
Matt: No one seems to want to use standalone software these days.
Everyone seems to be carrying three different devices with them and expect their software to work on all three.
Its getting frustrating! John: How do we deal with this? The marketplace has changed so dramatically from just a few years ago.
How can the gentlemen in the above conversation solve their dilemma? The resounding answer is to move their products to the cloud and adapt their legacy apps to a SaaS (Software as a Service) model.
The 90s were the heyday of standalone software.
However, just like every storage medium that came before, the sun is setting on the era of CD and DVD distributed software.
Software companies such as Salesforce.
com, 37signals.
com, Atlasssian.
com, and Hubspot.
com have successfully employed cloud application development.
Companies choosing to ship their software via physical media or forcing customers to download standalone software to their PC or Mac are going to face decreased revenue and eventual extinction.
Scalability Perhaps the greatest benefit you receive from cloud application development is scalability.
The scalability of cloud infrastructure allows you to add virtual machines and distribute databases with the click of a mouse or even add servers using APIs.
For instance, consider for a moment you have a server which detects a massive traffic spike.
You can program your services to add additional servers on the fly using APIs to handle the increased load.
This is the beauty of the cloud.
Many companies are doing this already with great success.
Netflix is a prime example of this.
They use Amazon's cloud to deliver and scale their services for a massive user base.
However, this capability is not the sole domain of companies like Netflix, but all businesses, small and large, can take advantage of the cloud.
Usage Stats, Feedback, and Customer Support I'm sure you've heard the old saying, "The customer is always right".
What if you could know what your customers want before they ever ask? With cloud application development you can monitor usage statistics and analyze which parts of your app need to be modified or removed.
By seeing how your customers use your app, you can create a better user experience and improve your customer service at the same time.
Customer support integration is one the best features of an SaaS model.
Built in admin features can be used to logon to a user's machine and resolve their issues faster than ever before, earning you both accolades and happily returning customers.
Feature Additions and Add-ons Updating or installing add-ons to desktop applications is often a cumbersome process.
With cloud application development, updates are delivered silently, adding new features and updating easily without the user having to manually download each update.
Additionally, the ease at which add-ons are incorporated often translates to increased revenue and customer satisfaction.
Stay ahead of your competition by offering useful and easy to install add-on features and keeping tabs on usage with an eye towards improving your next release.
Recurring Revenue From a business prospective, the bottom line is the bottom line.
With an SaaS based business model you can charge your customers per user, per month, or per feature.
This allows flexibility for your customers and an easy recurring revenue stream for you.
Available on All Devices, All the Time Gone are the days of working with clunky desktop PCs.
Its rare to find someone today who doesn't have at least two different devices for work.
Most people have a laptop, tablet, and a smartphone to choose from.
This makes it easy to stay connected 24/7.
With this kind of access, people expect their apps to have the same availability.
Thankfully "The cloud never sleeps" and cloud based apps provide the accessibility that your users expect.
Whether Darwin really said it or not, it is becoming apparent that businesses who refuse to move apps to the cloud will be missing out on the terrific advantages cloud platforms have to offer and risking their future.
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