Transforming high tech through the Cloud Continuum

Accenture’s research predicts that over the next three to five years, two-thirds of workloads will shift to the cloud. This creates a whole new set of customer needs, with associated demand for products. With High Tech companies providing the tools and hardware for a large majority of that cloud, the likelihood for disruption (and opportunity) has never been higher.

Accenture recently completed a global survey of top companies across many industries and evaluated their cloud maturity. Among the 4,000 respondents, 193 were from the High Tech industry and almost all the organizations were present in the cloud. However, only a small subset were experiencing huge benefits from engaging fully with a new cloud operating model.

These ‘Continuum Competitors’ in High Tech are using cloud for more than compute, storage and networking. They are utilizing cloud to differentiate their business by bringing innovation from their own products to the cloud, and utilizing the entire spectrum of cloud capabilities from public, private, edge and everything in between.

These organizations are reimagining their processes, from their product roadmaps and business models to their go-to-market strategies. They are positioning their organization for a stable and profitable future by:

• Speeding up product development
• Increasing agility
• Optimizing manufacturing

Cloud Continuum Competitors embrace the cloud to grow their business as a tool, an ecosystem and an interface to new customers.

High Tech organizations can realize more value from the cloud by using it as a Continuum of seamless—not siloed—capabilities for their ever-changing business. High Tech Continuum Competitors use the cloud as the basis of their future operating models, reaching towards the future and unlocking new ways to interact with all parts of their business and offering new products and services.

They are also creating and innovating the technology, software and hardware that improves the cloud for their clients. They utilize modern cloud capabilities, including cutting-edge tools, applications and processes to leverage massively available and scalable infrastructure.

High Tech companies who have become Cloud Continuum competitors have built cloud into their DNA and are outpacing their rivals and reshaping their future.

Our Jason Mitchell, High Tech Global Cloud lead shares the key steps High Tech companies can take to accelerate their reinvention by becoming a Cloud Continuum Competitor.

To achieve the full potential in the cloud, it’s important to develop a Continuum strategy involving three key facets:

• Define a vision that clearly states the core values and future aspirations
• Identify competitive vulnerabilities and shortcomings
• Develop a clear classification of capabilities, anchored on where your organization is today versus its future aspirations, leveraging the full extent of the Continuum

The Continuum is not just one technology, but many—each with its own strengths and limits.

The most successful cloud strategies utilize the full Cloud Continuum, including private, hybrid and public architectures. Continuum Competitors use these architectures to enable differentiation with analytics, high performance compute, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).

Edge computing is also ripe for cloud and Continuum improvement. Private cloud architectures that work alongside public cloud are becoming increasingly popular. 5G connectivity has massively expanded the possibilities for connecting devices anywhere.

Simply understanding what capabilities are even available on the Continuum can be hard, let alone understanding how to use them. It is important to first create a clear strategy and priorities before leaping head-first into adoption. This will keep an organization moving forward in the same direction.

High Tech Continuum Competitors are not only ahead of the pack, but they are also redefining what the cloud can be through innovative use cases.

They are:

• at the forefront of smart manufacturing
• building supply chains that interconnect and respond
• providing the largest private and hybrid cloud environments
• utilizing cloud to solve their own industry challenges
• creating cloud solutions for other industries

Ready to unlock your full cloud potential today for reinvention? Accenture can help your organization become a Cloud Continuum Competitor