Last year, $2 billion was spent by SMEs all over APAC toward cloud computing. According to a report by the Asia Cloud Computing Association (ACCA), entitled “SMEs in Asia Pacific: The Market for Cloud Computing 2015”, cloud-based technology matches the way SMEs in Asia work.
In general, cloud products are used by SMEs to solve the needs of tech infrastructure, like server or data center, to run their apps.
Some others go for ready-to-use apps for their productivity needs, from communication and collaboration system to CRM (Customer Relationship Management). These cloud computing services tend to be more affordable and accessible, as they implement the subscription (pay-as-you-see) scheme.
Indicators of Cloud Computing-Based Solution Adoption
Business population is the main indicator of cloud adoption and market opportunities to the players in the cloud computing industry. However, according to ACCA’s report, more stable infrastructure is more preferred by tech adopters, meaning that it’s that important to be aware of. Besides developing economic values, such as investment cost that may be gained through cloud, more stable service may also be the startup’s key of success.
Talking about the need of stable services, we may refer to how SMEs determine the cloud product they’re about to adopt. It’s important to them to consider about the offered products and services. By having detailed user demography, entrepreneurs may start determining the service they look to adopt.
If the target market is only Indonesia, for instance, then it’s best to adopt a local cloud. On the other hand, they better opt for international cloud service should they look to target global market.
The Potential of Cloud Computing among Indonesian SMEs
Considering their potential in Indonesia, cloud service vendors regard SMEs and startups as gold mines. While having proper cloud solution would be beneficial, they often find difficulties in finding some experts to maintain their tech and facilities. This is where cloud vendors play their part.
The forementioned research also pointed out that one of gates of success for SMEs in Asia is mobile-based business approach. The increase of number of smartphone user in Indonesia is exceptionally good. This is important to be managed by business owners, especially within its relations with software developers who support their product and services, including the methods of connecting businesses and consumers.
Market Education Remains An Integral Part
The shift from traditional approach to cloud-based technology is basically based on several key trends, including mobility improvement, remote workspace and BYOD (Bring Your Own Devices). ACCA’s research also noted that there were only 3 percent of business owners in Indonesia, especially SMEs, who really understand the essence of cloud implementation. Similar fact was found in Japan, where one one third of business owners who deeply understand about it.
Actually, the general issue that appears basically revolves around the lack of knowledge about the available cloud solution and what should be prepared to improve the productivity, as well as the limited skills upon managing and developing cloud-based solutions.
The most common method would be to educate and ripen people’s awareness on cloud computing technology. This is one of effective solutions for cloud vendors to market their services.