More Asian Firms Compute via Cloud
Look to the East, and that’s where you’ll see many of today’s business trends rising like the sun or being magnified like its rays. For example, in Asia, there’s a growing number of companies now using the cloud to access apps and store data.
According to a recent story I came across while surfing the net, independent research firm IDC estimates that cloud computing in Asia is growing at more than 40 per cent yearly. Singapore companies, in particular, are moving from the “early-adopter stage to the early-mainstream stage of cloud computing.” Further, an IDC survey found that 40% of companies in the Asia-Pacific region, including those from Singapore, are already exploring or trial-testing cloud computing apps, such as word processing apps and and photo-editing software. About 10% are already using such SaaS apps.
A Yen for Savings
So, what’s behind Asian companies’ interest in cloud computing? Well, just like their western counterparts, it seems to be cost and labor savings. The story gave one example of a private Singapore firm that pared $1.1 million from its budget – “a massive 65 per cent savings” – by moving computing to the cloud in 2008.
And, just like governments around the world, Asia is switching public service data base storage and services to the cloud.
The article said that Singapore’s Ministry of Education became the latest convert several weeks ago, when it bought an entire suite of Google applications, including word processing and chat functions, for 30,000 teachers. It expects to save more than one-third of a million dollars per year.
The cloud’s unstoppable spread is covering the globe.