Page 191 - How Cloud Computing Is Transforming Business and Why You Cant Afford to Be Left Behind

Y O UR CL OUD STRATEG Y: WHAT KIND O F COMPANY DO Y O U W ANT?

offices. By leaving behind the problems of individual data
center complexity and relying on the standards imposed by
the cloud, National Retirement can supply crucial informa-
tion to its advisors, while aggregating valuable market data
from them, for a fraction of the noncloud cost. In National
Retirement’s business, an analysis service is the backbone of

the business, but auxiliary services, added at low cost to soft-
ware as a service CRM, are what make it grow faster than its
competitors. Each time it expands these services, National
Retirement makes it easier for the advisors in its network to
offer clients more information and run their offices in a
more automated way.
This is an early example of the cloud economy. Informa-

tion that is of low value to one advisor gains value as it is ag-
gregated with information from other advisors. New software
from National Retirement is added to a standard CRM pack-
age that is available in the cloud, which can pull nuggets from
the aggregate for the individual advisor. Accomplishing this
with a limited budget and a small IT staff has set National Re-
tirement apart. Soon the cloud economy will be setting other
firms apart as they get astride its capabilities.
Another way of saying this is that the cloud is an ideal soft-

ware development and integration platform. Tools provided
in the cloud can simplify the development of software to be
run in the cloud and accessed there by many users. Salesforce
.com is rapidly adding such tools. Simplicity disrupts com-
plexity and beats it in a competitive race.

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