Decoding Mid-Market's Cloud Movement

These could be termed as one of the most brilliant times in the industrial history - after all, the pace at which our world is transforming owing to the technological advances, and how even the world of trade is syncing up its steps with it, is all quite marvellous. The way industry has matured in the last 5-7 years is quite commendable as it has surpassed the time we took earlier to move past the typical inertia for even a simple new-tech adoption.

With more structure to industrial segmentation, we now have a better understanding of the segments. According to Investopedia, “Mid- Market firms are in the middle of the market between smaller companies and the giants of the industry that dominate the market.”

Making case for Mid-market programmes

SMBs have been known to enjoy the flexibility, absence of any legacy load and openness to experimentation while the large enterprises bask in the rich cash pools and resource abundance for growing their businesses. Mid-market entities, on the other hand, embraces both the threats as well as the opportunities of both these worlds. And the task isn’t easy, despite having its own sets of benefit. But the sector has rolled up its sleeve high and is ready to take the plunge in the tech-driven future. Want to look at some proof points? Here you go:

* Bullish on revenue targets, almost 90% mid-market companies globally are expecting a growth of 6% or more in the next year and many are predicting a double-digit increase.

* Nearly a quarter of global mid-market players plan to enter a new geographical market, while a fifth are planning to expand into adjacent business activities.

* As per a global survey, 90% of mid-market players see economic volatility across the globe as opportunity for them in disguise.

* 73% mid-market players are either already adopting AI or plan to adopt in the near term (two years).

* Despite digitisation leading to some negative disruption in the job market, 39% mid-market firms are increasing their workforce with full time hires (12% up compared to 2017).

Adoption Underway

In cognizance with the changing market dynamics, the mid-market is therefore taking a gradual yet giant strides towards cloud adoption and why not, this transitional shift is indeed the way to get cracking on the expanding market-pie.

As per Forrester, the total global public cloud market will be approx. $178B in 2018, up from $146B in 2017, and will continue to grow at a 22% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). Another research report states that cloud services market is expected to reach $555B, globally, by 2020.

* 25% of IT budgets are allocated towards cloud computing

* 72% of businesses are already using some cloud applications

* 90% of mid-market leaders believe that cloud is their future

The agility, scope for innovation and experimentation, lessened operational and IT costs etc. are few of the drivers of this evolution which is being experienced by the mid-market segment. This evolution is aimed solely for the purpose of maintaining and amplifying their profitable growth in the current volatile times.

Heading in the Direction of Clouds

While the advantages of cloud transition for the industry as a whole, are known to most of us, let’s specifically look at the advantages from mid-market lenses to understand this trending movement better:

* It evens out the playing field in the aggressively competitive and dynamic world

* It helps cut down the investment in expensive data centers or highly skilled IT resources

* It allows for quicker turn-arounds saving the most valuable resource, that is time

* With time in hand, a creative approach also becomes plausible with shared resources and self-service capabilities

* It allows for on-demand right-sizing of the resources owing to agile scalability quotient

* It lessens the complexities as the firms transition from legacy data centers and move towards a pay-as-you-use model

* Reduction in operational cost is ensued owing to aggressive licensing models

* Increased scalability helps in diversification into newer zones and thus, opens the gateway to newer markets

* It allows for a better preparedness in the time of need with the provision of disaster avoidance/ business continuity (DA/BC) functions

Can an SMB or an enterprise not take advantage of this cloud opportunity - sure they can, but the sweet spot is mid-market now. Without the resource crunch of an SMB or the operational complexity of an enterprise, a mid-market organisation with enough creative fire power has the best potential to scale in today's technology leveraged market. While the benefits are plenty, let’s understand that cloud migration is now quickly moving away from the bracket of an optional take and setting itself up as a sustenance necessity – not just for mid-market but for the entire industrial realm. However, responding to this cloud call may be more imperative for the mid-market segment without a doubt, given the delicate market positioning they bear currently, between SMBs and large players.

Snehashish Bhattacharjee
Global CEO and co-founder, Denave