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Cloud computing beginning to gain momentum

Cindy Cheng, ​Sr. Director of Marketing Communications, EMEA, Appian
June 19, 2013

Cloud BPM solutions could come in handy for many companies as cloud computing is beginning to take on a larger role in many business settings. A recent Gartner study explained that while the cloud is not yet as popular as the marketing hype may suggest, it has established itself as a key business technology and is gathering momentum for future growth.

According to Gartner, approximately 8 percent of businesses are currently using cloud office systems. While this may sound like a relatively small percentage of companies, it is a fairly solid foundation of cloud adoption that is set to increase considerably in the near future. The study found that a major shift toward cloud office system use will begin in first half of 2015. By 2017, approximately 33 percent of businesses willuse the cloud for core corporate functions, like social collaboration, productivity and email. This research entailed analyzing businesses throughout the world, with India and China not included in the study.

Evaluating the cloud's progression

Tom Austin, vice president and Gartner Fellow, explained that there are still significant differences in how organizations approach the cloud, despite the marketing hype surrounding the technology. Generally speaking, differences in everything from a company's size to the industry it operates in and its geographic location have a major impact on how it goes about pursuing cloud computing.

This diversity in motivating points behind cloud adoption makes it difficult to assess precisely how the technology is progressing. However, motivating factors behind cloud adoption are fairly clear. According to Gartner, the mobile device movement is a key contributor to the cloud's rise. The dramatic increase in smartphone and tablet use has led to more device diversity in the contemporary workplace. Businesses using traditional applications pay for licenses based on the number of devices running the solution. Cloud computing allows organizations to subscribe to applications based on the resources required, making it much more cost efficient in environments where users often use multiple devices.

Using BPM to navigate the complex cloud and mobile landscape

Cloud computing's rise in conjunction with mobile devices can lead to major process challenges. Business process management software can enable organizations to align their processes across departments when supporting cloud and mobile technologies, overcoming these problems. Cloud and mobile BPM solutions, in particular, can prove to beinvaluable assets, as companies work to transition to emerging technologies in a way that aligns with operational needs.

Cindy Cheng

Director of Product Marketing