According to Gartner, ever since Salesforce arrived in the year 1999, the concept of a cloud-based enterprise application, or what we call a SaaS model, has picked up speed in terms of global acceptance across industry verticals. A key benefit that any cloud services bring to the table is scalability combined with cost-benefit. Due to the ease of implementation and ease of access, it empowers the organization to bring in efficiency across the board and increase utilization of the application.
The e-commerce industry has been a sector that has consumed the cloud infrastructure to its maximum potential, and the journey has not ended yet. Cloud computing provides immense flexibility to organizations to manage their applications, services, and infrastructure seamlessly. It allows marketers to engage with customers easily. Cloud infrastructure management has become very easy for online retail channels, and to top it all, they can easily harness cloud computing services to develop highly interactive and customer friendly websites for online purchases. Thanks to smartphones and cost-effective internet, today, almost every individual uses a smartphone to buy products online.
With all these, ifs and buts around cloud computing, it is critical to know the importance of cloud computing in the e-commerce industry. This can be done by looking at some of the benefits that it brings to the table
Cost-Benefit
It is an underlying statement that cloud computing is extremely cost-effective. This can be known from the fact that virtualized machines are bringing about a saving of approximately 80% of the total expenditure on IT infrastructure.
Quick Deployment
Unlike an on premise deployment, where there is an installation process involved, a cloud is a plug-n-play option, making deployment extremely fast. This allows companies to expedite their go-to-market strategy.
Security
Security and cloud technology in the e-commerce sector are the two terminologies that go hand-in-hand. However, today, some applications come with 256-bit SSL encryption combined with strong VAPT credentials. The apps come with multi-layered firewall encryption and a robust DARP mechanism.
Process Enhancement
Implementing cloud infrastructure enables organizations to enhance their business processes across the enterprise.
Furthermore, organizations need to understand as to why they should go for cloud infrastructure. The entire crux of this is around the database that is used for the storage of information. Today enterprise application providers are also coming up with their cloud database structures. A cloud database that is distributed across multiple instances is the talk of the town and accepted and adopted by many enterprises across industry verticals.
When it comes to e-commerce companies, there is more than just the front-end interface of their applications. E-commerce companies need to have a platform that will enable them to manage their product catalogs and run complex algorithms to deliver customer experience. Hence, it is compelling for them to go for cloud database tools such as SAP HANA, for instance, which has been doing tremendous inroads in the retail and e-commerce segment. With the cloud database, organizations can
· Get a comprehensive and consolidated real-time view of customer data, customer behavior, and other key parameters
· Deliver personalized experience to their user base and engage with them constantly through various channels
· Communicate effectively through personalized and curated responses for each customer
This is just the start as we see more and more e-commerce companies shifting to cloud computing, leveraging the cloud infrastructure to stay ahead of their competition.
